White Sox Minor League Update: April 17, 2024

A wild win for Kannapolis highlighted a 2-2 day

Charlotte Knights 4, Syracuse Mets 2 (Gameday Score) (Statcast Box)
A strong pitching performance allowed the Knights to take down Syracuse for Charlotte’s third victory in four games.

Jake Woodward, 27, started for the Knights, and managed to miss a lot of bats. Woodward’s first three innings went smoothly, as the only scoring threat during that time was runners on first and third with two outs in the third. However, Woodward worked out of that jam with one of his eight strikeouts.

In the fourth, Woodward allowed his first run, when former White Sox outfielder Trayce Thompson took him deep. Woodward stayed on the mound to begin the fifth, and he allowed three singles during that frame to allow his second and final run. Reliever Fraser Ellard took over for Woodward with one out in the fifth, stranding the two runners he inherited.

When Woodward departed, the Knights trailed by a score of 2-1. That lone Knights run scored on a solo blast by Danny Mendick, his fifth of the season.

The good times kept rolling for the Knights during the latter portion of this game. Ellard’s clutch relief appearance was a sign of things to come for Charlotte’s bullpen. Ellard, Cory Abbott, Prelander Berroa, and Justin Anderson combined to pitch 4 2⁄3 shutout innings, striking out five and walking a pair.

Thanks to the bullpen, the Knights only needed a little bit of offense down the stretch, and the hitters delivered. In the bottom of the sixth, Oscar Colás, Carlos Pérez, and Zach DeLoach hit consecutive singles to drive in the tying run. As it turned out, Colás was not done. In the seventh, Mendick drew a leadoff walk, and with two outs, Colás stepped up to the plate once again.

This was the third home run of the season for Colás, and that gave the Knights a lead that did not relinquish. Charlotte held on for 4-2 victory, and its record improved to 6-11.

Mississippi Braves 5, Birmingham Barons 3 (Gameday Score) (Statcast Box)
The Barons offense struggled most of the evening, and they dropped a tight game against the Braves.

Barons starter Ky Bush got through the first two innings without much trouble, but in the third, he issued a walk that turned out to be costly. After a passed ball, a two-out single gave Mississippi a 1-0 lead.

Birmingham rallied rather quickly, and Duke Ellis got that rally started in the bottom half with a one-out walk. Ellis stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Alsander Womack got the job done with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

In the top of the sixth, Bush allowed runners to get to the corners with one out, and reliever Jordan Mikel took over on the mound. Keeping the game tied was a tall order for Mikel, and he did not deliver on this difficult task. Old friend Yolbert Sánchez came back to haunt the Barons with a two-run double to put the Braves ahead, 3-1.

Mikel was phenomenal from there, pitching 2 2⁄3 shutout innings to keep the game within reach. However, the Braves put two more on the board in the ninth against Caleb Freeman, who allowed a two-run homer by Justin Dean.

With the score 5-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Barons showed some life, as a wild pitch allowed Tim Elko to race home and trim the gap to three. Then Brooks Baldwin, representing the potential tying run, launched an RBI double. However, the miraculous comeback fell short, as Wilfred Veras struck out to end the game.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 2, Winston-Salem Dash 1 (Gameday Score) (Statcast Box)
The Dash got on the scoreboard in the top of the first, but the offense fell asleep afterward, so Winston-Salem took the loss despite great pitching.

Jordan Sprinkle, the second batter of the game, sliced a single to center before stealing second. Then, with two outs, Shawn Goosenberg drove him in with a single to give Winston-Salem an early lead.

However, that early lead did not last long. Dash starter Tyler Schweitzer had a great day, but he allowed a run in the bottom of the first. Chandler Simpson led off with a single before stealing second, but Schweitzer picked him off second. After that, though, a walk and a double resulted in the game being tied after an eventful first inning.

Both pitching staffs were phenomenal, as the score remained 1-1 until the ninth. After Schweitzer got through six innings, Max Roberts replaced him and delivered a perfect seventh frame. In the eighth, Zach Franklin pitched a scoreless frame to preserve the tie.

On the other side of the ball, though, the Dash could not buy a run, and they struggled to even put runners in scoring position. After that first inning, the Dash only had one opportunity with a runner in scoring position, and they went 0-for-1 in that situation. Winston-Salem’s lack of offense finally caught up to them in the ninth, when Cole Duensing allowed a triple and a walk-off single.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 17, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 8 (Gameday Score) (Statcast Box)
The Cannon Ballers crushed the ball early and often during this high-scoring victory over the Pelicans.

After a scoreless first inning, Matt Hogan led off the second with a single for Kannapolis. Hogan proceeded to steal second, and he reached third on a dropped third strike to Edrick Felix. Felix reached base safely on that, too, oddly enough, and Hogan scored on a one-out single by Rikuu Nishida. A walk to Albertson Asigen loaded the bases, and Caden Connor hit into a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, Cannon Ballers starter Jake Peppers had some control issues. Peppers issued a walk with one out, and that runner advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a ground out, Peppers proceeded to issue three consecutive walks to force in a run. A fly out ended the inning and limited the damage to just one run.

The bottom of the third got off to a strong start for Peppers, who retired the first two batters he faced that inning. However, after a home run, three more walks, and two singles, Peppers was out of the game, and the score was 4-2.

After that disastrous inning, however, the Cannon Ballers went on a major hot streak to take control. In the fourth, Connor drove in a run with a single, and after a successful double-steal, Pelicans catcher Carter Trice made a throwing error to allow Kannapolis to tie the game. Ronny Hernandez capped off the huge inning with a two-run single to put the Cannon Ballers ahead, 6-4.

Kannapolis got some insurance in the fifth, when control eluded Pelicans relievers Vince Reilly and Starlyn Pichardo. Reilly issued back-to-back walks to open the inning, and incredibly, Pichardo walked the first two batters he faced to force in a run; still no outs, bases loaded, 7-4 ballgame. After a strikeout, a wild pitch, and two more walks, Kannapolis had scored twice more. Despite recording zero hits in the inning, Kannapolis scored three times and led, 9-4.

As if that was not enough, the Cannon Ballers put five on the board in the sixth. The biggest hit of the inning was a two-run double by Connor. It is also worth mentioning that the Cannon Ballers drew four more walks that inning, bringing their walk total through six frames to 15! They finished with 17 on the day, which matched their run total after three runs in garbage time. Two of those garbage time runs scored on an Asigen homer, and the other scored on an Arxy Hernández RBI single.