Charlotte Knights 4, Gwinnett Stripers 3
By beating Gwinnett (26-21) to take a 2-0 series lead, the Knights (24-23) joined the White Sox in the above-.500 club.
Knights starter David Sandlin, 25, struck out seven and only allowed one run in four innings. The White Sox acquired Sandlin in the trade involving Gage Ziehl and Jordan Hicks in February. It is very early, but Sandlin is off to a fantastic start in the organization, with a 0.55 ERA in 16 1/3 innings.
When Sandlin left the game, Charlotte had a 2-1 lead. The first of those runs came on a solo blast by LaMonte Wade Jr., his sixth homer of the season. The other early Knights run scored on a double by Junior Perez, who the White Sox acquired from the Athletics for Jackson Nove last week.
The score remained 2-1 until the eighth, when Rikuu Nishida reached base despite striking out. After reaching on a dropped third strike, Nishida advanced to third on a double by Braden Montgomery. Two batters later, red-hot shortstop Jacob Gonzalez drove Nishida and Montgomery in with a two-run single.
The Knights allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth, but they kept the Stripers off the board in the ninth to preserve their thin lead.
Biloxi Shuckers 9, Birmingham Barons 7
The Barons (16-25) dropped another game in Biloxi against the Shuckers (19-21).
Birmingham’s offense did its part, but things did not go well on the run prevention side. The Barons committed four errors, and the pitching staff allowed nine runs, seven of them earned. Barons starter Christian Oppor, 21, made some sizable strides forward last year, but he is struggling quite a bit so far. In this game, Oppor allowed five runs in two innings, increasing his season ERA to 9.49.
When Oppor left the game, Birmingham trailed by a score of 5-3. Jeral Perez drove in Birmingham’s first run in the second when he reached on an error. Later in the inning, Calvin Harris hit an RBI double, and Drake Logan grounded into a productive force out.
Entering the fourth, the score was still 5-3, but Jorge Corona hit his second homer of the season to cut the deficit in half. The Barons kept the good times rolling in the fifth, when Corona remained hot with an RBI triple to tie the game. From there, Drake Logan singled to put the Barons ahead.
However, that was as good as Birmingham’s situation got in this game. The Shuckers scored one in the fifth and two in the sixth to retake the lead for the rest of the game.
Winston-Salem Dash 19, Greensboro Grasshoppers 8
After a 13-9 win on Monday, the Dash (25-16) offense remained on fire against Greensboro (25-16) with another enormous offensive performance.
Dash starter Grant Umberger, 24, was not as effective as he would have wanted to be, as he allowed four earned runs in four innings. This performance increased Umberger’s season ERA to 5.84, but it simply did not matter for this game’s outcome.
The Dash scored one in the first, 11 in the third, and one in the fourth, so by the time Umberger was out of the game, Winston-Salem had a 13-4 lead. The biggest hit during that 11-run third inning was a three-run blast by Alex Ungar. At the time, Ungar’s homer gave the Dash a 6-2 lead. George Wolkow also did a lot of damage in the third, going 2-for-2 with a triple, a double, and five RBIs in that inning alone.
At the end of it all, the Dash finished 14-for-27 with runners in scoring position. In other words, they had many RBI opportunities, and they delivered more often than not. Every Dash position player had at least one hit except for … Caleb Bonemer? My eyes might be playing tricks on me. With that hitless performance, Bonemer’s season OPS dropped to “only” 1.003. Careful, Caleb. You might drop into the triple digits.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 7, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 0
The White Sox organization is stacking wins against the North Siders. After the exciting series victory at the MLB level, the Cannon Ballers (20-21) have a 2-0 series lead against Myrtle Beach (18-21).
The Cannon Ballers did not waste any time, as they got on the board in the bottom of the first. With one out, Billy Carlson singled and stole second. Then, with two outs, Javier Mogollón drove in the first run of the game with a timely single. The Cannon Ballers led from that point forward. Ryan Galvan hit a solo homer in the second, and Mogollón launched a two-run homer in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Kannapolis starter Max Banks, 23, remained in a groove. Banks pitched six shutout innings, striking out seven and issuing zero walks. After this outstanding performance, Banks has a 1.23 season ERA in 44 innings, and opposing hitters have an OPS of .581.
ACL White Sox 4, ACL Giants 1 (7 innings)
The ACL White Sox (5-8) had a fantastic pitching performance to wrap up a 4-1 day for the affiliates.
Right-handed starter Fabian Ysalla, 21, was on top of his game for the Complex Sox, throwing three shutout innings without allowing a hit. After Ysalla’s outing was over, the bullpen did its part, only allowing one run on one hit in four innings.
Meanwhile, the Complex Sox got on the board on a two-run single in the fourth, when Derek Cerda hit a two-run single. That turned out to be enough offense for the Complex Sox, who added a pair of insurance runs down the stretch.