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White Sox Minor League Update: May 29, 2021

Easiest way to sweep the night? Rain out two of the games!

By Brett Ballantini
With a game-tying hit in the ninth, and the game-winning run on a double-steal later in the inning, Mitch Roman stands out in the system on Saturday.
Tiffany Wintz/South Side Sox

HEY THERE!

I’m back on the minor league update, guess for now I’m the regular Saturday writer, and go figure, two of my games are snatched from me. Actually, I might be the only recapper with a season record better than .500, so maybe I need to steal some days or sub in more, because the trio of Black, Brady & Resis are no longer churning out the hits!

So, Charlotte and Kannapolis were rained out today, leaving me just two games to chat about. Let’s get to it!

Charlotte Knights (8-14) at Norfolk Tides (7-15), PPD, rain

On the heels of the offensive explosion that marked last night’s Charlotte win, tonight’s game in Virginia was postponed due to inclement weather.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday, September 1 at 5:05 p.m. in Norfolk.

The Knights and Tides play the finale of their rain-shortened, five-game series on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Matt Tomshaw (0-1, 5.12 ERA, 17 Ks) gets the start for Charlotte.

Darren Black will have that coverage for you tomorrow.

You may have heard that Birmingham has been really good this season. Let’s cite one reason: A sloppy game it had no business winning, turned victorious with five runs scored in its final six outs, for an 8-6 win at Rocket City. The Barons are almost as gilded as the Cannon Ballers have been cursed through a month of the season.

Blake Battenfield entered the game as the SSS pitching MVP of the early season, and he almost certainly won’t be that in Monday’s weekly update from Darren, not after a five-inning, five-hit, five-earned, three-homer belch he ripped on Saturday. Andrew Perez pitched two innings of scoreless ball, Luis Ledo one, to put the Barons offense in position to rally and tie this thing.

And tie this thing they did, 5-5, on a Carlos Pérez homer that scored Craig Dedelow.

Ledo came out for a second inning and gave up the lead on a two-out homer to Michael Cruz. So down to just three outs and one run to tie, Birmingham went to work.

Jameson Fisher led off with a single and was pinch-run for by Laz Rivera. After a JJ Muno strikeout, Mitch Roman singled to Torii Hunter’s son in center field, scoring Rivera with the tying run.

But the Barons weren’t finished. Get this, people.

Zack Granite walked, pushing Roman to second. And not for the first time this season, or even in my recaps this season, B-ham manager and Guy Who’s Just Waiting for Tony La Russa to Leave Justin Jirschele, got aggressive on the basepaths, calling for a double steal; the throwing error to third base by Trash Pandas catcher Matt Jones scored not only Roman, but Granite, and no we have not detoured into discussion of Michaelangelo art techniques, we’re still in Rocket City talking baseball.

Don’t believe this is how the Barons eventually won? Well, our friends at White Sox Daily, who live for this stuff, share the deets:

Poll

Who was the MVP of Birmingham’s come-from-behind, 8-6 win over the Trash Pandas on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 12%
    Carlos Pérez: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, game-tying HR in 8th, 0-for-1 CS
    (10 votes)
  • 72%
    Mitch Roman: 2-for-3, game-winning run in 9th, GWRBI in 9th, BB, K, SB
    (60 votes)
  • 8%
    Ti’quan Forbes: 2-for-4, 2B, R, K, E
    (7 votes)
  • 7%
    Andrew Perez: 2 IP, BB, 4 K
    (6 votes)
83 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cold Cat of Birmingham’s come-from-behind, 8-6 win over the Trash Pandas on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 7%
    Romy González: 0-for-4, RBI, BB, 2 K, 2 LOB, E
    (5 votes)
  • 24%
    Craig Dedelow: 0-for-5, R, K, 3 LOB
    (17 votes)
  • 64%
    Blake Battenfield: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 3 HR
    (45 votes)
  • 4%
    JJ Muno: 0-for-3, R, BB, 2 K, 2 LOB
    (3 votes)
70 votes total Vote Now

Is it me — I’ve been away for two weeks — but are the minors undergoing the same dead-ball/pitching velo batting average suppression we’re seeing in the majors? Because boy howdy, it seems like every other game is 2-0, with five hits in the game. (Notice I’m conveniently ignoring the multiple, 17-3, 24-hit games White Sox affiliates have inflicted and suffered this year. Maybe it’s a season of offensive extremes. Or perhaps we’ve all been away from the minors for a year and I’m just not handling the return so well.) At any rate, by that standard, tonight’s 2-0 Dash win qualifies as an offensive explosion, because it featured nine combined hits in 59 at-bats, a .153 average that would not ... wait, lemme check ... pass muster in the majors, even in 2021.

The story in Winston-Salem tonight was extraordinary pitching, led by starter Johan Dominguez, who threw six innings of one-hit, six-K ball, hurling nearly 70% strikes. The three relievers who followed didn’t miss a beat, although they coughed up double the hits Dominguez did in half the innings. Slackers.

You know, actually, there was one Dash pitcher who had a bad game, but managed not to add to his ERA or WHIP. Didn’t even add to his pitch count, in fact. Sal Biasi came in to relieve Dominguez to start the seventh inning, and he was ejected for some sort of foreign substance on the ball during his warmup pitches. I’ll defer to the W-S web site recap:

Controversy struck before the beginning of the seventh inning, as umpires ejected Sal Biasi for use of a foreign substance before Biasi even threw a pitch. The ejection resulted in a socially distanced shouting match between the two benches, including some words exchanged directly between managers Ryan Newman and JJ Johnson. Warnings were issued to de-escalate the altercation, and play resumed.

When future SABR researchers dig into what made the 2021 Dash tick, that “socially-distanced shouting match” will make more than one Future High-A Fan-Writer go hmm.

The offense certainly was not the story, given just six hits and one for extra bases (Luis Curbelo, a double, what new). Curbelo was in fact 3-for-3, with both RBIs, (double in the first, single in the third). Luis Curbelo is some sort of strange “leap year” baby or something, or he’s part cicada, because after a couple of years of dormant lumber, the third baseman (OK, tonight, DH) has COME TO PLAY in 2021. This was mentioned on one of our SSS on the Farm podcasts, but don’t look now, but third base (Burger, Forbes, Curbelo, Gladney) is the deepest position in the White Sox system. Other than DH, that is.

Oh, and for the second time in my MiLB recapping this year (and presumably just the second time all year), the Dash defeated ex-Sox farmhand and Dane Dunning deal throw-in, Avery Weems. OK, so I just looked it up and, indeed, Weems is 0-2 this year, with two losses to W-S (6.79 ERA), 0-0 in two other starts against non-revenge game opponents (0.00 ERA). Weems is circling any remaining Dash games on his pocket schedule on the bus trip outta the Triad, to make sure he lays down and avoids them.

Poll

Who was the MVP of Winston-Salem’s 2-0 win over Hickory on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 60%
    Johan Dominguez: 6 IP, 1 H, 6 K, W, E
    (48 votes)
  • 32%
    Luis Curbelo: 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2B, GWRBI
    (26 votes)
  • 1%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, SB, LOB
    (1 vote)
  • 1%
    Declan Cronin: IP, K, HOLD, scoreless inning after being inserted into the game cold
    (1 vote)
  • 5%
    Sal Biasi: ejected during warmups upon insertion into game, precipitating a "socially-distanced shouting match" between managers
    (4 votes)
80 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cold Cat of Winston-Salem’s 2-0 win over Hickory on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 27%
    Luis Mieses: 0-for-3, 2 K, 3 LOB
    (17 votes)
  • 37%
    Lazaro Leal: 0-for-3, 3 K, LOB
    (23 votes)
  • 3%
    Evan Skoug: 0-for-3, 2 K, LOB
    (2 votes)
  • 31%
    Sal Biasi: ejected during warmups upon insertion into game, precipitating a "socially-distanced shouting match" between managers
    (19 votes)
61 votes total Vote Now

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (2-20) at Carolina Mudcats (14-8), PPD, RAIN

In the midst of a second, lengthy losing streak in the first month of the season, the 2-20 Ballers reluctantly took the night off, purportedly due to rain. Unfounded rumors persist that the postponement was generated by a Crash Davis-style sprinkler malfunction.

Unlike the Charlotte makeup, today’s postponed game will be made up as part of a straight doubleheader tomorrow, giving faithful scribe Darren Black another game to cover on Sunday.

Poll

Who was the MVP of Kannapolis’ postponed game at Carolina on Saturday night?

This poll is closed

  • 44%
    Mother Nature
    (23 votes)
  • 21%
    The Ghost of Crash Davis
    (11 votes)
  • 15%
    Mudcat Grant, who drove up from Florida to spare the CBs more pain
    (8 votes)
  • 0%
    Dan Victor
    (0 votes)
  • 1%
    Tiffany Wintz
    (1 vote)
  • 17%
    Dan Victor’s adorable dog, Venus
    (9 votes)
52 votes total Vote Now

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