White Sox Minor League Update: July 2, 2025

The affiliates went 2-3, and Charlotte walked it off to provide the highlight of the night

Charlotte Knights 4, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 3 (Statcast box)
The Knights (41-42) won a nail-biter in Charlotte against Jacksonville (52-31). It took an excellent performance by the bullpen and a clutch hit by Colson Montgomery to close the deal.

Charlotte’s starting pitcher was [redacted], who allowed three earned runs in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings. All of those runs scored from solo homers, as Jacksonville made plenty of sharp contact against him. When [redacted] left the game, there was one out in the top of the sixth, and the game was tied at three.

The Knights had scored those three runs in the bottom of the second, when Andre Lipcius drew a leadoff walk on a close 3-2 pitch. With one out, Bryan Ramos doubled, and the Knights had a pair in scoring position. Dominic Fletcher hit a sacrifice fly, and after three consecutive singles by Jacob Amaya, Dru Baker, and Corey Julks, Charlotte’s three-run inning was complete.

After [redacted]’s outing was over, relievers Penn Murfee, Jared Shuster, and Wikelman González combined to pitch 2 ²⁄₃ shutout innings to preserve the tie. As a result, the score remained 3-3 as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth.

Amaya led off the frame with a six-pitch walk, and he wisely took a close 3-2 pitch to reach base. A sacrifice bunt by Baker resulted in the Knights having a runner on second with one out. Julks was intentionally walked, and that brought Colson Montgomery up to the dish.

Last week’s Player of the Week delivered in the clutch, and the Knights are within a game of .500 once again.

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Chattanooga Lookouts 3, Birmingham Barons 2
Despite a strong pitching performance, the Barons (41-36) fell just short against Chattanooga (41-32).

Barons starter Jake Palisch, 26, continued his trend of limiting damage despite a modest strikeout rate. In seven innings, Palisch only collected two strikeouts, but he only allowed two runs, one of which was unearned. All in all, it was another successful outing for Palisch, who has a sparkling 1.71 ERA in 63 innings with the Barons this season.

Despite forcing a lot of weak contact again, Palisch got the loss, as the Barons only scored one run while Palisch was in the game. William Bergolla led off the bottom of the sixth for the Barons by doing some William Bergolla things. Bergolla led off with a walk, and he promptly stole his 21st base of the season. After productive outs by Ryan Galanie and Jacob Gonzalez, the Barons were finally on the board.

The score remained 2-1 until the eighth, when Birmingham reliever Dalton Roach allowed a solo homer to Sal Stewart. The Lookouts managed to hold that lead, although the Barons made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth.

Trailing by a score of 3-1, Caden Connor led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, and Mario Camilletti walked. After Calvin Harris and Jason Matthews were retired, the Barons were down to their final out, but Rikuu Nishida extended the game with an RBI single.

However, a ground out by Bergolla ended the threat.

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Winston-Salem Dash 6, Hub City Spartanburgers 4

When the action started on Wednesday, Hub City had a 4-3 lead in the third inning. The Winston-Salem pitching staff was on top of its game, as the Dash took care of business in the suspended game that started on Tuesday.

Dash starter Manuel Veloz allowed four earned runs in 2 ²⁄₃ innings on Tuesday, so Winston-Salem entered Wednesday with a deficit. However, thanks to RBI hits by Alec Makarewicz, Matt Hogan, and Terrell Tatum, Winston-Salem was only trailing by one.

Jeral Perez wasted no time in the bottom of the third, crushing a 2-1 pitch to left for a homer to tie the game.

The score remained 4-4 until the fifth, when the Dash went back to work. Perez and Braden Montgomery drew back-to-back walks to open the inning and set the stage for Samuel Zavala. With a 1-1 count, Zavala sliced an RBI double to left to put the Dash in front. Arxy Hernández added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-4.

The Dash did not score again, but they did not have to. The bullpen was terrific, combining to pitch 6 ¹⁄₃ shutout innings.

Hub City Spartanburgers 2, Winston-Salem Dash 1 (7 innings)

The Dash (29-47) had to settle for a split, as they came up short in the second game of the day.

Hub City (36-40) only allowed one hit in the nightcap, as Winston-Salem failed to get much going in terms of offense. The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth, when Dash starter Christian Oppor finally met some resistance. Oppor, 20, had been cruising through Hub City’s lineup, setting down hitters left and right. In five innings of work, Oppor struck out 10 without issuing any walks, but the fifth inning was a challenge. Yeison Morrobel led off with a single, and Julian Brock followed with a two-run homer.

The Dash put a bit of a rally together in the bottom of the fifth, when Wilber Sánchez led off with a nine-pitch walk. Juan González reached on a two-base error, so the Dash had two in scoring position with no outs. Terrell Tatum drew a walk, and Sánchez scored after a balk. So, the Dash got on the board without recording a hit that inning, but they only scored once, and they needed more.

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Hickory Crawdads 4, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 2

In this low-scoring matchup, the Cannon Ballers bullpen was not quite up to the task, so Hickory (41-35) got the victory over Kannapolis (36-41).

Once again, Cannon Ballers starter Grant Umberger, 23, was very effective on the mound. Umberger delivered six shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.19 in 61 ²⁄₃ innings, all with Kannapolis. Overall, hitters are only slashing .200/.284/.256 against Umberger, and on Wednesday, he was even better than usual.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Lyle Miller-Green and Ronny Hernandez hit back-to-back singles to open the inning. That put runners on the corners for George Wolkow, who struck out. However, Miller-Green and Hernandez executed a brilliant double-steal for the first run of the game.

Kannapolis took that 1-0 lead into the seventh, but a victory was not in the cards tonight. Reliever Hale Sims had an outing that he would like to forget, as he allowed three runs (two earned) in the seventh inning.

Cannon Ballers shortstop Caleb Bonemer, 19, launched a solo homer in the eighth, but it was too little, too late.