White Sox Minor League Update: May 9, 2021

Another good game down on the farm, but unlike you’ll read down below with Winston-Salem, this extra-inning game ended up being a loss for the good guys, 12-9 in 10 innings.

Jimmy Lambert got the start today and did not improve from his first start. He only recorded five outs while allowing three runs. In fact, Lambert had a 3-1 early lead that he let go right away.

But how did the Knights get those first three runs? The first two were from Jake Burger, with his first home run since the 2017 season in Kannapolis. The third was Seby Zavala scoring on a passed ball, more on him later.

Once Lambert left the game, Kyle Kubat came in and was doing well enough for two innings. He was on the mound when Lambert’s third earned run scored, but he pitched a scoreless third and fourth. During that span, Charlotte re-took the lead thanks to a Joe DeCarlo RBI single.

Kubat finally ran into trouble during the fifth inning. He walked the first batter and two hitters later, Kubat served up a home run and that put Charlotte behind, 5-4, just like that. The Stripers kept taking advantage of runners on base for the rest of the game. They tacked on three more runs heading into the eighth inning for an 8-4 lead.

However, the Knights bats got hot in the last three innings, which culminated in the ninth inning. With two runners on in what was now an 8-5 game. Down to the last strike of the game, Zavala squeaked out a game-tying home run, and the game went into extras.

Zack Burdi pitched the top of the ninth, before the Zavala homer, perfectly. He saw three batters and set them all down, including two swinging strikeouts of former White Sox Yolmer Sánchez and Ryan Goins. Unfortunately, that should have been the only inning for Burdi.

Instead Burdi took on the 10th and walked the first two batters to load the bases. From there, it got ugly. Before Burdi was pulled from the game, he allowed two runs, three walks, and a wild pitch. Tanner Banks came in to stop the bleeding but proceeded to allow two runs (added to Burdi’s tab), and the Knights were down four runs and headed for the loss.

Charlotte is now 1-5 — but that is actually not the worst record in the system.

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The bats came out for the Barons in their big win. In total, Birmingham had five home runs, eight extra-base hits, and 13 hits. They did not need much from the pitching staff, but the arms also played a good role in the win.

Every hitter in the lineup besides Romy González at least had one hit, and every hitter reached base. Zack Granite, Zach Remillard, Jameson Fisher, Xavier Fernández, and Craig Dedelow each had multiple hits. All but two batters drove in at least one of the 10 runs scored. You guys get the picture at this point, but the Barons raked today from the very start. They led from the very beginning, and the pitching did enough to keep that lead.

John Parke got the start, and though he did have trouble with traffic, he did enough in his four innings to just allow two runs. After that, the bullpen came in and got the job done. Ofreidy Gómez continued his hot start with two more very good innings. He did not allow a hit, and struck out four batters. Alec Hansen also came into the game today and was much better than his first appearance this season. He lasted one inning, just walked one, and struck out a couple of hitters.

When everything was said and done with this game, it was an easy, stress-free win, but the fourth inning brought the fireworks for the game. The Barons had three homers that inning, including back-to-back shots from Granite and Remillard. Fernández hit the third solo homer of that inning to get the lead to 7-2, insurmountable at that point in the game.

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What a game, and what a win for the Dash. They opened up the scoring in this one with two runs in the first two innings. Alex Destino drove in Duke Ellis, who’d stolen his third bag of the season, in the first and Travis Moniot hit a sac fly in the second.

Davis Martin got the start today, and was much better this time around. He went four innings with five strikeouts. He did see a run cross the plate in the third inning, but it was because of an error from Lazaro Leal. Martin left with a 2-1 lead for the bullpen to hold.

Vincenzo Aiello came in and did fine the in the fifth inning to keep the 2-1 lead. In the bottom half, Lenyn Sosa singled home Bryce Bush, who also stole a base in this matchup. Unfortunately, when it came to the sixth inning, Aiello allowed a run and was pulled. The pen was able to keep the 3-2 lead until the eighth, when Caleb Freeman allowed a homer to tie the ballgame. It was his only mistake of his two-inning outing, and the Dash could not retake the lead in regulation.

Like in MLB, a runner will start out at second in extras and that is how the Braves got a run in the 10th. It was not enough, though. The Braves walked Bryce Bush so the two players that stole bases in this game for the Dash were on the base paths for Alex Destino. Just like in the first inning, Destino sent a single into the outfield that scored Ellis. Thankfully, the center fielder for Rome was trying to be Apollo and get the runner at the plate, but threw it out-of-bounds instead for the walk-off winner.

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The lackluster start for the Cannon Ballers continues, as they are now 0-6 to start the season. This time, it was a pitching and a hitting problem in this loss.

Andrew Dalquist got the start and only lasted five outs. Not that he would have gone seven innings at this point in the season, but his command wasn’t there. He allowed one run and walked three batters in two innings he was in. Jeremiah Burke took over, and that is when the game got out of hand. Burke lasted only four outs, but allowed five runs during that span. After that, it was game over for the Ballers.

The hitting could not get it done, even if the pitching did better. They collected 10 hits on the day, three of them by José Rodríguez who has continued his hot start to the season (and career, dating back to 2019 Stateside). Rodriguez scored in the first inning after his triple got him into scoring position. He went on to single later for his second and third hits. Bryan Ramos was the hitter that drove in Rodríguez, and he also had two singles on the day.

Kannapolis did not score again until the eighth inning, when first baseman Sam Abbott came up and launched a 444 ft. solo homer. That was it for the offense, though; even with 10 hits, they could could only get two runs on the board.