White Sox Minor League Update: September 16, 2021

Sox farm teams split a rainy night as Rutherford drives in two, Norge Vera extends his early-career success

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The Knights jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two and were supplied with one of Kade McClure’s best starts of the year, but blew this one late to the Durham Bulls, who clinched the Triple-A East championship with the win (the crown awarded based on winning percentage this year, which is why it happened against the 44-72 Knights). McClure walked none and struck out four over five innings, the two runs he allowed both coming in his last inning of work. Bennett Sousa struck out two in a scoreless sixth, then the wheels came off when the newly-signed Kevin McCarthy entered for the seventh. With one out, a single and two walks loaded the bases, and an Esteban Quiroz grand slam cleared them, tying things up at six apiece. Hunter Schryver pitched a scoreless 1 ⅓ IP, and the ninth was Will Carter’s from beginning to bitter end. A single, wild pitch, and single broke the tie in the Bulls’ favor, with another wild pitch providing them with some unneeded insurance.

It was a four-run first for the Knights, Blake Rutherford’s 27th double coming with the bases loaded and two outs, scoring Danny Mendick and Mikie Mahtook; Seby Zavala followed up with a two-run double of his own, scoring Micker Adolfo and Rutherford. Mahtook also hit a two-run bomb in the second, his 22nd of the year.

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The Barons were rained out.

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Alex Destino homered for the 21st time as the Dash beat the Asheville Tourists 5-2, limiting them to just four hits. Karan Patel needed just 50 pitches (32 strikes) to go four scoreless innings, allowing just three baserunners and picking off one of them. Wilber Perez sniped the win with two scoreless, striking out four, and Yoelvin Silven contributed two perfect innings as well. Trey Jeans had a shaky ninth, allowing two runs, but a four-run Dash sixth allowed him room to work.

Destino’s dong both moved him into a tie with Luis Curbelo for the team lead and opened scoring for the game three batters into the sixth inning, driving in Luis Mieses; after Harvin Mendoza singled and Gunnar Troutwine was hit by a pitch that same inning, Samir Dueñez hit a double to score them both. Destino added some insurance in the seventh, singling in Terrell Tatum, who had himself singled. This was Tatum’s High-A debut, the 16th-rounder arriving straight from the ACL, where he batted .265/.444/.426 with eight doubles and 21 walks in 22 games.

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The Ballers will play a doubleheader tomorrow after being rained out today.

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The ACL Sox mounted a valiant comeback but ultimately fell short, the ACL Royals Blue (Booo, ACL Royals Blue) mounting an even valient-er comeback with two runs in the seventh to win it. Cristian Mena turned in four fine innings of work, his one run allowed unearned thanks to his own error. He struck out eight and walked one. Conner O’Neil, a recent minor league free agent signing, pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four, seeing the Sox into the top of the seventh (an ACL ninth) leading 2-1. This was not to hold, alas, as the also-recently-signed Jake Suddreth entered, induced one quick ground ball out, then went single-stolen base-single-RBI double-run scoring passed ball in quick succession to hand the lead back to the Royals Blue (Royals Blues?). Christian Edwards, drafted in the 11th round this year, walked one but allowed no further damage as he finished out the inning.

The Sox weren’t able to score until the sixth inning, trailing 1-0; Wilfred Veras hit a one-out single, Johnabiell Laureano singled him to third, and Benyamin Bailey drove him in on a groundout. They took the lead after Nick Thornquist, signed in July but only recently playing his first games, reached on an error. As a note, Veras, who will turn 19 in November, is batting .324/.421/.538 with 15 doubles, two triples, and four home runs over 44 games with the ACL; he walked 21 times and struck out 41.

Then there was some high drama in the seventh and final inning. Cameron Butler singled with one out, then Colson Montgomery’s second hit of the night was a double to right field. Apparently the relay was good, or good enough, and Butler was thrown out trying to score, and then thrown out of the game along with manager Mike Gellinger. Wes Kath struck out to end it with Montgomery on third.

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Norge Vera was on the mound for the DSL Sox, so you knew they had a good chance to win it. And win they did; Vera stretched out to four innings for the first time in his career, his no-earned-run streak now at 15 ⅔ innings (he has also thrown 15 ⅔ professional innings). While he allowed one run, it was unearned after a double, a passed ball, and a wild pitch. Striking out six, he pushed his season/career line to 15 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 2 R (0 ER), 4 BB, 27 K. That’s a K/9 of 15.5.

In relief, Manuel Veloz wasn’t terrible, burned by a bases-loaded triple in the fifth inning and a solo home run in the ninth. He struck out six and walked zero, so between his and Vera’s efforts, the DSL Blue Jays walked once and struck out 12 times today.

At the plate, the DSL Sox ran wild, starting with a crooked-number first inning that sent eight batters to the plate. Two walks, three singles, one double, one sac fly, and one stolen base later, the Sox were up 5-0; the big hit belonged to Alberto Bernal, who cleared the bases with his double. They picked up a couple more in the next two innings, Manuel Guariman singling in Alvaro Aguero in the second (then getting thrown out trying to make it to second to end the inning), then Layant Tapia hitting a double to score Godwin Bennett in the third. In the sixth, Aguero grounded into a run-scoring double play, the seventh saw a Tapia ground out score another, and the final DSL Sox runs scored in the ninth came on a Javier Mora double and Victor Quezada two-run home run.

Guariman, age 17, recently sat for two weeks (although no IL stint), and is 3-for-7 in two games since his return. Overall, he’s batting .361/.425/.403 in 23 games, mostly as a catcher. Third baseman Victor Quezada, also 17, also had three hits today, including a double as well as the home run, and he is batting .265/.362/.504 in 37 games. He’s stolen 11 bases in 12 attempts.