White Sox Minor League Update: April 27, 2022

It was an easy evening for the Knights, who cruised to a one-sided victory over the Jumbo Shrimp.

The first six Knights to bat in the bottom of the second reached base safely. Blake Rutherford singled, Micker Adolfo walked, and Nick Ciuffo singled to load the bases. That brought up Jameson Fisher, who drove in the first run of the game with a single. Zach Remillard made the score 2-0 with an RBI single of his own. Then, Adam Haseley broke the game wide open with a bases-clearing double, and Charlotte had a 5-0 lead.

Knights starter Wes Benjamin shut out the Jumbo Shrimp for six innings, and the Knights had a commanding lead when he finally left the game. Benjamin had excellent control and command, as he struck out nine without issuing any walks. Benjamin was very efficient, as he only threw 13.3 pitches per inning, and 57 of Benjamin’s 80 pitches were strikes.

In the third, Fisher drove in a run with a ground out. Then, in the fourth, Haseley hit a solo shot, and Carlos Pérez hit a two-run homer to make it 9-0.

Yolbert Sánchez added the final insurance run with an RBI single in the fifth. The only time the Jumbo Shrimp scored was when Peyton Burdick homered off reliever Jhan Mariñez, who was otherwise strong in his 2 ¹⁄₃ innings.

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In a high-scoring matchup, the Trash Pandas got the last laugh, as they walked it off in the ninth against the Barons.

The Barons got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. Alex Destino started the big inning with a one-out single. Then, with two outs, Evan Skoug walked, and JJ Muno singled. That brought the Barons back to the top of the order with Lenyn Sosa, who had an RBI opportunity that he took full advantage of. On a 3-2 pitch, Sosa smacked a double to right, and all three baserunners scored.

In the fourth, the Barons went back to business, adding an insurance run. Once again, Destino set the table with a single. Destino advanced to second on a wild pitch, and he advanced to third on a ground out to first base. With two outs, Muno drove in Destino with a single to increase Birmingham’s lead to four.

Meanwhile, starter Jason Bilous delivered three scoreless innings to open his outing, so heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Barons had a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately, Bilous and the Barons ran into trouble in the fourth. Torii Hunter Jr. led off with a double, and with two outs, Bryce Teodosio launched a two-run homer. That cut the Trash Pandas deficit in half, and Hansen Butler took over on the mound. Butler worked around a triple to end the inning with the score still 4-2.

With one out and nobody on base in the top of the fifth, Indiana Hoosier Craig Dedelow walked, and José Rodríguez hit an RBI triple to get Birmingham’s lead back to three.

In the bottom of the fifth, reliever Taylor Broadway entered the game for the Barons. Trey Cabbage led off with a single, and he promptly stole second. After Broadway got a strikeout for the first out of the inning, Preston Palmeiro singled home a run. Though Broadway struck out Hunter, the score was 5-4 after a wild pitch and a double by Kevin Maitan.

The Barons got one insurance run back in the sixth, when Sosa launched his second home run of the season.

The top of the seventh also went well for the Barons. With one out, Dedelow walked and stole second. Rodríguez got Dedelow to third with a ground out, and that set Destino up for another opportunity to make an impact. Destino delivered again, this time with an RBI double. Then, Jagger Rusconi added another timely hit to the Barons’ résumé, as his RBI single made it 8-4.

As impressive as the Barons’ offense was, the Trash Pandas never went away. Against reliever Brian Glowicki in the bottom of the seventh, Cabbage led off with a single. Then, Braxton Martinez doubled, Palmeiro hit a sacrifice fly, and Hunter hit his second home run of the season. Just like that, it was a one-run game once again. Lincoln Henzman took over on the mound after Hunter’s home run, and he got through the rest of the seventh without any issues.

Henzman remained on the mound to begin the bottom of the eighth, and the Trash Pandas resumed their comeback bid. Teodosio led off with a single, he stole second, and he advanced to third on a throwing error by Skoug on the stolen base attempt. Livan Soto drove in Teodosio with a sacrifice fly, and the game was tied at eight.

The Barons went down quietly in the top of the ninth, so the pressure was on reliever Declan Cronin to keep the game tied. Unfortunately, Cronin fell behind 2-0 to Martinez, who launched a walk-off home run to left.

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Starter Matthew Thompson had a terrific start, but the bullpen did not get the job done, and the offense’s late rally was insufficient in this close loss.

Both starting pitchers were phenomenal, as the game was scoreless through five innings. Thompson only needed 60 pitches to get through his five innings, and he only issued one walk. Meanwhile, Tourists starter Spencer Arrighetti managed to pitch six shutout innings.

Jordan Mikel replaced Thompson on the mound in the sixth inning, and he ran into trouble immediately. Deury Carrasco led off the inning with a single, and Jordan Brewer hit his fourth home run of the season. That drove in the first two runs of the game, and the Tourists led the rest of the way.

In the seventh, Jesus Valles allowed the first three Tourists to reach base, as all three singled. The third of those singles made it a 3-0 game. Though Valles got Luis Santana to ground into a double play, Carrasco followed with an RBI triple to extend Asheville’s lead to four.

The Dash nearly came back in the eighth, when Harvin Mendoza led off with a solo home run. Tyler Osik continued the rally with a double, and with two outs, Oscar Colás hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to one. Jason Matthews drew a walk, and Bryan Ramos got on-base as the potential go-ahead run when he singled. However, the rally ended when Luis Mieses got called out on strikes. The Dash went down quietly in the ninth, so they lost by a score of 4-3.

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The Cannon Ballers offense got off to a strong start, and the pitching staff was strong, only allowing two runs while striking out 10. As a result, despite a poor fielding performance, the Cannon Ballers got the win.

With the game still scoreless, Wes Kath drew a leadoff walk to open the top of the second. Then, with two outs, Wilber Sánchez hit an RBI double to drive in the first run of the game. Samil Polanco added an insurance run with another timely hit, as his single made it 2-0.

In the fourth, the Cannon Ballers had runners on the corners with two outs. Though Colby Smelley ended up with a single that at-bat, he did not need a hit for the Cannon Ballers to score their third run. During Smelley’s at-bat, a wild pitch allowed Sánchez to score for the second time of the game.

Meanwhile, Noah Owen had a fantastic start for the Cannon Ballers. The 21-year-old threw five shutout innings, allowing only three hits (all singles) and issuing only one walk. The Woodpeckers only scored twice in this game, and both of those runs scored on a two-run single by Kenedy Corona against reliever Garrett Schoenle. James Beard hit his first home run of the season to pad the Cannon Ballers lead, and four runs was enough to win this one.