White Sox Minor League Update: Charlotte snatches the series finale

Pretty much a perfect game in all aspects sends the Knights back home 1-2

Charlotte Knights 6, Memphis Redbirds 2 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Sure enough, after a tight loss and blowout to start the season 0-2, Charlotte bristled up for a win to get on the board and build some momentum for Tuesday’s home opener.

Non-traditional (first baseman) leadoff man Zach Remillard opened the contest with a single for the second time in three games, and that triggered a rally fueled by just two more singles among safeties and RBIs from Oscar Colás (sac fly) and Wynton Bernard (two-run single).

And amazingly, given the weak spots on the pitching staff in the first two games, that was all the Knights would need to score on Sunday. Chad Kuhl started and went three scoreless innings, perhaps held up by a ~50 pitch count limit (he tossed 54 in all). Touki Toussaint gave two runs right back in the fourth, but held firm to get another five outs with no further damage done. Bailey Horn and Justin Anderson managed to tuck the win in with little ongoing stress.

While Lenyn Sosa is the rumored bat on his way to Chicago to sub in for the hobbled Eloy Jiménez, you can’t fault Oscar Colás for making his case in the season’s first series, as he’s hitting at a brisk .545 batting average and 1.583 OPS. That included three more hits on Sunday, including this fifth-inning double:

And the offense (10 hits today, making 28 through three games and a fourth-place tie among the 20 teams in the International League) was supplemented by some fine D. Feeding the 2024 theme of leather-throwing, MLB veteran Brett Phillips got the bottom of the ninth started out right with successive sliding catches:

The Knights are off Monday, and every Monday but one this season, before getting back to Truist Field to take on the formidable Norfolk Tides.