White Sox Minor League Update: April 12, 2019

(Spoiler: It got a lot worse from here.)

Indianapolis Indians 9, Charlotte Knights 2

The Knights dropped their second straight, taking the lead early but bowing out of the contest by the fourth inning.

Zack Collins put the Knights up 1-0 in the first with a sacrifice fly, but there weren’t enough sac flies in the first four innings for Charlotte to keep up with the Indianapolis offense.

Jordan Stephens was hammered for eight earned runs, and was knocked out of the box with one out in the fourth. With the game well out of hand, fireman Colton Turner, Aaron Bummer and Caleb Frare all acquitted themselves nicely, holding the II’s to just one run over the final 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

Offensively, Charlotte had nothing against Indy starter Alex McRae; the only other Knights run came in the sixth, on a Danny Mendick double-play ball. Charlotte was held to just three hits, and only one for extra bases.

Old friend Jake Elmore played second base and went 2-for-3 for Indianapolis, against his former mates.

Nicky Delmonico (LF): 2-for-4, 2B (5), .294 AVG, .800 OPS **MVP**
Brandon Guyer (RF): 1-for-2, R, BB, .316 AVG, .935 OPS
Seby Zavala (DH): 0-for-4, 2 K, .241 AVG, .784 OPS
Zack Collins (C): 0-for-3, RBI (10), K, .238 AVG, 1.185 OPS
Jordan Stephens (SP): 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, HR, 88 pitches/46 strikes, 10.61 ERA, L (0-2)
Colton Turner: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 3 K, 7.71 ERA
Caleb Frare: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 K, 19 pitches/13 strikes, 9.00 ERA

Tennessee Smokies 7, Birmingham Barons 1

Ugly pitching and hitting marked yet another rough game for the Barons, who fall to 3-5 on the season. Sheesh. Starter Bernardo Flores was not the issue tonight even though he took the loss, giving up four runs (one earned) over six innings. All the damage to Flores came in the third inning, which yielded four runs. With one out and runners on the corners (walk, single), Charcer Burks hit what sure looks in the box score like a 4-6-3 double-play grounder to Mitch Roman, who booted the play, opening the floodgates. The hitters, despite nine hits (only one for extra bases), could only score once. Heir apparent manager Omar Vizquel gets an early test this season.

Joel Booker (CF): 2-for-4, .364 AVG, .800 OPS
Laz Rivera (SS): 3-for-4, .150 AVG, .442 OPS
Trey Michalczewski (LF): 0-for-3, 1 BB, 3 K, .267 AVG, .620 OPS
Micker Adolfo (DH): 1-for-4, RBI (5), 2 K, .148 AVG, .435 OPS
Bernardo Flores (SP): 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1.13 ERA, 86 pitches/60 strikes **MVP**
Brian Clark: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 K, 15.00 ERA

Potomac Nationals 6, Winston-Salem Dash 3

Luis Robert(s) went 2-for-5 tonight, and let’s face it, he’s eating A+ ball alive right now. Does it mean he should be in Birmingham? Not necessarily. Enjoy the opportunity to see this ludicrous mismatch of Luis vs. the A+ world for as long as we have it, though.

Tonight, not even a couple of hits from the darling of center field could rescue the Dash from the depths. Blake Battenfield had a rough go of it for four innings, leaving the game trailing, 6-1. The flip side of that effort was a lights-out performance by his firemen, including Alec Hansen, Codi Heuer and the funky stylings of Wyatt Burns.

On the offensive side beyond Robert, Tyler Frost added a triple that a little twitter bird (see below) tells us could well have gone for a Frostside-the-parker.

Luis Robert (CF): 2-for-5, RBI (15), K, .444 AVG, 1.459 OPS
Carlos Perez (C): 2-for-2, 2 R, 2 2B (2), 2 BB, PB (1), .368 AVG, .974 OPS **MVP**
Tyler Frost (DH): 1-for-5, 3B (1), 3 K, .179 AVG, .500 OPS
Blake Battenfield (SP): 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 6.30 ERA, L (0-1), 81 pitches/56 strikes
Alec Hansen: 1 IP, 2 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
Codi Heuer: 2 IP, K, 0.00 ERA
Wyatt Burns: 2 IP, 2 K, 0.00 ERA

One more bit of hilarity from Julie:

Chased by a grizzly!

Kannapolis Intimidators 6, Hickory Crawdads 4

Another A-ball thriller from the affiliates, this one seeing Kanny push two runs across in the top of the ninth to hand Hickory just its second loss of the season.

Ian Dawkins pushed his season average up to .300 with what proved to be the deciding safety, a ground-rule double scoring Alex Destino with one out in the ninth. It was the first and only extra-base hit for Kannapolis on the night. Steele Walker’s sacrifice fly provided an insurance run, and the final 6-4 tally.

Ian Dawkins (LF): 3-for-5, R, 2 RBI (3), 2B (2), 300 AVG, .667 OPS **MVP**
Steele Walker (CF): 1-for-3, 2 RBI (7), .321 AVG, .989 OPS
Lenyn Sosa (SS): 2-for-5, RBI (3), K, CS (1), .333 AVG, .795 OPS
Davis Martin (SP): 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 6 H, 4 ER, BB, 4 K, 3 HR, 84 pitches/56 strikes, 5.84 ERA
Wilber Perez (S, 2): 1 IP, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, 14 pitches/11 strikes