White Sox Minor League Update: June 18, 2025

The affiliates went 4-1, with the Barons sweeping a doubleheader

Charlotte Knights 9, Gwinnett Stripers 3 (Statcast box)
The Knights (35-36) marched towards .500 with a convincing victory over Gwinnett (26-45). This game’s outcome was never in doubt. The Knights ran away with this game by scoring six in the bottom of the first, and they did not look back.

Incredibly, in that monstrous first inning, the Knights started with two outs and nobody on base. Although Brooks Baldwin led off with a single, he got caught stealing second, and Colson Montgomery struck out. After that, the Knights went crazy. Tim Elko singled, and Tristan Gray, Korey Lee, and Bryan Ramos drew three consecutive walks. The walk to Ramos forced in the first run of the game. Then, Dominic Fletcher, 27, stepped up to the plate and launched a grand slam.

That was Fletcher’s 10th homer of the season, and he is now slashing .262/.340/.497.

Andre Lipcius followed Fletcher’s blast with a home run of his own. That homer was the ninth of the year for Lipcius, and it marked the sixth consecutive Knight to reach base safely and score. What an inning.

The pitching staff performed well enough to easily protect that large lead. As it turned out, the Knights did not need to score after that huge first inning. However, they did pick up some insurance. Korey Lee hit a solo homer, Lipcius drew a walk with the bases loaded, and Zach DeLoach hit a sacrifice fly. Enjoy this look at Lee’s homer.

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Birmingham Barons 3, Columbus Clingstones 2 (7 innings, Game 1)
In the opener of the doubleheader, Birmingham improved to 34-30 with an exciting victory over Columbus.

The first three batters reached base safely for the Barons. Jacob Burke, who went 3-for-3 with a double and a walk, set the table with a single. William Bergolla walked, and Ryan Galanie singled to load the bases. With one out, DJ Gladney drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly.

The Clingstones tied the game in the second, when Drew Compton doubled and scored on a single by Cal Conley. Despite that rally, however, Barons starter Tanner McDougal was very effective. McDougal racked up 10 strikeouts while only issuing two walks in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings. Overall, McDougal allowed two runs on four hits, and he put the Barons in a good position to win the game.

The Barons picked up their second run in the fifth, when Galanie drove in Burke with a single. The top of the order was very reliable for the Barons, as Burke, Bergolla, and Galanie combined to finish 5-for-8 with three walks.

When the score was 2-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Barons had the opportunity to walk it off. It was an unusual bottom of the seventh, but the walk-off ended up happening. Jason Matthews, Burke, Bergolla, and Jacob Gonzalez all walked. The final walk forced in the game-winning run. Although Gonzalez did not collect a hit, his walk increased Birmingham’s chances of winning the game from 66.0% to 100.0%. In addition, Gonzalez battled back from down 0-2 in the count to work a seven-pitch walk to conclude the game.

Birmingham Barons 8, Columbus Clingstones 7 (9 innings, Game 2)
The Barons were ready to swing the bat early and often, jumping out to an early lead in the top of the first. They let that lead slip away, but they pulled through in extras to sweep the doubleheader and improve to 35-30.

Rikuu Nishida got hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Nishida promptly stole second (no surprise there), and he scored on a single by Ryan Galanie. Jacob Gonzalez hit an infield single, and after an error, the Barons had two in scoring position. Then, with two outs, Caden Connor drove in Galanie and Gonzalez with a clutch single. As a result, the Barons had a 3-0 lead before Columbus (25-37) came to bat for the first time.

Barons starter Dalton Roach, 29, ran into some trouble in the second, allowing a walk and a two-run homer. Roach was removed after three innings, and those were the only runs he gave up. Despite having a pretty clean game besides that, the Barons would have liked a bit more production than two runs in three innings from Roach.

The Clingstones scored the tying run in the fourth and the go-ahead run in the fifth. At that point, the Barons offense woke back up, scoring three in the top of the sixth. The first three batters of the inning were Wilfred Veras, Caden Connor, and DJ Gladney. All three reached base safely to set the table. Veras scored on a balk, Connor scored on a sacrifice fly by Mario Camilletti, and Gladney scored on a single by Nishida.

Columbus remained consistent, scoring one in the sixth and one in the seventh to send the nightcap of the doubleheader into extras. The Clingstones were down to their last out in the seventh, but Indiana Hoosier Cade Bunnell hit a clutch RBI single to extend the game.

Clingstones second baseman Kobe Kato pitched the remainder of the game, which was two innings. Kato had surprisingly decent results, allowing the ghost runner to score in both innings, but there was no further damage against him. Gladney drove in a run in the eighth with a double, and Gonzalez hit an RBI double in the ninth. Barons reliever Eric Adler closed the door in the bottom of the ninth by stranding the free runner.

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Winston-Salem Dash 3, Rome Emperors 1
Winston-Salem (25-40) got an excellent performance from its pitching staff, and a productive eighth inning put the Dash over the top against Rome (29-36).

Dash starter Christian Oppor, 20, performed admirably across five innings. Oppor only allowed one run on four hits, striking out five. The only blemish for Oppor was a solo homer by Lizandro Espinoza in the third inning. Espinoza’s blast gave Rome a slim lead, and the score remained 1-0 until the fifth.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Weston Eberly singled, Jordan Sprinkle walked, and Sam Antonacci got hit by a pitch. Suddenly, the bases were loaded with one out, and Jeral Perez grounded into a force out that drove in the tying run.

In the bottom of the eighth, with the game still tied at one, Samuel Zavala walked with two outs and nobody on. Arxy Hernández extended the inning with a walk of his own, and Luis Pienda singled to drive in the go-ahead run.

After Pineda advanced to second on defensive indifference, Wilber Sánchez continued the parade with another RBI single. That made the score 3-1, and it gave the Dash some insurance.

Meanwhile, the Dash bullpen was fantastic. Phil Fox, Luke Bell, and Mark McLaughlin combined to pitch four shutout innings and only allowed one hit to seal the deal.

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Charleston RiverDogs 14, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5
For the second straight day, the Cannon Ballers (32-33) allowed 14 runs, and they did not come close to beating Charleston (34-31).

In the second, the Cannon Ballers scored the first run of the game, when they executed a brilliant double steal. T.J. McCants stole second, and in the meantime, Ryan Burrowes dashed home to make the score 1-0. Then, in the third, Miguel Santos crushed an RBI double to double the lead.

However, the RiverDogs went on a 14-3 run from that point forward. The Cannon Ballers had kept the RiverDogs off the scoreboard for three innings, but after that, run prevention was an enormous struggle. It turns out that Grant Umberger is human after all. Despite the excellent first three innings, Umberger allowed six runs (five earned) in 4 ²⁄₃ innings, and he took the loss. The bullpen was even less effective, allowing eight runs (six earned) in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings. The Cannon Ballers committed five errors during the loss.

Infielder Mikey Kane pitched for the Cannon Ballers, allowing one run in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings. That resulted in the best ERA of the game among Kannapolis pitchers.