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White Sox Minor League Update: May 16, 2021

Homers galore in Charlotte, comeback win for Birmingham, pitching duel in Winston-Salem, and another loss for Kanny — a typical day the past week in the minors

By Darren Black
Gavin Sheets blasted two homers in the Knights dominating win, continuing his early stomp all over Triple-A.
@laurawolffphoto/Twitter boxes below courtesy of MiLB.com

This game had a lot of hits, some very, very long hits, including two from Gavin Sheets.

Holy Sheets is a pretty awesome one, Charlotte.

Including the rest of the homers would take up the whole page here. On top of Sheets’ two homers, Luis González, who was activated off the IL today, and Seby Zavala added home runs of their own to help the Knights win, 13-6.

The Knights got off the lead in the second thanks to a Nick Williams RBI single. From that moment forward, Charlotte kept and expanded the lead because of those four homers, but it wasn’t just the long ball all day long. Everybody in the lineup reached base, and eight of the hitters reached with a hit. Jake Burger, the wonder that he has been so far this season, added an RBI single of his own.

It was a good thing the hitting was this good today, because the bullpen was not. Jonathan Stiever got the start in this one and looked good again. He went five strong innings, but did allow too many runners on base. He was able to get out of most jams, though, in part due to his nine strikeouts. As a whole, the pen allowed four runs (three earned) but it was only due to two pitchers: Hunter Schryver and Ryan Burr were just not on today. A good bit of news from the bullpen was Zack Burdi, he had a perfect eighth inning, and those have been hard to come by for him after the surgeries.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    Jonathan Stiever: 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 9 K
    (3 votes)
  • 97%
    Gavin Sheets: 3-for-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (111 votes)
114 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 23%
    Hunter Schryver: 1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H 1 BB, 1 K
    (18 votes)
  • 76%
    Ryan Burr: 1⁄3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (58 votes)
76 votes total Vote Now

A comeback win for the Barons improved their record to a White Sox MiLB-high of 9-3.

Up until the fourth inning, the Barons were sailing through to a 3-0 lead. Laz Rivera hit his first home run of the year in the second, and Ti’Quan Forbes scored off of a passed ball. In the fourth, Ian Dawkins drove in JJ Muno to extend the lead to 4-0.

Unfortunately, the bottom half is where it got off the rails.

Blake Battenfield was cruising, he had pitched three scoreless innings as his season ERA fell below 1.00. With two outs in the inning and a runner on second, a grounder went out to Rivera and he threw away the out to extend the inning and load the bases. The next batter doubled to clear the bases, making the score 4-3. Battenfield would come back out for the fifth inning to keep the lead, but Anderson Severino blew it in the sixth to give Pensacola a one-run lead.

In the ninth, the Barons finally got back on the board and moved ahead. Dawkins drove in another runner to tie the game. Let me know if this seems familiar, today: Dawkins came around to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 19%
    Laz Rivera: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K
    (13 votes)
  • 18%
    Ti’Quan Forbes: 3-for-5, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (12 votes)
  • 62%
    Blake Battenfield: 5 IP, 0 ER (3 R), 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (41 votes)
66 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 64%
    Anderson Severino: 1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (35 votes)
  • 35%
    Carlos Pérez: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 1 K
    (19 votes)
54 votes total Vote Now

A pitching duel that saw a total of eight hits and 17 strikeouts was what the Dash needed to stay above .500 through Week 2. Wilbur Perez got the start this afternoon and kept the Dash in the game — and Tyler Osik gave them the lead. In the fourth inning, Osik came up with two runners on (the dos Luises, Curbelo and Mieses), and doubled them home to take a 2-0 lead. The Dash pitching kept that lead, without much margin for error.

Perez allowed the only run of the game in the fifth, and was pulled from the game. Luke Shilling came in for the last of that inning to get out of a runners-on-first-and-second jam to keep the one-run lead. Taylor Varnell came in after and took control of the game. He went three innings in relief, obviously scoreless. He has not allowed a run in his eight innings so far. Vincenzo Aiello came in for the ninth and recorded his first professional save, even if it was a little eventful after the first two runners got on base.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 33%
    Wilbur Perez: 4 2⁄3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K
    (17 votes)
  • 35%
    Taylor Varnell: 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (18 votes)
  • 31%
    Tyler Osik: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 SB
    (16 votes)
51 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 91%
    Lenyn Sosa: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (43 votes)
  • 8%
    Yolbert Sanchez: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (4 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now

Another day, another ugly one for the Cannon Ballers. The offense was not all bad, sure they only got four hits, but they walked 10 times, that has to count for something. Although it is weird for a team to only score two runs while every hitter in the lineup reaches base — wait, here’s why, Kannapolis went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Of the batters that actually hit the ball, James Beard had two hits, in what was probably his best game of the year (on top of his two singles, he walked twice). He was caught stealing for the first time this year, though, so that was a bummer. José Rodríguez had the lone extra-base hit, a triple; he would later score on a wild pitch.

The pitching staff was much worse, Jared Kelley, the newly minted top White Sox prospect according to MLB Pipeline, had another poor start. He only lasted five outs, allowing five runs. The pitchers that immediately replaced him did better, but still did not get the job done. Dilmer Mejía allowed four runs, and Martin Carrasco three more.

The Cannon Ballers were never in this game and are probably already out of the first-half division race.

Poll

Who was the Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 92%
    James Beard: 2-for-3, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 CS
    (46 votes)
  • 8%
    Jose Rodriguez: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K
    (4 votes)
50 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 94%
    Jared Kelley: 1 2⁄3 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 K
    (51 votes)
  • 0%
    Martin Carrasco 1 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    AJ Gill: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 3 K
    (2 votes)
  • 1%
    Bryan Ramos: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
54 votes total Vote Now

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