Charlotte Knights 12, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 5
Charlotte (28-26) fell into a four-run pit, then stormed back with a 12-5 romp. Jacob Gonzalez, once again, front and center, and at this point the White Sox brass must be running out of excuses to keep him down.
Gonzalez wasted no time, unloading his 17th bomb in the first, but the Knights’ lead evaporated instantly.
Jacksonville teed off on Shane Murphy for four in the second — two homers, a walk, a double, pick your poison — and tacked on another
in the third for a 5-1 hole.
The comeback started in the third. Mario Camilletti and Braden Montgomery slapped back-to-back singles, then Gonzalez ripped an RBI double to center. Dustin Harris chipped in with an RBI ground out, and suddenly it was 5-3.
Then the fourth inning happened. Avalanche.
Jacksonville starter Brandon White had given up 12 runs all year. Charlotte hung eight on him in one inning. It started with an error, then Dru Baker walked, and another blunder loaded the bases. Josh Breaux walked in a run, Camilletti walked in another, and just like that, it was 5-5.
With the sacks still packed, Montgomery unloaded: 384 feet, grand slam, Knights in front for good.
But the party kept rolling. Gonzalez stepped in and obliterated his third homer of the day, 422 feet to dead center, number 18 on the year. LaMonte Wade Jr. chipped in a solo shot for dessert. In a blink, 5-3 became 11-5.
Because apparently 11 runs were not enough, the Knights grabbed another in the fifth. Montgomery singled with two outs, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on yet another RBI knock from Gonzalez.
At this point, Gonzalez is just tormenting Triple-A arms now. He wrapped up his night slashing .308/.414/.646, OPS at 1.060, leading the league in homers, RBIs, slugging, you name it. Promotion watch? The real question: where does he fit with the big club already jammed with infielders? Trade bait? Maybe.
Lost amid the offensive explosion was a gutsy effort from Murphy, who settled down after the ugly start and finished off a complete game in the seven-inning contest to earn the win. Since this was the second game of a doubleheader following the completion of Wednesday’s suspended game earlier in the day, the teams only played seven frames.
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 6, Charlotte Knights 3 (Suspended on May 27)
Rain put the brakes on things last night heading into the bottom of the fifth, so play resumed this afternoon with the Knights at bat. Charlotte promptly squandered a leadoff knock, and then Tyler Schweitzer got death by a thousand singles in the sixth: four base hits, a wild pitch, a sac fly, and suddenly Jacksonville was up 5-2.
Jacob Gonzalez tried to spark something with a solo blast that went 440 feet and 108.5 mph off the bat in the eighth, but the Shrimp snatched the run right back in the ninth off Riley Gowens.
Then, the Knights went quietly in their last ABs, and the curtain dropped with barely a sound. It’s going to be tough to squeeze out a W on only four hits and going 1-for-7 with RISP.
Birmingham Barons 7, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4 (10 innings)
The Barons (18-29) found a way to win tonight despite being out-hit and tripping over their own gloves.
Pensacola jumped out early, hanging a three-spot on Dylan Cumming in the second, but Birmingham started the slow crawl back with a Drake Logan solo shot in the third.
The Barons pulled even in the fourth. With one out, Samuel Zavala and Jeral Perez both walked, a wild pitch moved them into scoring position, and an RBI ground out from Wilfred Veras and a single by Jorge Corona knotted things up at 3-3.
Pensacola snatched the lead back in the sixth, gift-wrapped by a Barons throwing error and a passed ball. Birmingham, undeterred by their own mess, kept lurking. In the eighth, Anthony DePino ripped a double, then Perez plated him with a two-bagger to left. Tied again.
From there, the bullpen locked things down. Jairo Iriarte and Jonathan Clark stitched together three scoreless innings, including a white-knuckle moment in the 10th when the ghost runner crept to third with one out.
Cue the bottom-half theatrics.
With Jordan Sprinkle starting the inning at second, he swiped third after a Colby Shelton pop-up. Pensacola elected to intentionally walk Alec Makarewicz, bringing DePino to the plate with one out. Bad move. DePino obliterated the first pitch he saw, a three-run walk-off bomb to left-center. Game over.
Rome Emperors 5, Winston-Salem Dash 1
The Emperors wasted no time, and the Dash (28-20) bats might as well have stayed in the rack. Rome quickly got to starter Mason Adams with a run in the first on a walk, single, ground out, and sac fly, then clubbed a solo shot in the top of the third.
The Dash offense showed up briefly in the bottom of the frame. Two singles, a bunt, and a passed ball made it 2–1. But with the bases loaded and a chance to put up a fight, they fizzled. A strikeout, inning over, threat gone.
Rome padded the lead with two more off Seth Keener in the seventh and another off Madison Jeffrey in the ninth. The Dash offense? Dead on arrival after the third. Two hits, zero pop, and two walks. Rome’s arms ran the show, wire to wire.
Augusta GreenJackets 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5
The Ballers (25-23) staged a late scramble, but the hole was too deep, and Augusta walked away with the W. This one seemed like it was going off the rails quickly. Blaine Wynk surrendered two runs in the first, only one earned, thanks to the first of three Ballers blunders. Gabriel Rodriguez came in and gave up two in the second. Augusta tacked on two more in the fourth, and just like that, Kannapolis was staring at a 6-0 deficit.
However, Kannapolis finally got on the board in the fourth. Rylan Galvan singled, James Taussig worked a walk, and a wild throw on a Derek Cerda grounder let Galvan trot home. The Ballers, at least, were showing some life, down 6-1 and weren’t dead yet.
Seventh inning, and Kanny started to stir. Adrian Gil and Efren Teran drew back-to-back one-out walks, Abraham Núñez wore a pitch, and suddenly the bags were juiced for Jaden Fauske. A wild pitch let Gil scamper home, then Fauske unloaded a triple to right — his sixth, tops in the league — and just like that, Kannapolis was breathing down Augusta’s neck at 6-5.
The Ballers had one last gasp in the ninth. With two outs, Núñez punched a single and stole second. Fauske worked a 10-pitch walk, putting the tying run in scoring position. But Javier Mogollón whiffed to end it.
In the end, the Ballers’ gloves did them in. Three errors, and that gift-wrapped unearned run in the first was the difference between a loss and a shot with a tied game.
ACL White Sox 7, ACL Diamondbacks 0
The Sox (6-13) wasted no time getting on the board, as Jose Mendoza launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the first to give the squad a quick jolt. They added another run in the fourth when Yordani Soto ripped a triple and later scored on a Landon Hodge RBI single to extend the lead to 3-0.
The arms handled the rest from there.
Christian Oppor, fresh off a demotion, got the nod for his first ACL spin. The 21-year-old southpaw worked two scoreless innings, wrestling his command (three walks, three punchouts) but dodging damage. Chicago’s 2023 fifth-round pick started 2026 in Birmingham but was a tire fire — 9.49 ERA, 13.14 BB/9 in eight games — after looking sharp in Kannapolis and Winston-Salem last season.
Kendry Garcia followed and shoved, spinning four scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and two walks alongside six strikeouts. Cesar Familia then polished things off with a hitless seventh inning to complete the shutout.
The Sox offense finally broke it open in the sixth. Alejandro Cruz drew a leadoff walk, swiped second, and came home on another Hodge RBI. Hodge nabbed second himself, then Alan Escobar wore one to put two on. After a ground out advanced both runners, Jordan Rich lined an RBI single to score Hodge. A wild pitch moments later brought home Escobar while scooting Rich to third, making it 6-0. Marcelo Alcala added a walk before Mendoza capped the party with an RBI single, giving him three RBIs on the night as the ACL Sox hung a four-spot and rolled to the easy win.
