Charlotte Knights 12, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4
Although Charlotte unleashed another storm of runs onto poor Jacksonville, the biggest headline is Jacob Gonzalez’s departure. He collected three hits, including his 19th bomb, and a stolen base before Jason Matthews replaced him in the sixth.
Why, you may ask?
Gonzalez’s removal lines up with Munetaka
Murakami being pulled from the parent club’s game after reporting hamstring tightness. Austin Hays, still on a rehab assignment from the big club, was also removed early, with no signs of injury or fatigue. Not long after the end of the White Sox game came confirmation that Murakami will be hitting the IL, and that Gonzalez indeed will be his replacement on the White Sox roster. Perhaps Hays will ride Gonzalez’s coattails to Chicago and reclaim his roster spot.
The good news appears to be that even sans Gonzalez, the Knights lineup will fare just fine. Mario Camilletti and Braden Montgomery, who can hold down the fort as the dynamic duo at the top of the order, tonight combined for five runs and two RBIs with five walks. And though Garrett Schoenle uncharacteristically gave up a pair of runs in the seventh, his 1.98 ERA in 10 games has helped stabilize Charlotte’s bullpen.
Charlotte will definitely be in better shape without Gonzalez than Chicago without Murakami, so let’s hope Jacob can bring his Knights firepower to the South Side.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3, Birmingham Barons 2
Bham dropped the ball on what should’ve been its 19th win. The Barons clung to Alec Makarewicz’s sac fly in the first and Jeral Perez’s bases-juiced walk to stay in the game while the bullpen did the legwork. The relief crew did a stellar job recovering from Jake Palisch’s fifth-inning stumble, where he gave up a two-run double that knotted the contest at two each. Jacob Heatherly gave up the only relief run, while Jackson Kelley and Jarold Rosado kept the Blue Wahoos off the board even while faced with a sacks-packed, two-out situation in the eighth.
A walk-off win seemed in sight. Wilfred Veras drew a leadoff walk and Drake Logan singled to quickly get two on with none out. Samuel Zavala grounded into a double play, pushing Veras to third but cutting Bham’s chances significantly. Colby Shelton was hit by a pitch, but the rally ended abruptly on Makarewicz’s fly out. With 10 left on base and going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, a walk-off win would’ve been Bham’s saving grace. But this loss, sadly, was deserved.
Rome Emperors 3, Winston-Salem Dash 2
Rome evened the series with Winston-Salem at two apiece after the Dash lineup failed to translate runners in scoring position into runs. Despite knocking one more hit than the Emperors, going 0-for-11 with runners on second and third and stranding eight on base stifled the Dash. Liam Paddack rung up eight through four scoreless innings to start the game, but they were wasted as the lineup did little until the eighth, when Rome’s Elison Joseph handed two runs to the Dash with a wild pitch and a balk. Outside of Joseph’s mistakes, the Dash would have been shut out. This loss was on the lineup.
Augusta GreenJackets 8, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 1
Adrian Gil played hero on both sides of the ball in Kanny’s struggle to stay in the game. He put the Ballers’ only run on the board with a solo shot to left field with two outs in the ninth inning, and that came AFTER he supplied two scoreless innings on the bump in this 8-1 blowout. Talk about carrying the team.
Outside of Gil’s efforts and Landen Payne’s 2 1/3 shutout frames, the CBs were nowhere to be found. The lineup strung together six hits and the game got out of hand in the second when starter Caedmon Parker a gave up a three-run jack. Thing devolved quickly as the GreenJackets put up eight mostly unanswered runs off small ball. It definitely wasn’t a memorable game. Oh well, onto the next one.
ACL White Sox 6, ACL Dodgers 3 (7 innings)
The ACL Sox got an early jump on the ACL Dodgers, and turned that into an easy victory. Jose Mendoza put the Complexers on the board in the first with his RBI single, and Yordani Soto added three with a homer over the right field wall. In the second, Jurdrick Profar tacked on two more insurance runs with another moonshot, and Marcelo Alcala supplied a sixth insurance run. These runs provided plenty of padding for Fidel Montero, who swiftly saw his lead halved in the third when he gave up a three-run shot to Aidan West. Fortunately, Montero’s slip was the only blunder on the Sox side, as Jeremy Gonzalez and Jesus Mendez closed the final four outs and struck out five.
