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White Sox Minor League Update: May 8

The Dash had the only win today — and even they lost once, with a doubleheader split; Sean Burke had the best pitching performance of the day.

By Darren Black
/ new
Sean Burke was a standout on the mound on Sunday.
Chicago White Sox

Down goes Charlotte as their dour May continues, as it has been rough after a hot start; the Knights fall to 12-18 on the season. Wes Benjamin opened up the game but only lasted one inning, he saw two runs score, just one was earned. That made Emilio Vargas basically the bulk guy, and he was effective. He went five strong innings and just allowed one run. He has been struggling lately, but a five-strikeout and zero-walk performance could be the start of a string of good games. The bullpen was holding the lead Vargas curated — up until the final inning. Andrew Perez started the ninth, but allowed two runs. Will Carter was the pitcher on the mound for one of those runs, so he gets credited with the blown save. Carter allowed a run himself, so he gets the loss as well.

With that bullpen debacle in mind, the offense still should have scored more than five runs, but the plate discipline was really bad. Charlotte had 12 hits, but could not reach base via walk and struck out 10 times — thus, just five runs scored and a loss. Mark Payton led the team with four hits, as Yermín Mercedes and Zach Remillard had multi-hit days as well with two singles. In fact, EVERY hit was a single for the Knights. Not a great strategy to put up a lot of runs.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 66%
    Mark Payton: 4-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K
    (32 votes)
  • 33%
    Emilio Vargas: 5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K
    (16 votes)
48 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 94%
    Andrew Perez: 1⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K
    (35 votes)
  • 5%
    Will Carter: 1 /3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K
    (2 votes)
37 votes total Vote Now

Two bad innings from Barons pitchers doomed their chance to win, despite scoring the game’s final four runs. Jason Bilous was first up for the bad inning, as his came in the second and let in five runs. It was not due to bad command, Bilous just got hit around, with six hits allowed. He was pulled from the game once he finished the inning. Garrett Davila replaced Bilous and he looked good for two innings, but he struggled in the fifth and allowed four runs. After that, the bullpen was just fine. Declan Cronin threw a smooth 2 2⁄3 shutout innings and Sammy Peralta did not allow a hit in the eighth and ninth to at least give Birmingham a tiny chance to come back.

On the offensive side, until the ninth, Tyler Neslony was the only offense the lineup had.

This was his sixth homer of the season, he added a single for two hits on the day. Xavier Fernández matched Neslony’s two hits, though his extra-base knock was just a double.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 4%
    Sammy Peralta: 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K
    (2 votes)
  • 95%
    Tyler Neslony: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
    (42 votes)
44 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 87%
    Jason Bilous: 2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 K
    (34 votes)
  • 12%
    Garrett Davila: 2 1⁄3 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 0 K
    (5 votes)
39 votes total Vote Now

Game 1 for Winston-Salem on Sunday started on May 6, but did not get completed until today, so that is why Sean Burke did not start this game. Regardless if he gets the game-started stat or not, Burke did very well today over 4 2⁄3 innings. He did not allow a run and struck out four, to lower his season ERA to 2.89.

The lone run allowed for the Dash was on May 6th, so the second squad of pitchers continued to pitch a shutout once Burke was lifted.

On the offensive side, they did not start scoring runs until today and they all came in the seventh inning. When it was all said and done, seven different batters got hits. Only two batters reached base twice and they needed the pitchers help to do it. Bryan Ramos had a single and a walk to keep his OPS over 1.000 and Jason Matthews had two walks.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 93%
    Sean Burke: 4 2⁄3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K
    (42 votes)
  • 6%
    Bryan Ramos: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
    (3 votes)
45 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 96%
    Terrell Tatum: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (32 votes)
  • 3%
    Trey Jeans: 1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K
    (1 vote)
33 votes total Vote Now

The second Dash game on Sunday did not go as well for the Dash, with an early deficit and no offense to speak of. Matthew Thompson started this game (so, two top starting pitching prospects on the bump today), but he was not as good as Burke. Thompson went three innings and allowed two runs. He is credited with the loss, because the lineup could only muster three hits, leading to no runs. Your Dash hits were from Harvin Mendoza, Luis Mieses, and Moises Castillo, all singles. Because the seven innings doubleheader rule is still in effect in MiLB, we will never know if the eighth and ninth innings were what the Dash offense were waiting for to get going.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 87%
    Harvin Mendoza: 1-for-2, 1 BB, 0 K
    (27 votes)
  • 0%
    Moises Castillo: 1-for-3, 0 BB, 0 K
    (0 votes)
  • 12%
    Luis Mieses: 1-for-3, 0 BB, 0 K
    (4 votes)
31 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 70%
    Caberea Weaver: 0-for-3, 0 BB, 2 K
    (22 votes)
  • 29%
    Jordan Mikel: 2 2⁄3 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K
    (9 votes)
31 votes total Vote Now

Kannapolis lost their 14th game and put themselves worse than .500, and this one was off the backs of a blown save in the ninth by Chase Plymell, and poor offense. The Cannon Ballers only had seven hits from the lineup. Ivan González (who had the only extra-base hit) and Colby Smelley led the way with a pair of hits each. The lone run came from Wilber Sánchez in the second inning, with a sac fly that drove in Wilfred Verás.

One run was almost enough, because the pitching was stingy on Sunday. Brooks Gosswein started and did not have his best stuff, even though he had a scoreless outing; he allowed nine base-runners in 4 1⁄3 innings, and his command was all over the place, with four walks and just 43 strikes of 81 pitches. The pen, until Plymell, was great though.

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 57%
    Colby Smelley: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
    (19 votes)
  • 42%
    Ivan Gonzalez: 2-for-4, 0 BB, 0 K
    (14 votes)
33 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Cannon Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 85%
    Chase Plymell: 1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K
    (24 votes)
  • 14%
    Chase Krogman: 0-for-4, 0 BB, 1 K
    (4 votes)
28 votes total Vote Now

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