White Sox Minor League Update: July 1, 2024

The Knights and the rooks were the only teams to pull through for the W — including clutch performances from Wilmer Difo and Stiven Flores, and a tough extra-inning loss for the Dash

A rare Monday of full-season affiliate action snuck up on us a bit, so enjoy this encore performance of our Minor League Update!

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Charlotte Knights 6, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2 (Gameday box) (Statcast box)
The Knights got off to a super hot start with three back-to-back doubles from Mark Payton, WIlmer Difo, and Michael Chavis — Chavis driving in the first two runs of the game.

He would come in to score just a couple of at-bats later after a Zach DeLoach single to left brought in the third run for Charlotte.

The fourth and final run of the first inning was driven in by Jared Walsh, and just like that Touki Toussaint had some pretty ideal run support right off the bat.

That run support certainly did come in handy for Touki, as two runs scored for the Jumbo Shrimp in the third to cut the lead in half. The good news is that those were the only two runs that Toussaint gave up, and he lasted for a fairly strong seven innings and earned the win.

Wilmer Difo has been on fire recently, and he dominated again today as he went 3-for-5 with a double, homer, two RBIs, and scored twice himself. Not only has Difo been one of the best hitters on the Knights, but he’s been one of the best in the League. He’s slashing .340/.428/.503 on the year, and ranking fifth in the International League in OPS (1.117) over the past month — slugging .638 during this time!

Sammy Peralta and Aaron McGarity finished out the game strongly with two hitless innings, and combined for five K’s.

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Rocket City Trash Pandas 6, Birmingham Barons 5 (Gameday box)
Jairo Iriarte was not on his game today, and got beat up in the first few innings as the Trash Pandas put a big fat five on the scoreboard after three. He ended up staying in the game through five, but there was a lot of damage done that the Barons attempted to repair but could not.

Birmingham got one run back in the second on a fielder’s choice from Matt Hogan, and one more in the fourth on a Jacob Gonzalez RBI single. However, any time the Barons began to build any sort of momentum, it would quickly get shut down.

Jordan Mikel came in to relieve in the sixth, but naturally, Rocket City tripled to drive another run in, and their lead extended back to four.

The Barons did right themselves on the defensive end with two efficient, hitless bullpen innings from Gil Luna and Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa. Birmingham also began to chip away once again by scoring a run in the seventh, eighth, and ninth — but the rally would fall just short.

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Hickory Crawdads 3, Winston-Salem Dash 2 (11 innings) (Gameday box)
In what was essentially a pitcher’s duel for all 11 innings, the Crawdads, sadly, snuck away with the win. The only earned run scored against the Dash came with rehabbing Davis Martin on the mound, in the bottom of the first inning. Martin served more as the opener Monday, and he gave up just one run one one hit, but was otherwise very solid — also striking out three.

Winston-Salem tied the game at one in the bottom of the third on a base hit from Mario Camilletti. The past seven days has treated Camilletti well, slashing .333/.375/.476 — leading the Dash in OPS, and tied for third in the South Atlantic League for RBIs (8). For context, the second-most RBIs from a WS batter for the past week was three.

Anyways back to the game ... José Ramírez came in to relieve the next five innings and was exactly what the Dash needed to keep themselves close given their lack of offense. Winston-Salem definitely had other chances to score, but couldn’t make it happen.

Samuel Zavala drove in the first extra-inning go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, but the Crawdads clawed right back in the bottom half of the inning to tie it up again at two.

Hickory closed the door on the Dash in the bottom of the 11th, as the Dash were unable to convert their second-base ghost runner a second time. A base hit RBI for the Crawdads decided the game, winning 3-2.

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Fayetteville Woodpeckers 13, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6 (Gameday box)
There was plenty of action in the first three innings, with both teams putting up five runs in rapid succession. Jake Bockenstedt’s start wasn’t great by any means for the Cannon Ballers, and he was also liable for Monday’s loss. He still gave up eight hits, but the seven in the runs scored column tells a completely different story than the three in the ER column. His two wild pitches didn’t help either, I guess.

Even so, Kannapolis probably was not going to win after getting outproduced by six hits, going 2-for-13 with RISP, and committing four errors as a team. The Woodpeckers weren’t THAT much better on defense, as they were responsible for the other three of seven errors in the game, but they were able to convert runners across the plate.

Although joining the error brigade Monday, George Wolkow was a strong performer on the offensive end (a home run among his two hits), alongside Rikuu Nishida and Caden Connor — with Connor leading the way with three.

The vibes were off across the entire team, really. The bullpen contributed four innings, but also allowed another four earned runs (six total) — which ultimately secured the 13-6 win for the Woodpeckers. Probably best the Ballers just leave this game in the dust and work to bounce back Tuesday.

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ACL White Sox 10, ACL Brewers 6 (Gameday box)
The ACL team nearly chalked up to another White Sox farm team that was working hard to beat themselves by committing three errors. The thing that ended up saving them was the numerous productive offensive performances from several players — including Abraham Núñez with three hits, and Javier Mogollón and Stiven Flores who had two apiece.

Flores was by far the standout of the ACL Sox, batting 2-for-2, which included a two-out grand slam in the top of the first inning. This really set the stage for the game, likely causing ACL Brewers players’ jaws to hit the floor after so much chaos unfolded in just one half-inning. Flores drove in his fifth RBI later, in the fourth, where he helped push the ACL Sox lead up to 9-2.

The pitching as a whole did a decent job, and Emerson Talavera obtained the win after his 2 1⁄3 innings of work where he gave up just two hits. Carlos Hinestroza was the only other pitcher to compete at least two innings, but he struggled more than the rest by giving up three earned on four hits.

Luckily, that’s all that the Brewers would get. And even better, the ACL Sox were able to add a few additional insurance runs to officially cap out at 10.

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