White Sox Minor League Update: June 20, 2025

Lucas Gordon advocates for skipping Triple-A with a brilliant start, while all the affiliates compete in low-scoring contests

Gwinnett Stripers 7, Charlotte Knights 3 (Statcast box)
The Knights (35-38) continue to merely flirt with a .500 record after losing a slug fest that went Gwinnett’s (28-45) way.

Charlotte’s starter Evan McKendry let the runs trickle in slowly, scattering eight hits and six runs across five frames. Although one of his six runs came because of Colson Montgomery’s fielding error that would’ve turned a double play, McKendry is certainly responsible for three solo home runs, two of which came from the rehabbing Jurickson Profar. Gus Varland later gave up a third home run to Profar, but the insurance turned out to be unnecessary.

Charlotte’s offense didn’t do McKendry many favors, either. The Knights flailed under Gwinnett’s pitching, striking out 15 times. Yikes. Andre Lipcius finally broke the scoring drought with a sacrifice fly that drove Korey Lee in during the fifth inning, but the Knights failed to capitalize with the bases loaded immediately after. Montgomery tried to redeem himself with an RBI double in the eighth, but it didn’t change the fact that he struck out three times.

Tim Elko’s RBI single added onto the comeback attempt, but that turned out to be Charlotte’s final scoring gasp as the Knights quickly ceded the game soon after.

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Birmingham Barons 3, Columbus Clingstones 0
Birmingham (37-30) shut out the Clingstones (25-39) in a tight affair.

The Barons scoring was compressed into the third and fourth innings. Calvin Harris’ solo bomb put the Barons up, 1-0, in the third, and fan favorites Rikuu Nishida and William Bergolla drove in the remaining runs with RBI singles of their own in the fourth frame. Although the Barons missed nine chances to score insurance runs, three runs were sufficient thanks to their stellar pitching.

Lucas Gordon entertained the audience again with a beautiful, six-inning gem that kept the Clingstones to one hit while amassing nine strikeouts. Wow! Drew Dalquist secured a hold with two nearly spotless innings, and Garrett Schoenle earned the save with a one-hit inning to cap off the night.

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Rome Emperors 1, Winston-Salem Dash 0
In a battle of who could out-pitch the other, the Dash (25-41) fell short to the Emperors (30-36) in the first game of the second half of the High-A season.

Jeral Perez’s throwing error helped the Emperors score the one and only run of the game. Despite pitching five nearly scoreless innings while holding Rome to one hit, two walks, and three strikeouts, Frankeli Arias was charged with the loss. Winston-Salem’s bullpen followed Arias with four clean innings and five strikeouts, but the absent offense didn’t make a difference.

Although they struck out nine times, the Dash failed to make use of their five hits and five walks drawn. Winston-Salem went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base in one of its worst offensive performances of the season. Firmly entrenched in last place in the Atlantic League South Division, the Dash don’t look to be turning it around any time soon.

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Charleston RiverDogs 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4
Kannapolis (32-34) lengthened their losing streak to eight on the same night that the White Sox snapped their own eight-game skid.

The RiverDogs scored all their runs in the second to quickly run starter Ricardo Brizuela off the mound. In his 10th start of the season, Brizuela allowed six hits and four runs through 1 2⁄3 innings. Gabriel Rodriguez relieved Brizuela with the bases loaded and two outs, but he didn’t get out unscathed. Rodriguez gave up a two-run homer before finally ending the miserable second inning, but he finished his next three innings without giving up another run.

While Kanny’s pitching struggled, their offenses stalled. The lineup was hitless until the eighth inning, when things finally started to get interesting. Lyle Miller-Green led off with a double, and eventually scored despite T.J. McCants and Ryan Burrowes’ consecutive ground outs.

The Ballers scored their second run after Nathan Archer, who drew his only walk of the night, nabbed home off a bases-loaded wild pitch. Kanny’s attempted comeback dragged into the ninth with another two-out miracle, when Archer drove in Miller-Green with a two-run RBI single. But the miracles ended there, as the RiverDogs made a pitching change to throw off Kannapolis’ momentum with a five-pitch at-bat for Grant Magill that ended in a ground out.

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ACL White Sox 4, ACL Royals 1
The complex league White Sox (20-15) earned a healthy win over the complex league Royals (19-18) with their strong pitching.

The Sox got off to an early lead with Grant Smith’s RBI single in the first frame. With a wild pitch and Stiven Flores’ single with runners in scoring position, the Sox tacked on three runs in the fifth inning to make it a 4-0 affair.

Fabian Ysalla had another strong outing, going five scoreless innings while only surrendering two hits while striking out four. Although Jake Curtis allowed a solo home run in the seventh to break the shutout, he still tossed two quality innings and punched out four to end the night.