White Sox Minor League Update: May 18, 2025

The Cannon Ballers had the only win of the day, while the Dash fall in extras and Noah Schultz got his second loss

Gwinnett Stripers 6, Charlotte Knights 0 (Statcast box)
The Charlotte (22-23) offense neglected to convert on the ample opportunities to score runs and stay in the game, but the Stripers (20-25) went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position to shut out the Knights, 6-0. Gwinnett got nine of 12 of their hits in the first five innings, a one five-run inning in the fourth was really all they needed to put Charlotte in their place.

Excellent trolling from the Stripers social media team:

Gwinnett threatened again in the sixth after Caleb Freeman gave up one run and loaded the bases with three walks, but Chris Rodriguez forced two ground outs (one double play) to end the inning.

On the other hand, the Knights went just 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position, and left 12 on base as a team, so it’s really no wonder they didn’t manage to score a run. Andre Lipcius and Korey Lee were the only two Charlotte players with multi-hit games, and Lipcius had the sole extra-base hit — a double in the top of the eighth.

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Chattanooga Lookouts 5, Birmingham Barons 3
Lefthander Noah Schultz made the start for Birmingham (19-18), and was unfortunately off his game, getting charged with the 5-3 loss to Chattanooga (18-20). Schultz has not had a great start to the month overall, and has racked up a 6.57 ERA over his last three starts, inclusive of the five earned he allowed on Sunday. He’s still in the top 10 in strikeouts for the Southern League, but his strikeout rate has decreased by about 10% (32% down to 22%), and his walk rate has ballooned up to 12.8% with a 1.75 WHIP.

Schultz gave up a two-run bomb in the second to give the Lookouts an early lead, and then got into hot water in the fourth. He loaded the bases with consecutive walks and a base hit, then hit a batter to bring in the third run. A soft single to left on the next batter brought in two more.

The Birmingham offense attempted to answer back in the bottom of the fourth, and scored three runs on a two-run double from Mario Camilletti and RBI single from Jacob Gonzalez. Though the Barons had one more hit (six) than the Lookouts (five), they didn’t score another run the rest of the game. However, Birmingham still won the series, 4-2.

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Brooklyn Cyclones 7, Winston-Salem Dash 6 (10 innings)
The Dash (12-27) had taken an early two-run lead against the Cyclones (26-12), but Jake Bockenstedt gave it back in the bottom of the fifth to allow Brooklyn to take the lead. The Dash offense fought back to go up a run, but the bullpen couldn’t pick up the slack and blew two saves in the same game to lose in extras, 7-6 — getting swept for their sixth loss in a row.

Winston-Salem was outhit by two (seven to the Cyclones nine) and went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. No Dash batters had a multi-hit game, but Terrell Tatum drove in two runs while going 2-for-4.

Heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Dash held a one-run lead, and Phil Fox allowed back-to-back doubles and a sac fly to bring home the tying run for Brooklyn. Winston-Salem was flat in the ninth and went down in order, but a couple of wild pitches and a walk from Braden Montgomery handed the Dash the lead. Unfortunately, that just set up a walk-off loss: Connery Peters loaded the bases on a double and a pair of hit batters that put the Cyclones in the position to win on a fielder’s choice on a play at the plate.

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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5, Hickory Crawdads 2
The Cannon Ballers (21-18) put up nine hits in the game but went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Thankfully, the Kannapolis pitching staff came through and gave up just four hits to hold off the Hickory (18-20) offense and allow the Ballers to get the 5-2 win and split the series (3-3).

Kaleb Sophy made his first start of the season for Kanny, and though he didn’t allow any earned runs in any previous outing, walks have really been an issue for Sophy (eight, in six innings). Kevin Davis ultimately was credited for the win for the Knights, but also a blown save, as the Crawdads tied it up at two in the seventh. But from there,the Ballers offense took over in the eighth for the lead.

Kanny was seeing the ball well as a team, walking 10 times in Sunday’s game, though they struck out just as many times. Caleb Bonemer and Abraham Núñez each posted two hits for Kannapolis, though it was George Wolkow leading with two RBIs ... and three strikeouts. The Cannon Ballers left 13 on base, but five runs was enough to close out this contest.