White Sox Minor League Update: June 29, 2022

A walk-off home run in Charlotte highlights a 3-1 day on the farm. Also, Eloy Jiménez homered.

Well, the Knights won a thrilling game, and Eloy Jiménez has a pulse. What a night in Charlotte. Let’s get into it, shall we?

J.B. Olson was the opener for the Knights, and he did his job, pitching two scoreless innings. Andrew Perez took over in the third, and he got off to a strong start, but the fourth inning was a big struggle. The Bulls scored the first run of the game after a leadoff double and an RBI single with one out, and they were far from done. Later in the inning, Durham had the bases loaded with two outs, and Tristan Gray launched a grand slam to break the game wide open: Bulls 5, Knights 0.

Eloy Jiménez led off the bottom of the fourth, and he did something that White Sox fans have been missing for quite some time.

This was the first time Jiménez went deep since he got injured, and it gave the Knights some life.

In the sixth, the Knights were down by a score of 7-1, but Jiménez led off with a walk. Carlos Pérez (more on him later) hit a double to put two in scoring position with no outs, and both of those runners later crossed the plate. The Knights were back within four.

Trailing by a score of 8-3 in the seventh, Micker Adolfo hit a mammoth home run to keep the slim chance of a comeback alive.

Zach Remillard followed with a double, and he came around to score on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to three.

In the eighth, Ryder Jones walked, and a pair of doubles by Xavier Fernández and Blake Rutherford made it a one-run game. That set the Knights up with an opportunity to win a thriller, and they took advantage.

Remillard led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, and after a “productive” ground out, the Knights had a runner on second with one out. That brought up Jiménez, who hit a ground ball that resulted in a fielder’s choice. Remillard was out, but Jiménez reached second base on the play.

Potential tying run at second, two outs, Carlos Pérez at the plate.

Prior to the come-from-behind, walk-off home run, the Knights did not lead at any point in this game, but it does not matter. What a win for the Knights!

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In a game with quite a few back-and-forth moments, the Lookouts came back and won after their bullpen shut down the Barons.

Barons starter Emilio Vargas had a rough second inning, and as a result, the Lookouts found themselves ahead early on. Alex McGarry led off the inning with a home run for the Lookouts, and with two outs, Ivan Johnson added another solo shot to double the lead.

The Barons responded in an aggressive manner in the fourth. D.J. Burt led off with a single, and he promptly stole his 20th base of the season. After that, José Rodríguez got the Barons on the board with an RBI single. Rodríguez also found a way to stay ahead of Burt, by stealing his 21st base of the season. Then, Tyler Neslony kept the line moving with yet another single, and Indiana Hoosier Craig Dedelow tied the game when he extended the single streak to four. With two outs, Ian Dawkins capped off the big inning by hitting a two-run double to put the Barons in front, 4-2.

Unfortunately, that was as good as Birmingham’s situation got. Vargas made a nice recovery after the pair of home runs he allowed in the second, but things got ugly again in the fifth. Nick Quintana led off with a single for Chattanooga, and Michael De Leon followed with a two-run homer to tie it. Then, in the sixth, against reliever Félix Paulino, the Lookouts took the lead for good with a solo home run by Allan Cerda. Paulino had a great outing besides that home run, but the Barons offense could not score again.

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This game got chaotic in the early stages. Dash starter Cristian Mena allowed a solo home run to Collin Burns, the first batter he faced. Despite that, however, the Dash did not stay behind for long. In the top of the second, Luis Mieses opened the inning with a solo homer to tie the game. Then, after a two-out single by Adam Hackenberg, Harvin Mendoza homered to make give the Dash a 3-1 lead.

The Dash kept the good vibes rolling in the third inning, when Colson Montgomery continued raking. The 2021 first round pick launched his second home run since his recent promotion to Winston-Salem, to extend the lead to three. In the fourth, Mendoza launched his second home run of the game to make it 5-1, and the game started to get out of hand.

The IronBirds did not go away, however. In the bottom of the fourth, TT Bowens hit a two-run homer to cut Aberdeen’s deficit in half. Then, in the sixth, Wilber Pérez made his only mistake in 2 ²⁄₃ innings when he allowed a solo homer to Billy Cook. That made it 5-4, but the Dash managed to get those insurance runs back. Montgomery drove in another run (what a surprise) with a double in the seventh, and Mieses tacked on one more with a single. Duke Ellis wrapped up the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.

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Largely thanks to big performances by first baseman Wilfred Veras, catcher Victor Torres, and starting pitcher Hunter Dollander, the Cannon Ballers beat the Wood Ducks.

Dollander lasted six innings, and the only time the Wood Ducks scored against him was in the second, when they played small ball. After a leadoff single and a walk, an RBI single by Abimelec Ortiz gave Down East a 1-0 lead. The Wood Ducks still had runners on the corners with no outs at that point, but Dollander pitched out of the jam with a strikeout and a double play.

In the fourth, the Cannon Ballers still trailed by a run, but they put a crooked number on the board. Unlike the Wood Ducks, who grinded out their run, the Cannon Ballers dug the long ball. Veras led off the inning with his 10th home run, and after a catcher interference, Torres went deep to make it 3-1.

Benyamín Bailey padded the lead with an RBI single with two outs in the fifth. That single drove in Wes Kath, who had walked and advanced to third on a double by DJ Gladney. The pitching staff took care of the rest. After the great performance by Dollander was over, the Wood Ducks only put one more run on the board, and that was on a solo home run in the eighth.