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White Sox Minor League Update: July 6, 2021

The top-tier teams come away with wins after taking the lead late, but the lower levels struggle

By Darren Black
Romy González hit another homer tonight, as he tried to get his and Birmingham’s season back on track.
JeffAllison/Twitter

A comeback game for Charlotte that ended in the 11th inning with a Ti’Quan Forbes RBI single and a dominant save from Connor Sadzeck.

Overall, the pitching was very good and the bullpen was even better. Mike Wright got the start and was largely the reason why they were down early. He went 5 2⁄3 innings and allowed four runs, including a couple of homers. After he was relieved, it was all Knights.

There are too many names to go into for the bullpen, as six arms combined for the final 5 1⁄3 innings, but each were impressive and got the job done. They all combined for eight strikeouts and none of them allowed a hit, they also did not allow any zombie runner to score in the two extra innings. Just to highlight some names, Matt Tomshaw, Zack Burdi, and Nik Turley each had two strikeouts in their inning of work to get the win.

On the hitting side, it took awhile to get anything going, but it all worked out. Mikie Mahtook got the scoring started with a homer.

Zach Remillard and Marco Hernandez along with Mahtook each had multiple hits on the day. Mahtook’s second hit came in the eighth inning after Blake Rutherford had an RBI and then scored off of an error. It tied the game 4-4 and that’s why they went to extras. After the Forbes RBI to take a 5-4 lead in the 11th, the Knights just needed one more great play for the win, as Rutherford made a very Brian Anderson-esque Blackout Game dive to end the game.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 28%
    Mikie Mahtook: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (18 votes)
  • 9%
    Marco Hernández: 3-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
    (6 votes)
  • 62%
    Bullpen: 5 1⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 BB, 8 K
    (40 votes)
64 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 24%
    Mike Wright: 5 2⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 K
    (12 votes)
  • 76%
    Luis González: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 2 K
    (38 votes)
50 votes total Vote Now

It was a good game all around for the Barons, as the pitching kept the offense in the game for them to take the lead for good late. John Parke got the start and was really good for four of his five innings. The lone inning he had trouble in was the third, when he allowed two runs to tie the game. That lead Birmingham had came in the first inning, thanks to Romy González. He has been scuffling a bit recently, but he unloaded for a two-run homer to take the lead in the opening inning.

After Parke left, the bullpen shut down the Biloxi offense. Emilio Vargas and Bennett Sousa each went two innings of shutout baseball. In Sousa’s case, he struck out four batters and did not allow any hits as he lowered his ERA to 2.08 and got his third save of the season. Micker Adolfo helped retake the lead with with an RBI double, and he actually came around to score on his own double because of a throwing error. JJ Muno added some insurance with his fifth homer of the season to put the game where it ended, 5-2.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 50%
    Romy González: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (27 votes)
  • 25%
    Micker Adolfo: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (14 votes)
  • 16%
    Bennett Sousa: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K
    (9 votes)
  • 7%
    John Parke: 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K
    (4 votes)
54 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 94%
    Xavier Fernández: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
    (36 votes)
  • 5%
    Zack Granite: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 0 K
    (2 votes)
38 votes total Vote Now

It was not a great game in Winston-Salem, not great at all, as it was shut out and the pitching was lackluster. Davis Martin started the game and did pretty well, it was just that the bullpen did not help. He went four innings and had his strikeout pitch going, with six. Davis has not been as good this season compared to previous campaign, but he was good tonight. Obviously he left without a lead because the Dash couldn’t score, but the bullpen came in and allowed six runs. Isiah Carranza allowed the bulk of those in the top of the ninth, he had been cruising before that but he was only able to muster two outs in the final inning while allowing five runs. If there was hope for a walk-off win, that hope was dashed (ha get it) pretty quickly.

Just to gloss over the horrid offense, six different players got hits, they were just all singles. Yoelqui Céspedes had one of those singles, as did Yolbert Sánchez, keeping his hit streak going.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 83%
    Davis Martin: 4 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K
    (31 votes)
  • 16%
    Yolbert Sánchez: 1-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
    (6 votes)
37 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 88%
    Isaiah Carranza: 3 2⁄3 IP,5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K
    (31 votes)
  • 11%
    Luis Curbelo: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K
    (4 votes)
35 votes total Vote Now

A game that went from a 3-0 lead to a 7-3 loss in extras is a new way to lose for Kannapolis, so, that’s good? The Cannon Ballers started out hot out of the gate, with a 3-0 lead after just two innings. Bryan Ramos doubled home the first run and then advanced to third on a throwing error. He then proceeded to score on a wild pitch so he really did it all, with some help from the Nationals, to make it 2-0. Victor Torres drove in the final run in the second as he had a great night at the plate: three hits, all singles.

Martin Carrasco got the start and went four shutout innings, where he only allowed one hit. Sammy Peralta came in after and he was on the mound when the Nationals tied the game, though two of the three runs that crossed the plate were unearned. That got us to extras, and Kannapolis just imploded. They could not score with the extra runner on base in the top of the 10th, and then lost on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the inning. McKinley Moore was on the mound for that grand slam, as his ERA skyrocketed up to 6.11 and Kannapolis nears 40 losses on the season.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 42%
    Victor Torres: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (14 votes)
  • 57%
    Martin Carrasco: 4 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K
    (19 votes)
33 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat

This poll is closed

  • 72%
    McKinley Moore: 1 1⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K
    (24 votes)
  • 24%
    Caberea Weaver: 0-for-4, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K
    (8 votes)
  • 3%
    Samil Polanco: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
33 votes total Vote Now

For some reason, only the Arizona Complex League plays on Mondays, not sure why but the ACL Sox did and they lost. Ronaldo Guzman got the start and just had a real hard time keeping the ball in the park. He allowed three homers in his five innings, but thankfully they were all solo shots so the damage was minimal. The bullpen made sure to make a mess of things, though. Keiter Perez and Vince Arobio came in and proceeded to allow six runs between the two. It was just ugly, as they blew the lead and the game.

But the hitting had some bright spots. Benyamin Bailey is back to hitting .400, as he had a 2-for-2 day that included a double. He is hitting rookie ball pitchers pretty well right now, as he tries to find himself again after a poor campaign in Kannapolis. Meanwhile, Richard Garcia has had a hell of a start to the season with a 2.000 OPS. He hit his second homer to get to that OPS mark.

Poll

Who was the ACL MVP on July 5?

This poll is closed

  • 72%
    Benyamin Bailey: 2-for-2, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB
    (26 votes)
  • 27%
    Richard Garcia: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
    (10 votes)
36 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the ACL Cold Cat on July 5?

This poll is closed

  • 36%
    Keiter Perez: 1 2⁄3 IP, 3 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 3 K
    (11 votes)
  • 56%
    Vince Arobio: 2⁄3 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K
    (17 votes)
  • 6%
    Wilber Sanchez: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 2 K
    (2 votes)
30 votes total Vote Now

In the game that was actually tonight, the ACL White Sox came away with a win after taking the lead in the eighth inning. Neither offense was that impressive, and the ACL Sox had fewer hits than the Reds. They reached base eight times (six hits and two walks) while striking out 12 times. Jagger Rusconi was the lone batter to have multiple hits, both of which were doubles. Benyamin Bailey came away with a double of his own as well, his first.

The pitching, on the other hand, was very good. Jacob Gilliland got the start and went five strong innings, only allowing two runs. The bullpen came in and kept the Reds from scoring, which gave the lineup an opportunity to tie and win the game late. Homer Cruz took over and went three no-hit innings and Erick Bello threw a scoreless ninth to get his first professional save. As an aside, and a surprisingly good one at that, the pitching staff did not walk a single batter.

Poll

Who was the ACL MVP on July 6?

This poll is closed

  • 29%
    Jacob Gilliland: 5 IP, 2 ER (3 R), 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K
    (8 votes)
  • 59%
    Homer Cruz: 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
    (16 votes)
  • 11%
    Jagger Rusconi: 2-for-3, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K
    (3 votes)
27 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the ACL Cold Cat on July 6?

This poll is closed

  • 96%
    Elijah Tatís: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 Error
    (30 votes)
  • 3%
    Anderson Comas: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
    (1 vote)
31 votes total Vote Now

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