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White Sox Minor League Update: July 2, 2021

Stellar starting pitching, some ultimately futile, as the system goes 2-3 on the day

By Julie Brady
Jimmy Lambert propelled the Knights to victory with some help from Tim Beckham’s bat
Laura Wolff/Charlotte Knights
Knights/Tides linescore
Batter box score
Pitcher box score
Misc info

Box score link

Jimmy Lambert handed in a gem that the rest of the Knights bullpen held together as Charlotte turned the Tides 4-0 on Friday night. Lambert has had an up-and-down year so far, both in terms of quality and organizational level, and this was his best outing yet. He struck out eight over 5 ⅔ innings, walking three and giving up two hits; Hunter Schryver, Keyvius Sampson, Connor Sadzeck, and Nik Turley all did their jobs as well, keeping the shutout intact to bring the Knights to a 21-29 record. Turley, 31 years old with a little under 22 innings of major league service with the Pirates in 2020, has a 1.53 ERA over 17 ⅔ bullpen innings with the Knights this season, walking eight and striking out 27.

This is a lineup missing its two biggest hitters as they’re busy doing something or other in Detroit, but the Knights were able to compensate. Tim Beckham has cooled off a bit from his stretch of nine dongs in 12 games earlier in June, but he still hit his team-leading 11th tonight to give the Knights the only run they needed. They’d still add more, though—in the fourth, Marco Hernández singled in Luis González after he’d walked; Hernández scored on a balk in the seventh; and in the eighth, Matt Reynolds walked and González doubled him in before there straight strikeouts ended the threat.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 82%
    Jimmy Lambert: 5 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K (W)
    (75 votes)
  • 3%
    Bullpen: 3 ⅓ IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K
    (3 votes)
  • 12%
    Tim Beckham: 2-for-4, HR, R, RBI, K
    (11 votes)
  • 1%
    Luis González: 2-for-3, 2B, R, RBI, BB, E
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Marco Hernández: 1-for-4, R, RBI, K
    (0 votes)
  • 1%
    Nick Williams: 2-for-4
    (1 vote)
91 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 46%
    Blake Rutherford: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (37 votes)
  • 51%
    Seby Zavala: 0-for-3, 3 K
    (41 votes)
  • 1%
    Zach Remillard: 0-for-3
    (1 vote)
79 votes total Vote Now
Lookouts/Barons linescore
Batter box score
Pitching box score
Misc info

Box score link

It should have gone better, but the Barons were not able to score enough runs to beat the Lookouts, so under the rules of baseball, they lost. Kade McClure pitched very well between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem in 2019, but hasn’t been able to find that same level of success in Birmingham. Now, though, it might all be coming together: McClure threw five shutout innings, allowing five hits and walking only one while striking out eight. That means in three of his last four starts, he’s gone five innings and allowed zero runs and at most five hits. Emilio Vargas pitched a scoreless inning behind him, but then J.B. Olson gave up three doubles and three singles in a disastrous four-run seventh. Anderson Severino staunched the bleeding with 1 ⅓ scoreless, but it restarted when Félix Paulino allowed a final ninth-inning run.

The Barons did get some offense going late, or more specifically, Laz Rivera somehow created offense from nothing, singling on a bunt with one-out in the eighth and scampering to second on the throwing error. He scored when Romy González singled him in. Craig Dedelow was hit by a pitch to open the ninth, then Carlos Pérez walked, then Jameson Fisher scored Dedelow with a single. This rally was short-lived, however, as Pérez was doubled off second base on Ti’Quan Forbes’ fly out, then Mitch Roman struck out to end it.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 95%
    Kade McClure: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 8 K
    (58 votes)
  • 3%
    Romy González: 3-for-4, RBI
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    Laz Rivera: 1-for-4, R
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Craig Dedelow: 0-for-3, R, HBP, outfield assist at home
    (0 votes)
  • 1%
    Jameson Fisher: 2-for-4, RBI
    (1 vote)
61 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 84%
    JB Olson: ⅔ IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K (L)
    (42 votes)
  • 12%
    Mitch Roman: 0-for-4, 4 K
    (6 votes)
  • 4%
    Joel Booker: 0-for-3, K
    (2 votes)
50 votes total Vote Now
Dash/Drive linescore
Batter and pitcher box score
Misc info

Box score link

The Dash have lost three straight and six of eight, despite relentless production from Yolbert Sánchez and Lenyn Sosa. Both are on lengthy hitting streaks: Sánchez now at 12 (he entered today batting .375/.400/.563 with three home runs during that time) and Sosa’s stretching to 16 (.419/.446/.581 entering today). Sánchez is now batting .297/.360/.390 overall and Sosa is at .287/.318/.446.

Their two collective hits today came in the first, Sánchez singling and Sosa hitting his sixth dinger of the year. That and a Johan Cruz walk and also a Johan Cruz strikeout/dropped third strike scenario were the only times all game any member of the Dash reached base. Yoelkis Céspedes struck out four times.

Taylor Varnell was finally allowed to stretch out for six full innings, and it was pretty typical: four hits, one run, three walks, nine strikeouts. This drops his ERA down to 1.96 in 46 innings (WHIP of 0.96) and forces me to ring the “Promote Varnell To Birmingham” bell. Declan Cronin gets the loss in this one, exiting with two on in the eighth, leaving Brian Glowicki to allow a gut-wrenching two-run single to blow the save and the game.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 92%
    Taylor Varnell: 6 IP, 4 H, R, 3 BB, 9 K (W)
    (50 votes)
  • 7%
    Lenyn Sosa: 1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
    (4 votes)
  • 0%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 1-for-4, R
    (0 votes)
54 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 96%
    Yoelkis Céspedes: 0-for-4, 4 K
    (59 votes)
  • 0%
    Travis Moniot: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (0 votes)
  • 3%
    Declan Cronin: 1 ⅓ IP, H, 2 R, BB, K (L)
    (2 votes)
61 votes total Vote Now
RiverDogs/Cannon Ballers linescore
Batter box score
Pitcher box score
Misc info

Box score link

You know it hasn’t gone well when a position player is pitching, and you know it really hasn’t gone well when the position player ends up with the best line out of all the actual pitchers. Kevin Folman, Rigo Fernández, and Homer Cruz each gave up at least three runs with multiple walks during their appearances. McKinley Moore entered and also gave up a run in just over an inning, although he walked nobody and each of his four outs were earned by strikeout. Then it was time for the groundskeeper’s kid to mop it up, Brandon Bossard walking a couple himself but allowing no hits and striking out one to escape as the only unscathed Baller, ERA of 0.00 gleaming.

It was a rough day for pretty much everyone offensively except for Caberea Weaver, who hit a three-run dong in the second inning to give Kannapolis a short-lived lead. Like last night, the Ballers had a bit of a ninth-run rally that ultimately fell short; tonight, Harvin Mendoza walked to open the ninth and Weaver doubled him in. A passed ball got Weaver to third, then Daniel Millwee and James Beard walked back-to-back to load the bases with one out. José Rodriguez knocked in Weaver with a sac fly, but Samil Polanco flied out to end the game.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 89%
    Caberea Weaver: 2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 K, E
    (42 votes)
  • 2%
    Harvin Mendoza: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, K
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    Luis Mieses: 1-for-4, R
    (0 votes)
  • 8%
    James Beard: 1-for-1, 3 BB
    (4 votes)
47 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    Kevin Folman: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K
    (1 vote)
  • 10%
    Rigo Fernández: 1 ⅔, H, 3 R, 2 BB, K (L)
    (4 votes)
  • 75%
    Homer Cruz: 1 ⅓ IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, K
    (30 votes)
  • 10%
    Samil Polanco: 0-for-5, 2 K
    (4 votes)
  • 2%
    Bryan Ramos: 0-for-4, 2 K
    (1 vote)
40 votes total Vote Now
Sox/Angels linescore
Batter box score
Pitcher box score and misc info

Box score link

Today’s seven-inning ACL game went much better than yesterday’s 18-strikeout affair, and the ACL Sox are on the board with their first victory of the infantile season. Cristian Mena, signed by the Sox in 2019, had never actually appeared into a game until today. In his organizational and professional debut, he threw five innings, allowing one run (a solo home run), giving up three hits but walking nobody and striking out eight. Erick Bello has a similar story, although he got a few innings in the first game of the season; here, he kept his ERA at 0.00, throwing two solid innings with a walk and a single.

Bryce Bush was in the lineup today, rehabbing from injury, and went 0-for-2 with a walk as DH before being pulled. Logan Glass had the big hit here, his third-inning double knocking in both Anthony Espinoza and Johnabiell Laureano. The Sox also scored one in the second on a wild pitch, one in the fourth on Jhoneiker Betancourt’s first home run, and one in the sixth after Wilfred Veras doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a sac fly from Jeremiah Burks.

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 77%
    Cristian Mena: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K, WP (W)
    (31 votes)
  • 7%
    Jhoneiker Betancourt: 2-for-3, HR, R, RBI
    (3 votes)
  • 15%
    Wilfred Veras: 3-for-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, E
    (6 votes)
  • 0%
    Logan Glass: 1-for-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Anthony Espinoza: 2-for-4, R, K, CS
    (0 votes)
40 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the ACL Sox Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 58%
    Johnabiell Laureano: 0-for-4, R, 2 K
    (18 votes)
  • 12%
    Sam Abbott: 0-for-3, BB, 2 K
    (4 votes)
  • 29%
    E.P. Reese: 0-for-3
    (9 votes)
31 votes total Vote Now

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