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Winston-Salem Dash player Terrell Tatum...
Terrell Tatum OBP watch after reaching base four times on Thursday: .457
Chuck Burton for The Washington Post via Getty Images

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White Sox Minor League Update: May 25, 2023

The Dash shake off a losing streak and the Knights win their fifth straight

By Julie Brady Updated
/ new
Knights/Jumbo Shrimp linescore
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Box score link

The Knights steadfastly refuse to be solidly good or bad, clawing their way back to .500 with a five-game winning streak and some timely late-innings fireworks tonight. Daniel Ponce de Leon got the start and pitched his way no closer to a Chicago cameo, his ERA sitting at 9.99 after four hits and five walks in four innings combined for four runs (three earned). He left the game after 95 pitches, trailing 4-3.

The three early Knights runs were split between the second and fourth innings. In the second, Nate Mondou didn’t have to wait long at second base after his leadoff double; Carlos Pérez drove him in with a first-pitch single, pulling the Knights within one.

In the fourth, back-to-back doubles by Oscar Colás (his 10th) and Víctor Reyes (his 11th) tied it up, and Pérez’s single plus a Jumbo Error temporarily gave Charlotte the lead, 3-2. Back-to-back errors by Erik González at second and Colás in center contributed to the 4-3 deficit by the bottom of the fourth.

An often-shaky Knights bullpen held it together for a full five innings, with Declan Cronin, Alejandro Mateo, Alex Colomé, and Nicholas Padilla allowing no runs on two hits and three walks. Four of their five strikeouts were courtesy of Mateo during his two innings of work.

To tie it, Reyes went deep for the ninth time with one out in the eighth, and to win it, Stephen Piscotty homered leading off the top of the ninth. Reyes is batting .323/.376/.555 with nine home runs in 42 games.

Poll

Who was the Knights MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Yolbert Sánchez (3B): 1-for-4, BB, K, PO/CS
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Oscar Colás (CF): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K, E
    (0 votes)
  • 97%
    Víctor Reyes (RF): 2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
    (34 votes)
  • 0%
    Nate Mondou (DH): 1-for-3, 2B, R, BB, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Carlos Pérez (C): 2-for-4, RBI, K
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Stephen Piscotty (LF): 2-for-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI, GIDP
    (0 votes)
  • 2%
    Alejandro Mateo: 2 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K
    (1 vote)
35 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Knights Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Lenyn Sosa (SS): 1-for-5, GIDP
    (0 votes)
  • 10%
    Sebastian Rivero (1B): 0-for-4, K
    (2 votes)
  • 90%
    Daniel Ponce de Leon: 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), 5 BB, 4 K
    (18 votes)
20 votes total Vote Now
Barons/Smokies linescore
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There was a stomping in Tennessee tonight. Matt Thompson hadn’t been burning the world down with his early-season stats, but they weren’t too bad, his first six starts culminating in a 4.01 ERA over 24 ⅔ innings (17 walks, 32 strikeouts). In his next two starts, though, he allowed a total of 10 runs (five earned) in just 8 ⅓ innings, and he devolved further tonight. He gave up the first smattering of Smokies runs in the third after the first three batters reached via walk, single, and double, with a wild pitch mixed in. A run-scoring ground ball and a double put the Smokies up 3-0.

The Barons — more specifically, Xavier Fernández — responded in the fifth, the catcher’s third home run of the year (and of the last three games) leading off the inning. Fernández had two of the four Barons hits, the others belonging to José Rodríguez and Yoelqui Céspedes.

Unfortunately, the Smokies response to the response was heftier. Thompson started the bottom of the fifth with a bloop and a blast and a blast, 6-1 Smokies. He struck the next batter out, then after a walk ’n’ balk, a ball was smoked to make it 8-1, the three-dong inning chasing Thompson from the game.

Vince Vannelle finished the inning without trouble, but ran into plenty in the sixth, when he gave up back-to-back home runs after a batter reached base on a wild-pitch strikeout, 11-1 Smokies. Hunter Dollander was similarly control-less, hitting his first batter in the seventh, throwing two wild pitches, and serving up two singles to make it 12-1, the eventual final score.

Eloy Jiménez played in his second rehab game as he returns from an appendectomy, going 0-for-2 at DH with a walk before being removed for a pinch hitter, as is tradition.

Poll

Who was the Barons MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    José Rodríguez (SS): 1-for-4, K
    (0 votes)
  • 100%
    Xavier Fernández (C): 2-for-3, HR, R, RBI
    (21 votes)
  • 0%
    Yoelqui Céspedes (CF): 1-for-2, BB, CS, outfield assist (home)
    (0 votes)
21 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Barons Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 4%
    Alsander Womack (1B): 0-for-4, K
    (1 vote)
  • 95%
    Matt Thompson: 4 ⅓ IP, 8 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 6 K, WP, balk (L)
    (21 votes)
  • 0%
    Vince Vanelle: 1 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K, WP
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    Hunter Dollander: 2 IP, 3 H, R, 0 BB, K, WP, HBP
    (0 votes)
22 votes total Vote Now
Dash/Cyclones linescore
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They’re back, baby. The very recent losers of seven straight, Winston-Salem broke out of its slide with six runs on 14 hits, which is saying something given the last week. They were 7-for-24 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base, but a win is a win whether it’s by five or 15.

Winston took the lead in the first and never quite relinquished it, although there was a very brief tug-of-war. Terrell Tatum started the game off with a walk and stole second, two things he does very often (37 times and 20 times by the end of the game, respectively, leading the league and tied for the league lead). Loidel Chapelli Jr. grounded him to third, and after a futile DJ Gladney fly ball, Wilfred Veras got the job done with a ground ball single, 1-0 Dash.

The Cyclones took the run back in the second with a dong, but the Dash took it back again in the third. Tatum, who has a slash line of .294/.457/.484 in 36 games, hit a leadoff triple and immediately scored on Chapelli’s base hit, permanently putting W-S in front with a 2-1 lead.

This increased in the fifth; Tatum, who has been hitting like a motherf— uh, like someone who hits very well, doubled leading off. After Chapelli sacrificed him to third and Gladney reached base with an infield single without driving in the run, Veras again got the job done with an RBI single, 3-1 Dash. Wes Kath and Shawn Goosenberg both singled in runs as well, the inning ending with the Dash up, 5-1.

Kath picked up his second of three hits in the seventh, his fifth double of the year turning into the sixth and final Dash run after a Goosenberg single and Michael Turner force out (Goosenberg at second). Goosenberg also picked up three hits total.

The good Kohl Simas returned on the mound, something the Dash sorely needed. Last time out, he didn’t make it out of the second inning and was touched for seven runs. Here, Simas was back in usual form, striking out seven over five two-hit, one-run innings, the lone blemish a second-inning solo home run. He struck out the side in the first, including one thanks to an automatic strike call (grab some bench, Literally Omar Narváez).

Haylen Green, Chase Plymell, and Tristan Stivors combined for four scoreless innings in relief. The Cyclones had four hits.

Poll

Who was the Dash MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 32%
    Terrell Tatum (CF): 2-for-3, 2B, 3B, 3 R, BB, K, SB
    (8 votes)
  • 0%
    Loidel Chapelli Jr. (2B): 1-for-4, RBI, BB
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    DJ Gladney (RF): 2-for-5, R
    (0 votes)
  • 8%
    Wilfred Veras (DH): 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, K, SB
    (2 votes)
  • 32%
    Wes Kath (3B): 3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB
    (8 votes)
  • 0%
    Shawn Goosenberg (1B): 3-for-5, RBI, K
    (0 votes)
  • 28%
    Kohl Simas: 5 IP, 2 H, R, BB, 7 K, pitch timer violation (W)
    (7 votes)
25 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Dash Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 27%
    Michael Turner (C): 0-for-5, RBI, K
    (5 votes)
  • 61%
    Chris Lanzilli (LF): 0-for-4, 3 K, HBP
    (11 votes)
  • 11%
    Taishi Nakawake (SS): 1-for-5, PO/CS
    (2 votes)
18 votes total Vote Now
Cannon Ballers/GreenJackets linescore
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Will someone please, please promote Connor McCullough?? The 23-year-old righty pitched a seven-inning no-hitter in his last start, and although he did break his three-start, 19-inning scoreless streak tonight, he has now given up a grand total of seven hits and three runs over his last 24 innings. Included in that span are two (2) total walks and 27 strikeouts. But tonight he took the loss, dropping to 3-3 on the year; overall, McCullough now has a season ERA of 2.17 over 37 ⅓ innings.

Bryce Willits, meanwhile, has also been playing out of his mind, entering tonight slashing .377/.451/.623 in May, splitting time between first and third base. He went deep for the fifth time, in the second inning, driving in Jacob Burke from a single; Burke, who made his season debut on May 11 after starting the year on the injured list, is batting .347/.407/.490 in 13 games.

In relief of McCullough, Ben Beutel pitched for the first time this year, throwing two innings and striking out two. He kept the score at 3-2 GreenJackets for Kole Ramage in the eighth. An Augusta home run made it 4-2, which was really a shame because the Ballers scored what would have otherwise been the game-tying run in the top of the ninth; Logan Glass and Mario Camilletti walked, Jordan Sprinkle’s fly ball advanced Glass to third, and Glass scored when Brooks Baldwin grounded into a force out at second. That was it for them, though, dropping to 22-19 with the 4-3 loss.

Drake Logan batted seventh and Logan Glass batted eighth, which is fun for Logan reading down the lineup.

Poll

Who was the Ballers MVP?

This poll is closed

  • 15%
    Tim Elko (1B): 2-for-5, 2B, K
    (3 votes)
  • 10%
    Jacob Burke (CF): 2-for-4, R, SB, E
    (2 votes)
  • 30%
    Bryce Willits (3B): 1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, K
    (6 votes)
  • 0%
    Logan Glass (LF): 0-for-3, R, BB, 2 K, SB
    (0 votes)
  • 40%
    Connor McCullough: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, BB, 5 K, WP, PO (1B), HBP (L)
    (8 votes)
  • 5%
    Ben Beutel: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K, balk
    (1 vote)
20 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the Ballers Cold Cat?

This poll is closed

  • 0%
    Jordan Sprinkle (SS): 0-for-4, BB, K, SB
    (0 votes)
  • 13%
    Brooks Baldwin (DH): 0-for-5, RBI, K
    (2 votes)
  • 86%
    Drake Logan (RF): 0-for-4, 4 K
    (13 votes)
15 votes total Vote Now
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