White Sox Minor League Update: July 7, 2021

The Charlotte Knights could not play due to inclement weather, so assuming the weather holds up, they will have a doubleheader tomorrow.

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One big inning by the Shuckers put the Barons in a difficult position, and most Birmingham hitters struggled to reach base. This resulted in a relatively low-scoring loss Wednesday night.

In the top of the fourth, Romy González led off with a single and picked up his 13th stolen base of the season. Then, with one out, Carlos Pérez doubled, so González scored rather easily. This was the first run of the game for either team, but unfortunately, it was the only time the Barons scored. The double by Pérez was also the only extra base hit for the Barons in this game.

Meanwhile, starter Jason Bilous got off to a fast start for the Barons, as he only allowed two singles in the first three innings. Nobody entered scoring position for the Shuckers until the fourth, but that inning was particularly troublesome for Bilous. The Shuckers had a runner on first with two outs, and it appeared to be another quiet inning. However, the next four Shuckers singled, and by the end of the inning, Biloxi led by a score of 4-1. Bilous was removed after that fourth consecutive single.

A Biloxi home run in the fifth against Félix Paulino gave the Shuckers another insurance run. But they did not need the insurance, as the Barons’ bats got cold down the stretch.

The Barons will be back in action against Biloxi tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. Central.

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Nearly everyone on Winston-Salem’s pitching staff had a rough night, and other than one huge inning, the bats were quiet. As a result, the Crawdads ran away with this one in the latter innings.

Bailey Horn was the starter for the Dash, and he was pulled after two-thirds of an inning, facing six batters. Four of those six reached base safely, and three of them scored. The biggest hit of the inning was a three-run homer by Trey Hair to give the Crawdads a 3-0 lead.

The Dash, however, put up a big rally in the bottom of the second. With one out, Alex Destino and Gunnar Troutwine drew back-to-back walks. Then, Travis Moniot hit a two-run double, and Johan Cruz hit his third homer of the year to put the Dash on top, 4-3.

Unfortunately, that was as good as the Dash’s situation would get. Although Cooper Bradford pitched 3 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings after taking over for Horn, the bullpen had a forgettable night overall. Wilber Perez took over on the mound after Cooper was removed, and the Crawdads were not fooled by him. The first batter who faced Perez tripled, and the next one homered. That gave Hickory a lead that did not relinquish. Perez faced seven batters, five reached base safely, and four of them scored. By the time Trey Jeans took over on the mound, Hickory led by a score of 7-4.

The Crawdads added an insurance run in the sixth after a double, a ground out that advanced the runner, and a passed ball. That made it 8-4, and the game got rather ugly in the eighth and ninth innings, as the Crawdads poured it on late. Johan Cruz drove in another run with a single in the ninth, but it was not nearly enough in tonight’s loss.

Some news that is great for the Dash, but more importantly, the White Sox organization, is that Eloy Jiménez is getting close to returning to action.

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Though this one got a bit closer than the Cannon Ballers would have liked, Kannapolis held on for the victory during a very high-scoring game.

The Cannon Ballers bats did not waste any time getting started, as they jumped out to a lead that ultimately turned out to be insurmountable. In the first inning, Kannapolis put three on the board. The first four batters reached base safely (three singles and a fielder’s choice in which nobody was retired). The singles by Bryan Ramos and Luis Mieses drove in the first two runs of the game. Later in the inning, Harvin Mendoza drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly.

The Cannon Ballers topped themselves in the second, as they scored four times that inning. With one out, James Beard walked, and back-to-back singles by José Rodríguez and Samil Polanco made it 4-0. A wild pitch and an RBI ground out increased the lead to six. Mieses and DJ Gladney capped off the big inning with back-to-back doubles, and after two innings, it was 7-0.

The Cannon Ballers were not done adding insurance runs. In the third, RBI singles by Rodríguez and Ramos made the score 9-0. The lead got expanded to double digits in the fourth inning, when Mendoza doubled, and Chase Krogman hit an RBI single with two outs.

On the other side of the ball, Ángel Acevedo got off to a great start, shutting down the Nationals through his first four innings. Acevedo finally ran into trouble in the fifth, though, and he did not make it out of that inning. After allowing two hits, Acevedo was removed with runners on second and third with one out in the fifth. The score was still 10-0 at that point, so the lead seemed about as safe as it could get. After an error and three more hits in the fifth, though, it was 10-4.

The Cannon Ballers tacked on one more in the sixth. After loading the bases with no outs, Daniel Millwee drove in the Cannon Ballers’ 11th run by grounding into a force out.

The Cannon Ballers did not manage to score any runs in the last three innings, and the bullpen struggled down the stretch. However, even with the Nationals’ furious rally after falling behind by 10, they fell short.

After scoring three in the sixth and two in the eighth, the score was 11-9 entering the bottom of the ninth. José Sánchez of the Nationals led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Tyson Messer retired the next batter with a grounder, and Marcus Evey picked up the save by striking out the last two batters of the game.