For three innings tonight, Knights’ starter John Parke was perfect, with five groundouts and four strikeouts. But the second time through the lineup was brutal, and when it was over, the Memphis Redbirds touched the lanky lefty for six runs. Memphis would go on to a 9-2 win in the Charlotte home opener.
In a post-game chat, Parke said he intended to stay with the same approach that worked so well for the first three innings, rather than make any big adjustments as the Redbirds got their second shot at him.
“They weren’t taking great swings in the first three innings and I kind of went away from that, which was just my mistake,” he explained. “I was trying to get too cute, I was trying to paint more corners, and not doing what I do best. For example, the lead-off guy in the fourth inning, I got to a 2-2 count and instead of going to my strong suit and trying to get a ground ball, I went for the punchout and I think I just got cocky.”
After a down 2021 from Dallas Keuchel, White Sox fans may be a bit skittish about sinker-heavy lefties. And, to be sure, there is less margin for error with pitchers like these. But I think Parke could still have something to contribute in Chicago if he can find a bit more consistency.
Parke will get a second shot on Sunday at this tough Redbirds lineup, which has one of the more potent lineups in Triple-A.
The Offense
Seby Zavala got the offense started with a 418-foot solo blast in the second, followed three batters later by a Mark Payton RBI double. Unfortunately, those were the only extra-base hits, to go along with seven singles and one walk.
It didn’t make a difference tonight, but the addition of Micker Adolfo should add some middle-of-the-order thump to the lineup. Adolfo cleared waivers, was re-signed by the White Sox, assigned to Charlotte and in the lineup tonight.
The Pitching
After the Redbirds put together six runs on six hits and a walk against Parke in the fourth, Kyle Kubat came out of the Knights’ pen to post three shutout innings, with five strikeouts. Andrew Perez gave up the final three Memphis runs in the ninth.
Johnny Cueto Whereabouts
Helms said Cueto remains in Arizona and there is no plan yet for the veteran hurler to take the mound in Charlotte.
Other Roster Moves
Jimmy Lambert and Anderson Severino were recalled, filling in for Lucas Giolito and AJ Pollock. They join Jake Burger and Matt Foster as Knights’ call-ups so far this year.
The White Sox/Knights also released outfielder Patrick Kivlehan, presumably to make room for Adolfo.
Helms Assesses His Team
I asked Wes Helms what he learned about his team after a week on the road. (The Knights were 3-3 in Norfolk last week.)
“I love the make-up of our lineup,” Helms said. “Now we’ve added Adolfo. We’re going to score runs. They grind at bats, which I really love. Baserunning was exceptional. We were really aggressive on the bases, taking the extra base, tagging up from second to third, even on fly balls to left, which we didn’t do last year.
“Defensively,” he said, “we were really good in the outfield. We had an error or two in the infield but that’s to be expected early, with our not getting a lot of work in the field early.
“Pitchingwise, I was pleased. We had a few times here and there when bullpen guys struggled with throwing strikes, but (pitching coach) Matt Zaleski is on it right now. Those guys just need to get a few appearances under their belt, and understand that if we locate, we win.
“I’m very pleased with the way we played in Norfolk. We could be 5-1 very easily.”
Minor Keys
Memphis 9, Charlotte 2
- Adam Haseley went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Romy Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a K.
- Carlos Pérez finally went hitless, going 0-for-4.
- Micker Adolfo went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in his first game back.
- John Parke: 4 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Chattanooga 16, Birmingham 4
- Jose Rodriguez went 1-for-5 with a double.
- Yolbert Sánchez was 2-for-4 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Yoelqui Céspedes doubled and struck out four times.
- Lenyn Sosa went 0-for-4 with a K.
Winston-Salem 4, Greensboro 3
- Oscar Colás went 1-for-3 with a double, walk and strikeout.
- Bryan Ramos was 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Luis Mieses, 0-for-4 with two K’s.
- Adam Hackenberg was 1-for-4.
- Harvin Mendoza, 1-for-2 with a walk and an HBP.
- Andrew Dalquist: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR
- Zach Cable: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Highlights:
*Ramos’ hot start continues with the go-ahead hit:
Bryan Ramos continues to produce. On the young season he is hitting .375 with an 1.125 OPS. Here he drives in RBI’s 3&4 of the young season (Castillo and Colas). #Dash up 4-3, your final score. #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/pFkzgHu5DZ
— White Sox Daily (@dailywhitesox) April 13, 2022
*Here’s Colás’ double:
Colás finally got one, double to straightaway center that would’ve gone over a regulation wall pic.twitter.com/VAW7dfnzBi
— Ben Spanier (@b_span2) April 13, 2022
Kannapolis 7, Down East 2
- Colson Montgomery doubled, singled, walked, hit a sac fly and struck out.
- DJ Gladney went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Wilfred Veras was 0-for-2 with a sac fly and an HBP.
- Wes Kath was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- James Beard went 1-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and two steals, including one of home.
- Kohl Simas: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K
Montgomery has a 1.000 OPS (.500 OBP, .500 SLG). And .500 BABIP. Matching 29% BB and K rates. Interesting line!
Also has more XBH (3) than singles (2), but the XBH are all doubles.
Who is Kohl Simas? Can he be a guy?
I’m not smart enough to land a Usual Suspects joke.
I don’t know what the scouting report is, but he is old for the level. It was mentioned in the podcast this morning that he’s Bill Simas’s son and was an undrafted free agent.
Thanks. Well, for the next 4 days at least I’ll dream on him.
Interesting, was thinking he must be related to Bill somehow.
Holy hell, Kohl Simas.
I know it’s early, but it’s so refreshing to watch young, Sox-drafted or signed, home-grown talent succeed. Sure, the system was great when the Sox loaded up on prospects from other teams. But this is as optimistic as I’ve felt in a while about the system and its ability to find and develop players. A long way to go, but the last year or so has been an encouraging one.
I’m encouraged by the development we’ve seen from a range of prospects, as well. My big concern remains their ability to scout, draft, and develop pitching prospects. We used a lot of capital to add Thompson, Dalquist, and Kelley in recent years. Having seen very little to build on with any of those guys to this point is an issue.
I’d be more comfortable with the farm if we could point to a starting pitcher prospect who appears on track to be a likely MLB regular (even at the back half of the rotation), but we seem pretty thin in that area. Less-heralded guys like Lambert, McClure, and Stiever may provide spot starter depth, but they seem like 5th starters at best currently. Vera could be a legit starter prospect, though he needs to get more live action to show off his stuff.
Great to see more position players coming around, all the same.
How quickly Norge Vera develops is going to be very important.
What’s the latest on him? Is he still hurt (lat pull or something)?
yeah he’s recovering from a lat strain still
Wow that’s a great photo of the ballpark – beautiful look of the city from behind the plate. That’s Charlotte? Need to get there for a game someday.
Yep, that’s Charlotte. Really nice ballpark with gorgeous skyline behind centerfield. Find a time to visit Charlotte when you can drive 30 minutes north of Charlotte and catch a Low-A game in Kannapolis (or 75 minutes north of Charlotte to catch a High-A game in Winston-Salem) the next night!
Kopech and Dy-lain and pray for rain?
Given that there’s approximately a 100% chance that we get rained out tonight, I wonder what the chances are that La Russa pushes Keuchel and gives Cease the start. I see they’ve already announced Lambert for tomorrow so, maybe La Russa just wants to get everyone’s feet wet, but it wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all to try to keep Cease on normal-ish rest to avoid the backend of the rotation.
It sounds like Cueto hasn’t even thrown live batting practice yet. That implies that he wasn’t throwing or doing much while spring training was going on, unfortunately. I had hoped he had already been doing stuff, and would be ready to throw an inning at Charlotte by now.
Hard to picture him being with the Sox before early or probably more likely mid May at this rate.
I wouldn’t read too much into Helms’ statement about Cueto. Cueto is a veteran who knows exactly what he needs to do to get himself ready, and I’d expect to see him in Charlotte & Chicago sooner than later.
Kohl Simas is suddenly putting himself of the radar in a big way, dear lord. 13 out of 15 outs recorded by K. He was used as a reliever last year but is now starting… I would hazard a guess at a big-time jump in stuff over the offseason.
Kohl: Expect great things.