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White Sox Minor League Update: July 18, 2021

Only one win today, hooray Birmingham, but Eloy, Jake Lamb, Micker Adolfo, Yermín Mercedes, and many more homered

By Darren Black
MLB: Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs
Eloy hit another rehab homer, this time in Charlotte, as the Knights lost, 13-12.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

If you hate pitchers and love offense, boy was this the game for you — especially if you’re not a Charlotte fan. There were 25 total runs in the game with two three-run innings, two four-run innings, and a six-run top of the ninth for the Gwinnett lead and win. The two teams also combined four 31 hits, along with five walks.

Let’s concentrate on Charlotte though, and boy, were the big bats out. We are just going to run through all six homers real quick.

Eloy Jiménez hit another rehab homer. It was his only hit of the game.

Blake Rutherford added the second, his fourth of the season and one of his two hits today.

Laz Rivera, who was recently promoted, hit the first Triple-A homer of his professional career. This homer was his lone hit.

Jake Lamb, who started his rehab assignment this weekend, joined the homer party. He also added a double, for two extra-base hits on the day.

Even Mikie Mahtook had a no-doubter, and he didn’t even start the game. He replaced Luis González midway through.

Finally and unfortunately, the last run for Charlotte came on a Yerminator homer. He now had a 1.072 OPS since his demotion, and his two-hit night certainly helped that.

The offense did so well, Charlotte should have won. But the pitching (especially the bullpen) and defense were not up to the task. The Knights used nine (!) pitchers in this one. We won’t go through all of them, and the vast majority of the pitchers did fine: Hunter Schryver, Kodi Mederios, and Zack Burdi each had shutout innings and Nik Turley got the Knights out of a jam with a good, two-out outing. The bad came from starter Tanner Banks, who allowed three runs while getting just eight outs. He was outdone by Tayron Guerrero, who could just muster one out while allowing four runs.

Where the game got out of hand was the ninth, when the Knights lost their four-run lead. Jace Fry was on the mound and saw five runs cross home. However, because of errors by Rivera and Eloy (yes, I know), all five were unearned. The Stripers took the lead, and kept it after that. For those wondering, Yolmer Sánchez is with Gwinnett and he has a .518 OPS; he was the only batter in the starting lineups for either team to not get a hit.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 3%
    Jake Lamb: 2-for-5, 1 HR, 0 BB, 0 K
    (6 votes)
  • 76%
    Yermín Mercedes: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K
    (117 votes)
  • 19%
    Blake Rutherford: 2-for-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (30 votes)
153 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 4%
    Tanner Banks, 2 2⁄3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 3 K
    (5 votes)
  • 59%
    Tayron Guerrero: 1⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 0 K
    (73 votes)
  • 36%
    Jace Fry: 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER (5 R), 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (45 votes)
123 votes total Vote Now

A walk-off winner for Birmingham was aided by quite a few top prospects. To start, literally, was a good outing from Konnor Pilkington, who went 4 1⁄3 shutout innings and only allowed three base runners. He also had a decent strikeout pitch going, with seven punch outs, while lowering his season ERA to 3.47. He was only at 76 pitches, removed because he had started a rain-suspended game on Thursday and was pitching on sort rest. Bennett Sousa relieved Pilkington, and he did not have a good outing, allowing the two runs for Rocket City in the sixth inning to tie the game.

Before that, the Barons had taken a lead because of Romy González and Craig Dedelow. González hit a leadoff homer for his 13th long bomb of the season.

Dedelow followed that up with an RBI single for the second run of the inning.

After that, the offense was not sluggish per se — but they couldn’t score. They had 10 hits with three walks and only seven strikeouts, so the ball was in play and out of the defense’s reach a decent amount. Birmingham was just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 12 players on base — not great. It was not until Micker Adolfo launched his 15th homer of the season, and his second hit of the game, to end it, 3-2. The Barons started with a homer, and ended with a homer — a good formula for a win.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP in Game 1?

This poll is closed

  • 50%
    Konnor Pilkington: 4 1⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 K
    (46 votes)
  • 48%
    Micker Adolfo: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K
    (45 votes)
  • 1%
    Romy González: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 0 K
    (1 vote)
92 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat in Game 1?

This poll is closed

  • 62%
    Bennett Sousa: 1 2⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K
    (41 votes)
  • 37%
    JJ Muno: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 0 K
    (25 votes)
66 votes total Vote Now

The nightcap was not as good for Birmingham as the opener, but probably just as exciting, as it came down to the final half-inning to decide a winner. Micker Adolfo had the game off, but that did not stop the Barons from getting another 11 hits in this game. Every single hitter in the lineup had at least one hit, but just two had multiple — Xavier Fernández and Joel Booker with two apiece. In Booker’s case, he was able to add a double on top of a single. Tyler Neslony had the biggest hit of the day for Birmingham. He hit a solo homer in the third inning, just his second-ever in Double-A. He was also the first out in the bottom of the eighth (extra innings), when Birmingham was looking to tie to extend the game. He advanced Booker to third and Romy González, who had one hit in the nightcap, grounded out but drove Booker in. Unfortunately, Jameson Fisher went down on a called third strike to end the game.

Enough about the offense, even though it was pretty good all day today. Emilio Vargas got the start and was quite good. He only allowed one hit, a homer, while striking out eight on the day. However, JB Olson came in and blew the game out of the water. He was only able to get two outs, while allowing four runs. The rest of the bullpen kept allowing runs, which eventually led to the Barons’ loss; Zach Muckenhirn and Anderson Severino each allowed a run.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP in Game 2?

This poll is closed

  • 17%
    Tyler Neslony: 1-for-2, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
    (11 votes)
  • 19%
    Joel Booker: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 2K, 1 SB
    (12 votes)
  • 62%
    Emilio Vargas: 4 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 8 K
    (39 votes)
62 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat in Game 2?

This poll is closed

  • 98%
    JB Olson: 2⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 0 K
    (53 votes)
  • 1%
    Zach Muckenhirn: 1 1⁄3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
54 votes total Vote Now

The Dash were doomed in just three innings, as it took two pitchers to allow all eight runs pretty quick. Dan Metzdorf got the start, and he had trouble in the first inning. He allowed all three runs, but had a better second. For the third, Cooper Bradford came in and just couldn’t get anything going. He only lasted one inning, allowing five runs on five hits. After just three innings, it was 8-2, and Winston-Salem did not have enough offense to come back. A reason for that is they only had two extra-base hits, and the majority of everything else was a single, walk, or strikeout — not much hope to score nine runs.

Alex Destino and Jagger Rusconi led the way with two hits each. Rusconi had a double, while Evan Skoug had the other. Skoug’s came in the fifth inning, driving in two runs. For those on Yoelqui Céspedes watch, he had a single and a walk today.

The two best performers on the day belonged to the bullpen. Again, all eight runs came in the first three innings, so Trey Jeans and Edgar Navarro combined for five shutout innings. Jeans was a bit better, as he just threw strike after strike after strike. In three innings and 42 pitches, he only had seven pitches outside the zone. I guess he should have started the game.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 79%
    Trey Jeans: 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K
    (43 votes)
  • 1%
    Edgar Navarro: 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
  • 18%
    Jagger Rusconi: 2-for-4, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K
    (10 votes)
54 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    Dan Metzdorf: 2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K
    (1 vote)
  • 89%
    Cooper Bradford: 1 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K
    (44 votes)
  • 8%
    Travis Moniot: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Error
    (4 votes)
49 votes total Vote Now

Not great Kanny, not great at all, as they get swept in a six-game series this week, and are still in search for their 20th win of the season. Not a ton of good from the Cannon Ballers overall, besides a few players. Of course, José Rodríguez did well with a couple hits; they were both singles.

Luis Mieses probably had a better day, along with Harvin Mendoza. Both players continue to be significantly better in Low-A compared to Winston-Salem. Maybe some of it was confidence, as they seem to be a bit more comfortable offensively. Both had two today, with Mendoza hitting his ninth double in Kannapolis.

Caberea Weaver also had a a decent day, just without a hit. He reached base twice via base on balls and stole two bases, too.

On the pitching side, it was mostly bad besides Martin Carrasco. He did see a run cross the plate but it was unearned, as the Cannon Ballers committed three errors on the day. Carrasco went three innings and struck out two, for one of his better outings on the year. It was not really a close game, but some of the favorites still did well.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 8%
    José Rodríguez: 2-for-5, 0 BB, 0 K
    (4 votes)
  • 74%
    Luis Mieses: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (35 votes)
  • 4%
    Harvin Mendoza: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
    (2 votes)
  • 12%
    Martin Carrasco: 3 IP, 0 ER (1 R), 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (6 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 4%
    Angel Acevedo: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER (4 R), 2 BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
  • 89%
    Karan Patel: 1 2⁄3, 5 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K
    (42 votes)
  • 6%
    Samil Polanco: 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 2 Errors
    (3 votes)
  • 0%
    Chase Krogman: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (0 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now

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