The Knights got down early, as waiting to score till the ninth inning is a good recipe for a loss.
Alex McRae allowed three runs in the first two innings, and Jake Burger ended the shutout with a two-run homer in the ninth.
Burger reached base twice on the day; besides his 17th Triple-A homer, he walked as well. The Knights mostly relied on singles, but Blake Rutherford had a triple for Charlotte’s second and last extra-base hit. He also had two hits, along with Danny Mendick and Yermín Mercedes, so it was really only former MLBers hitting well tonight.
McRae only lasted one more inning, and then Tanner Banks replaced him. Banks was mostly good, but really struggled in the sixth inning, when he allowed a two-run shot to really put the game away, at 5-0. Anderson Severino had the best night of the pitching staff, with a calm and cool two shutout innings with three Ks.
Poll
Who was the Knights MVP?
This poll is closed
-
76%
Jake Burger: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K
-
1%
Blake Rutherford: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
21%
Yermín Mercedes: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K
Poll
Who was the Knights Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
15%
Mikie Mahtook: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
83%
Alex McRae: 3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K
-
1%
Tanner Banks: 3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K
The Barons go down, as they look to hang on to first place and become the only White Sox affiliate team to make the playoffs.
Of note, before we get to other things, José Rodríguez made his Double-A debut today but went hitless — send him down!
The rest of the offense was obviously better, but two guys stood out above the rest. Mitch Roman had a couple of singles, and then Jameson Fisher hit his 12th homer of the season in the sixth innings, one of his two hits. Other guys did collect some hits, but nothing came of it: Lenyn Sosa had one, and Yoelqui Céspedes had an RBI single as well.
Emilio Vargas started the game and really struggled. He was striking guys out often enough with eight in just five innings, but he got hit a lot and walked too many batters. What broke him was a three-run homer that he allowed in the fifth inning. He got the next two batters out, then JB Olson relieved him and settled things down some. Olson went the final three innings and just allowed one run, but the offense could not make a comeback.
Poll
Who was the Barons MVP?
This poll is closed
-
1%
Mitch Roman: 2-for-3, 0 BB, 0 K
-
98%
Jameson Fisher: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
-
0%
JB Olson: 3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Poll
Who was the Barons Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
26%
Craig Dedelow: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
0%
José Rodríguez: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
-
73%
Emilio Vargas: 5 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 8 K
Sheesh, not great Bob, or Winston-Salem. They were blown out, 8-0, with very little good coming from the game.
But on the good side, McKinley Moore did pretty alright, trying very hard to allow a run without doing so. With two hits and a walk, Moore somehow escaped the ninth inning without allowing a run. Brandon Bossard led the team in hits with two, both singles. Finally, Luis Mieses had a 1-for-4 day, but his lone hit was a double.
The bad was just plain bad. Five of the nine batters in the lineup decided to not get hits, though Evan Skoug still reached base twice with walks. Jesus Valles was doing well in the first three innings, but proceeded to allow five runs in the final 1 2⁄3 innings he pitched. Cooper Bradford and Jordan Mikel allowed three more runs to put a stamp on the loss.
Poll
Who was the Dash MVP?
This poll is closed
-
77%
Brandon Bossard: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
8%
Luis Mieses: 1-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
-
13%
McKinley Moore: 1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Poll
Who was the Dash Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
21%
Jeremiah Burks: 0-for-5, 0 BB, 2 K
-
76%
Jesus Valles: 4 2⁄3 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 5 K
-
2%
Jordan Mikel: 2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Kannapolis has a win streak, wow, what an amazing thing. It was a wire-to-wire, back-and-forth game, with the Cannon Ballers getting a quick lead and then losing it right away, only to slowly re-take the lead and then make it big enough, just enough, that the bullpen could not give it away.
Caberea Weaver got the runs started with a leadoff homer, one of his two hits on the day. A couple of batters later, Bryan Ramos hit what was one of his two triples on the day and eventually scored to get the 2-0 lead. That went away in the bottom half of the inning, with a three-run first for Columbia. After that, the pitching was pretty good, sans one bad inning. The staff was able to put enough zeroes on the board for the bats to keep getting runs, to the point where Kannapolis was leading, 6-3, in the seventh inning.
In large part, Angel Acevedo should get credit for that lead even though he was on the mound. He was sandwiched between the two pitchers who allowed all five runs, with three shutout innings. Acevedo did get hit around a bit, but his four strikeouts limited any damage. Gil Luna Jr. closed out the game and earned a seven-out save — those are always fun.
Poll
Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?
This poll is closed
-
7%
Angel Acevedo: 3 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K
-
56%
Bryan Ramos: 3-for-5, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K
-
14%
Gil Luna Jr. 2 1⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K
-
21%
Caberea Weaver: 2-for-3, 1 HR, 2 BB, 0 K
Poll
Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
22%
DJ Gladney: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
-
77%
Fraser Ellard: 2⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Everybody gets on base, and two batters have four hits on the day — yeah, the ACL Sox offense was pretty good. The team reached base 18 times but somehow, only three of them were extra-base hits. That is probably why they could only put seven runs on the board, failing at plenty of opportunities to get more (4-for-15 with RISP). Colby Smelley, the 13th round pick, and Wilfred Veras had four hits each, so two hitters combined for a little more than half of the hits for the team. Smelley had two doubles and Veras had the triple, so these two also had all three extra-base hits. Benyamin Bailey had a good day for himself, too, going 2-for-5 and scoring a couple times.
The pitching was very good, and really only had one lapse. Just to note a few of the many arms used, Noah Owen (the draftee out of junior college) started this game and threw three hitless innings. After a couple of one-inning stints, Erick Bello had another three innings and allowing two hits and striking out five batters. Haylen Green closed out the win, to extend his shutout streak to eight innings.
Poll
Who was the ACL Sox MVP?
This poll is closed
-
63%
Wilfred Veras: 4-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K
-
28%
Colby Smelley: 4-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
-
6%
Noah Owen: 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K
-
2%
Erick Bello: 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Poll
Who was the ACL Sox Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
42%
Drake Nightengale: 1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K
-
57%
Wes Kath: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 2 K
The first of two games in the DSL was the conclusion of a game suspended by rain back on Saturday with the White Sox down, 2-0, and this one ended in a loss due to no offense. This game was mostly bad all around. The offense had five hits and only scored one run, and that one run wasn’t even impressive because it was mostly because of the other team: Juan Mercedes scored off of a wild pitch. The defense was somehow even worse. They had four errors in the field that accounted for two of the five S.D. runs scored.
The pitching was not great, either, but did well enough to keep the game close. Yohemy Nolasco started the game and probably did best, with just one hit and run allowed. Oriel Castro was the bulk guy, and his command was all over the place with five walks. But he was also burned by errors, with two of his three runs being unearned.
Poll
Who was the DSL Sox MVP?
This poll is closed
-
48%
Yohemy Nolasco: 2 2⁄3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K
-
36%
Oriel Castro: 4 1⁄3 IP, 1 ER (3 R), 4 H, 5 BB, 7 K
-
16%
Juan Mercedes: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Poll
Who was the DSL Sox Cold Cat?
This poll is closed
-
0%
Godwin Bennett: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
-
100%
Victor Quezada: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 2 K
This game was lasted seven innings because it qualified as the nightcap of a doubleheader with the first game being a continuation of a suspended game. In this one, everything actually clicked. The pitching was pretty good, with Gabriel Rodriguez getting the start. He only allowed two runs in 4 1⁄3 innings, and struck out six. He seemed to have trouble with command in general, with three walks, and then two errors on top of that, but it all worked out. Miguel Toribio was the closer and got the final eight outs. His control was not stellar, either, but he only allowed one (unearned) run.
The DSL Sox averaged a run an inning mostly because of a four-run sixth inning that gave them the lead. Victor Quezada hit his fifth homer of the season in the second inning, and Carlos Gomez tied the game 2-2 with a RBI single in the fifth. But in the sixth inning, the offense got themselves into a position to score four runs, but opposing pitchers played a bit too critical of a role: Of the four runs, three came via a wild pitch, the fourth was a sac fly. So maybe not the best way to win for an offense, but a win is a win.
Poll
Who was the DSL Sox MVP?
This poll is closed
-
51%
Victor Quezada: 1-for-2, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
-
13%
Layant Tapia: 2-for-3, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K
-
24%
Gabriel Rodriguez: 4 1⁄3 IP, 1 ER (2 R), 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K
-
10%
Miguel Toribio: 2 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER (1 R), 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K