White Sox Minor League Update: May 1, 2024

It was a 1-4 day overall — but the Barons are still cruising

Memphis Redbirds 7, Charlotte Knights 3 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
The Knights could not capitalize on the opportunity to get to .500, as they trailed throughout this matchup against the Redbirds.

Jake Woodford had a decent start, but his defense did not help him out, as two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. In the first inning, the Redbirds got on the board with a walk and a two-out double. Then, in the third, Lenyn Sosa made an error that allowed the Redbirds to put their leadoff batter on base. Woodford retired the next two batters he faced, but after back-to-back hits with two outs, Memphis had a 3-0 lead.

The Knights remained off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth, when Oscar Colás led off with a single. Carlos Pérez wasted no time continuing the rally, as he doubled to put a pair in scoring position. Then, the Knights benefited from a throwing error on an Adam Hackenberg grounder to reduce their deficit to two. That error also allowed Pérez to advance to third, and he scored on a ground out by Zach Remillard.

Woodford allowed his final run during his sixth and last inning on the mound, when Thomas Saggese launched a solo homer. The bullpen combined to allow three runs in three innings, and that hill was far too steep for the Knights offense to climb. The Knights did get a little more offense down the stretch, however, when Pérez hit a solo blast.

Birmingham Barons 11, Rocket City Trash Pandas 6 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
The Barons continued their winning ways, and they put 11 on the board during a chaotic victory.

Birmingham got down to business in the bottom of the second, when Wilfred Veras led off with a single. Two batters later, Michael Turner walked, and Tim Elko singled to load the bases with one out. That set the table for Jason Matthews, who drove in the first two runs of the game with a single.

That was it for the scoring in the second inning, but the Barons blew the game wide open in the third. Brooks Baldwin, Edgar Quero, and Veras hit three consecutive singles to open the inning, and that pushed Birmingham’s lead to three. Bryan Ramos ended the streak of singles with a strikeout, but Michael Turner walked to load the bases. Elko had a major RBI opportunity with one out, and he cleared the bases with a double to double Birmingham’s lead to six.

Barons pitcher Jairo Iriarte also got off to a fantastic start, and the score remained 6-0 until the top of the sixth. That was when the Trash Pandas finally put themselves on the board. After a pair of one-out singles and a two-out walk, the bases were loaded, and a timely double by Eric Wagaman made the score 6-3.

The Barons added insurance in the seventh, when Veras singled and stole second, Ramos doubled, and Turner added a double of his own. Suddenly, the Barons had put two more on the board to go ahead by five.

The Trash Pandas stuck their noses back into the game in the eighth, when fresh closer call-up from Winston-Salem Eric Adler had a bad inning, which I did not realize was possible. After a double, a single, a wild pitch, another single, and an error, the game was 8-6. However, that was as close as the Trash Pandas got. In the bottom of the eighth, Terrell Tatum and Veras walked to set the table for Ramos, who crushed a three-run blast to put the game away.

Greensboro Grasshoppers 14, Winston-Salem Dash 4 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
Winston-Salem’s pitching staff struggled immensely during this loss to the Grasshoppers.

This game got off to a promising start, as Chris Lanzilli drilled a solo homer to give the Dash an early lead in the second. However, nearly everything came up in Greensboro’s favor after that blast, as the Grasshoppers hit the ball hard and often.

Dash starter Tyler Schweitzer breezed through the first two innings, but he gave up a two-run homer and a solo blast in the third.

The Dash got one of those runs back in the fourth despite starting the inning with two outs and nobody on base. Wes Kath singled, Lanzilli walked, and Colby Smelley singled to drive in Kath. That was the first of three hits for Smelley, who had a great game.

The Grasshoppers had another quick response, and surprisingly, this one also started with two outs and nobody on base. After a walk, a triple, and a double, the Dash trailed, 5-2. Winston-Salem crept within one in the following frame, when Mario Camilletti and Shawn Goosenberg walked to start a rally. Camilletti scored when Bryce Willits reached on an error, and Goosenberg scored on a ground out by Samuel Zavala.

From there, the Grasshoppers scored nine unanswered runs to pull away. Like Schweitzer, relievers Ernesto Jaquez and Frander Veras had performances that they would like to move on from.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6 (10 innings) (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
The Cannon Ballers resumed their in-progress game against Lynchburg after weather intervened on Tuesday. The Cannon Ballers started today’s action in the fifth inning with a 5-1 lead, but they could not hold on, and they lost on a walk-off in the 10th inning.

Kannapolis had built a lead on a Drake Logan RBI double, a balk, a Logan RBI single, an Albertson Asigen RBI ground out, and an Arxy Hernández sacrifice fly. Meanwhile Drew McDaniel pitched four innings, only allowing one run.

Although the Hillcats struggled against McDaniel, they fared much better against the other Kannapolis pitchers. With the score 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Mark McLaughlin allowed one, but he proceeded to pitch a scoreless sixth. McLaughlin started the seventh on the mound, and after a leadoff walk and a fly out, Nick Altermatt replaced him on the mound. Altermatt did not strand the runner he inherited from McLaughlin, but he did manage to escape the inning without allowing further damage.

Reliever Bryce Collins entered the game to begin the bottom of the eighth, when the score was still 5-3. After a walk, a double, and a pair of singles, the Hillcats had tied the game at five, and Collins was charged with a blown save.

The Cannon Ballers offense struggled down the stretch, and Cannon Ballers reliever Frankeli Arias pitched a scoreless ninth, so the game headed into extras, still tied at five. In the top half, Asigen drove in the free runner with a single, and he added a stolen base, too. However, the Cannon Ballers did not score again, and Arias allowed a two-run homer in the bottom half for the dramatic Hillcats win.

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
It was not a good day for the Cannon Ballers offense, which got shut out in the nightcap.

Cannon Ballers starter Jake Peppers had a solid performance overall, but the second inning was rough. After a leadoff walk, an error by Arxy Hernández gave the Hillcats runners on first and second with no outs. Peppers issued back-to-back walks after that to force in the first run of the game. Tommy Hawke hit into a sacrifice fly to double Lynchburg’s lead, and although Peppers did not allow any other runs that inning, the score remained 2-0 for most of the game.

With one out and nobody on base in the sixth, Peppers allowed a double, and Christian Edwards replaced him on the mound. From there, the next four Hillcats reached base safely, and this game was out of reach. Shout-outs to Ronny Hernández and Ryan Galanie, who collected the only hits for Kannapolis in this game.