White Sox Minor League Recap: June 4, 2025

The affiliates went 2-2, and the Cannon Ballers had the biggest highlight with a walk-off

Charlotte Knights 8, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 3 (Statcast box)
The Knights (28-31) put together a great all-around performance to take down the mighty IronPigs (42-17).

Knights starter Jesse Scholtens did not have his best day, but he did not need to. Scholtens allowed three runs in five innings, which was good enough. All of that damage came in the third, when the IronPigs hit three singles and a double. Besides that big inning, Scholtens was very effective.

Scholtens left the game in line for the win, and that is exactly what he got. The Knights hit the ball early and often, with Brooks Baldwin opening the scoring in the first with a solo homer.

In the second, Tristan Gray led off with a triple, and Andre Lipcius launched a two-run homer.

In the third, right after the IronPigs had tied the game, Andrew Vaughn drew a leadoff walk. Vaughn came around to score on a two-out single by Lipcius to put the Knights back in front. 4-3.

The Knights picked up one more in the fifth, when Kyle Teel and Corey Julks hit back-to-back singles to open the frame. Gray picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to double the lead. In the next inning, Zach DeLoach led off with a single and came around to score on another single by Teel.

The Knights added their final two insurance runs in the seventh, when Julks led off with a double. Nick Maton drove him in with a double, and Lipcius added another RBI with a single.

The bullpen held down the fort very well, pitching four shutout innings and only allowing two hits.

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Rocket City Trash Pandas 1, Birmingham Barons 0
Despite a valiant effort by the pitching staff, the Barons (28-24) came up short against Rocket City (20-31).

Left-handed pitcher Shane Murphy, 24, started on the mound for the Barons. Overall, Murphy’s outing went quite smoothly, as he only allowed one run on six hits (all singles) in six innings. That run scored with two outs in the fifth, when Mac McCroskey drove in Cole Fontenelle with a single. After 36 innings since being promoted to Birmingham, Murphy’s ERA is only 1.75, and his WHIP is only 0.92.

After McCroskey’s single, the Trash Pandas did not score again, and they finished with nine hits, all of which were singles. Two of those singles came off the bat of old friend Oscar Colás.

Outfielder Rikuu Nishida had a great day defensively, collecting two outfield assists by nailing David Calabrese at home twice. Nishida also went 1-for-3 with a walk to cap off a strong performance.

Although Birmingham’s pitchers performed admirably, the same cannot be said about the offense. Despite Nishida’s efforts, the Barons did not score. The Barons finished without any extra-base hits, settling for seven singles.

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Asheville Tourists 8, Winston-Salem Dash 3
It was not the finest day for Dash fielders, who committed four errors to pave the way for a victory by Asheville (24-29). As a result, Winston-Salem fell to 18-35.

Dash starter Christian Oppor pitched three innings, and he breezed through the first two. However, Oppor’s pitches got hit hard in the third, with Oliver Carrillo homering to lead off the frame. The next batter, Tyler Whitaker, launched a double, and a throwing error by Cole McConnell allowed Whitaker to score.

The Dash got those two runs back in the fourth, and Jackson Appel started the rally with a one-out single. Matt Hogan and Samuel Zavala drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, and Jordan Sprinkle hit a timely single to tie the game.

That was as good as Winston-Salem’s situation got, as the Dash fell behind again in the bottom of the fourth and did not catch up. With a runner on first and two outs against reliever Manuel Veloz, the wheels fell off. A double resulted in Asheville having runners on second and third. From there, Walter Janek hit a grounder to shortstop, but Jeral Perez failed to glove it cleanly, and an unearned run scored. Asheville tacked on three more unearned runs with two outs to pull away.

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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2

With their backs against the wall, the Cannon Ballers (28-25) scored a pair in the bottom of the ninth for a thrilling victory over Myrtle Beach (19-32).

Both starting pitchers performed well, so it took a few innings for anyone to score. Myrtle Beach scored first, as Kannapolis starter Seth Keener finally allowed some damage in the fourth. Three singles, a productive ground out, and a throwing error by Ryan Burrowes allowed the Pelicans to score a pair, although one of those runs was unearned. Besides that hiccup, Keener had a great game, but when he left the game, he was in line for the loss.

The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the seventh, when the Cannon Ballers finally got on the board. Caleb Bonemer launched his fifth home run of the season to cut the deficit in half. Even though Bonemer’s home run total is nothing special, his OPS (.946) is special.

Remember that error from earlier? Burrowes made sure that he made a positive impact despite that. In a high-leverage position, trailing by one to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Burrowes crushed a solo homer to tie the game.

Nathan Archer followed with a double, and suddenly, the Cannon Ballers were in the driver’s seat. After a pair of strikeouts, Javier Mogollón and Ronny Hernandez drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and extend the inning. That set the stage for Miguel Santos, who sent the fans home happy. Santos hit a grounder up the middle for a walk-off single to wrap things up.