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White Sox Minor League Update: June 5, 2021

Kanny wins its fourth, but Winston-Salem’s flat game prevents a system sweep

By Brett Ballantini
Seattle Mariners v Chicago White Sox
Jonathan Stiever was a monster on Saturday, stopping red-hot Nashville cold over six innings.
Ron Vesely/Getty Images

The Nashville Sounds thought the wins would come easy in Charlotte, but for a second straight night, no dice, as the Knights took N-ville to the shed, 4-0.

Clearly Nashville did not know the sound of Jonathan Stiever’s fastball, because the aspirant White Sox starter had his best outing of 2021 and likely the best since his brief MLB debut last August: six innings, three hits, four Ks, and 59 strikes of 88 pitches. Better, Stiever’s bullpen backed him fully, combining for two hits and four Ks over the final three frames. Jace Fry was most notable, with a hitless inning, two Ks, and still a completely untarnished ERA.

Hitting-wise, it was the longball for three of four runs, Tim Beckham and Luis González the authors. Beckham otherwise had a very rough day, with two Ks and two errors.

The Sounds drop to 21-7, Charlotte creeps up to 10-18.

Poll

Who was the MVP of Charlotte’s 4-0 whitewashing of Nashville on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 96%
    Jonathan Stiever: 6 IP, 3 H, 4 K, WIN
    (85 votes)
  • 3%
    Jace Fry: IP, 2 K
    (3 votes)
  • 0%
    Luis González: 1-for-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB, K
    (0 votes)
88 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cold Cat of Charlotte’s 4-0 whitewashing of Nashville on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 22%
    Gavin Sheets: 0-for-3, 2 LOB
    (16 votes)
  • 6%
    Tim Beckham: 1-for-3, R, RBI, HR, 2 K, 2 E
    (5 votes)
  • 38%
    Brian Goodwin: 0-for-3, BB, K, 2 LOB, CS
    (28 votes)
  • 31%
    Zach Remillard: 0-for-3, K, LOB, GIDP
    (23 votes)
72 votes total Vote Now

This 10-9 game, which pushed B-ham’s record up to 20-9 on the season, was not nearly as close as the final score looks. Although, hey, the Smokies got within a run with four outs still to go, so perhaps I should just shut my trap and talk about the 10-run Barons offense.

Birmingham generated 10 runs on 10 hits and five walks, and those 10 runs came in just the first five innings. The team may or may not have gone into four corners mode at that point, up 10-4, but that doesn’t really fit ultra-aggressive skipper Justin Jirschele’s style. Plus, seven left on base indicate there were runs left on the table tonight.

So, how now that close final? Well, you can never pin it on one guy, but there is a box score line not like the others tonight, and that belongs to Alec Hansen, whose on-again, off-again control has mostly been off this season and was set to OFFAREYOUKIDDINGITISREALLYOFF tonight. Hansen entered in the eighth inning, padded by that 10-4 lead, and almost gave it all back. His frame started with a Laz Rivera error, offset by a K and line out to Micker Adolfo in right. Then:

To be fair, Hansen wasn’t missing by much on these strikes, and mostly low, so it wasn’t exactly Nuke LaLoosh flattening the bull here, but still, four straight walks, just four strikes in the mix (and 11 of 28 overall for his outing), two batters walked in before Jirschele threw in the towel and went to Zach Muckenhirn. And Muckenhirn most decidedly did not bail out Hansen, surrendering two singles that added three runs (unearned, thanks Laz!) to Hansen’s tab.

Luis Ledo entered for the ninth and, thankfully, took just eight pitches to extinguish all hope that this Tennessee madness would persist.

Poll

Who was the MVP of Birmingham’s 10-9 win over the Smokies on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 13%
    Zack Granite: 2-for-3, 3 R, 2 BB, K, SB
    (8 votes)
  • 78%
    Romy González: 2-for-3, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB, HBP, 2 SB, LOB, GIDP
    (47 votes)
  • 3%
    Craig Dedelow: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, LOB
    (2 votes)
  • 5%
    Luis Ledo: IP, eight pitches, SAVE
    (3 votes)
60 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cold Cat of Birmingham’s 10-9 win over the Smokies on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 91%
    Alec Hansen: 2⁄3 IP, 5 R, 4 BB, K
    (55 votes)
  • 0%
    Zach Muckenhirn: 1⁄3 IP, 2 H, K, HOLD
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Jason Bilous: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, HR
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Micker Adolfo: 1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, 3 K, 4 LOB
    (2 votes)
  • 5%
    Ti’quan Forbes: 0-for-3, HBP, 2 K, 2 LOB
    (3 votes)
60 votes total Vote Now

Well, as the only writer on staff with a winning record so far with minors writeups, W-S proves to be the only spoiler of an otherwise perfect day, dropping a game, and big, at the beatable Greensboro Grasshoppers, 7-2.

Not much good to report, three errors in the field, just two relatively clean outings from the pitching staff, and very little hittin’ outside of Travis Moniot.

Isaiah Carranza didn’t much have it, falling to 1-5 in a both wild (three walks) and juicy (two homers) outing that swelled his Kanny-destined ERA to 8.10. Dan Metzdorf, promoted from Kannapolis for reasons not yet known, entered at 3-0 and left the game at 6-1, logging four pen-saving innings but getting scarred for five hits and three runs in doing so.

There were bright spots, but how’s about you read them in the polls, because two runs, five hits and three errors does not merit flowery prose from this fella.

Poll

Who was the MVP of Winston-Salem’s 7-2 loss at Greensboro on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 82%
    Travis Moniot: 2-for-3, R, RBI, 2B, HR, K, E, CS
    (38 votes)
  • 10%
    Tyler Johnson: IP, BB, K
    (5 votes)
  • 4%
    Luke Shilling: IP, H, BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 2%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 1-for-3, BB, K, LOB, picked off at 1B
    (1 vote)
46 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cold Cat of Winston-Salem’s 7-2 loss at Greensboro on Saturday?

This poll is closed

  • 23%
    Alex Destino: 0-for-4, 3 K, LOB
    (10 votes)
  • 0%
    Duke Ellis: 0-for-3, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 62%
    Isaiah Carranza: 2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HR, E, LOSS
    (27 votes)
  • 2%
    Dan Metzdorf: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, BB, K, HB, HR
    (1 vote)
  • 11%
    Xavier Fernández: 0-for-4, E, 1-for-5 CS
    (5 votes)
43 votes total Vote Now

The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers today revealed that the first month of the season was a mere prank, and are ready to embark on the 24-4 run that will get them back to even in this first half.

And it was Lency Delgado who delivered them.

It wasn’t easy, as the CBs fell behind, 3-0, before all the fannies had even squeezed into Fayetteville seats today.

But the fabulous Chase Krogman (yup-yup 1.101 OPS as he devours Low-A alive when not getting whacked on the hand with pitches) smacked a two-run homer, and then a succession of non-hit RBIs (GIDP, FC) actually put Kanny in the catbird seat for their fourth win of this five-week-old season.

It would not be so easy, however, as McKinley Moore could not close out the game cleanly, allowing a game-tying homer to Justin Dirden on the first swing of the game against him. But the righthander bounced back and got the final six outs of the game clean, no hits, no runs.

It was only six outs, and not pinball extras, this Saturday because with one out in the ninth, Delgado took a get-me-over strike on 3-1 out to left, for what would be the eventual game-winner. Lency does not have to pay for his postgame pizza slice at the concession stand tonight!

Poll

Who was Kanny’s MVP in Saturday’s stirring, 5-4 win over the Woodpeckers?

This poll is closed

  • 48%
    Lency Delgado: 2-for-4, R, GWRBI, HR, LOB
    (22 votes)
  • 48%
    Chase Krogman: 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K
    (22 votes)
  • 2%
    Kevin Folman: 2 2⁄3 IP, 2 H, 2 K
    (1 vote)
45 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was Kanny’s Cold Cat in Saturday’s stirring, 5-4 win over the Woodpeckers?

This poll is closed

  • 34%
    Chase Solesky: 3 1⁄3 IP, 5 H, 3 R/2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
    (14 votes)
  • 26%
    Bryan Ramos: 0-for-4, 2 K, 4 LOB
    (11 votes)
  • 39%
    Iván González: 0-for-4, K, 2 LOB, 2 GIDP, 0-for-1 CS
    (16 votes)
  • 0%
    José Rodriguez: 0-for-4, K, LOB
    (0 votes)
41 votes total Vote Now

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