White Sox Minor League Update: Charlotte drops Triple-A opener, 6-5

The Knights were in control — until a brutal sixth inning

Memphis Chicks 6, Charlotte Knights 5 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
Charlotte got off to a great start in Memphis, on the road in the season opener. While maintaining a lead for the entire first half of the game, the Knights ran into a buzzsaw in the bottom of the sixth, keying a comeback that the St. Louis Cardinals affiliate would not relinquish.

While five Knights made their White Sox organization debuts, the only one who wishes to have this one Eternal Sunshined out of his memory is Prelander Berroa. The culprit in Memphis’ Christmas morning of a sixth inning strung together a stat line that has triple digits in all the wrong places. Berroa’s fall from grace has been quick, going from Gregory Santos Heir Apparent to relatively quick cut from the big club to coughing up five earned and retiring just one batter in his Triple-A debut. And the Chicks hits weren’t cheap, starting with two solo shots sandwiched around the one out Berroa did manage, then walk-single-double to hand Memphis the lead and punch Prelander’s pass to the showers. Newcomer back to the Sox org Bailey Horn doused Berroa’s fire with one last shot glass of gasoline, a first-batter double that plated the Chicks’ sixth and closed the book on Berroa’s Very Bad Day.

To that point though, things were sunnier. Jake Woodford saw his win dashed by the bullpen but had a game, five innings of one-run ball that secures him as one of several possible sixth starters for the South Siders.

Plus, every batter in the lineup had at least one hit, and the 3-4-5 lunchmeat of the order (Lenyn Sosa-Zach DeLoach-Oscar Colás) satisfied with two safeties apiece.

And while we know almost for a fact that a fortified pitching staff (by AAAA signees like Woodford and matriculating blue chips from within the White Sox system) is a near-certainty for Charlotte, don’t look past heavier lumber as well; in defeat the Knights still managed an impressive 14 hard hits (95+ mph exit velo) to Memphis’ 10.

Colson Montgomery didn’t exactly have a Roy Hobbs start, going 1-for-5 with two Ks. But he hit the ball hard twice and notched his first Triple-A hit and RBI, in the ninth:

It wasn’t the opener that Charlotte wanted, but it put bat on ball, played clean in the field, and pitched well outside of Prelander Berroa’s 135.00 ERA meltdown.

---

---