White Sox Minor League Update: July 19-20, 2022

It’s a break for the minor leagues this week, too, as on Tuesday and Wednesday only the DSL were active, on Thursday it will be both rookie league teams, and Friday marks a return to full minor league updates!

July 19

On Tuesday, the DSL White Sox jumped out to a big lead and never looked back against the DSL Phillies.

The top of the first was quite eventful for the DSL White Sox, and in a good way. The first four DSL White Sox to bat reached base safely. Guillermo Rodriguez led off with a single, Leandro Alsinois singled, and Ryan Burrowes doubled to drive in the first run of the game. They were not done, either. Loidel Chapelli Jr. tripled the lead with a two-run triple, so with no outs in the top of the first, the score was already 3-0. The DSL Phillies finally recorded an out, but it was on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Jiménez to increase the lead to four.

DSL White Sox starter Juan Jiménez did not have his best game, but in this matchup, that was far from necessary. After two scoreless innings to open the game, Jiménez ran into trouble with two outs in the third. After a single and a stolen base, an RBI double trimmed the lead to three. Jiménez also allowed an RBI double with one out in the fourth, and that was the end of his outing. However, the DSL White Sox still had a 4-2 lead when he left the game, and the rest of the game went fairly easily. Down the stretch, the DSL White Sox padded their lead with a sacrifice fly by Arxy Hernández, a double by Carlos Jiménez, and a wild pitch.

July 20

This game was going well — until it wasn’t. A collapse from the bullpen and the defense in the eighth inning cost the DSL White Sox a victory.

After three innings, the game was scoreless, as DSL White Sox starter José Mendoza and DSL Twins starter Miguel Olivares got off to great starts. Mendoza was removed after three excellent, scoreless innings. Meanwhile, the DSL White Sox got to Olivares in the fourth and fifth innings, but they needed help from the DSL Twins defense.

After a leadoff single by Ryan Burrowes in the top of the fourth, Carlos Jiménez reached on a catcher interference with one out. Then, after a walk to load the bases, DSL Twins catcher Jesus Peraza made his second mistake in as many minutes with a throwing error, and that was how the first run of the game scored. Leandro Alsinois wrapped up the scoring that inning by driving in a run with a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0.

The top of the fifth was also somewhat bizarre. Ryan Castillo struck out to open the inning, but thanks to a wild pitch, he reached first base on a dropped third strike. Then, Castillo got picked off, but the DSL Twins simply would not let him get out. DSL Twins shortstop Bryan Acuña failed to catch the throw to tag Castillo, so despite being picked off, Castillo was safe at second. Erick Hernández drove Castillo in with a single, and Loidel Chapelli JR. drove in a run with a triple. Just like that, it was 4-0.

In the sixth, the DSL White Sox scored two runs for the third straight inning. This time, they used a single, a double, and wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly to put those runs on the board. In the seventh, Burrowes extended the lead to seven with a solo home run, and the game appeared to be over.

The DSL Twins picked up one run in the bottom of the seventh on a throwing error by Junior Del Valle. Despite that, however, the game seemed to be firmly in control, as the DSL White Sox held a 7-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth. Then, this happened: single, single, HBP, strikeout, walk (7-2), double (7-4), wild pitch (7-5), walk, walk, strikeout. OK, finally, the second out had been recorded. To make matters better, there was a ground ball to first that should have ended the inning and preserved a two-run lead. Unfortunately, Jiménez made a fielding error, and the game was tied. From there, the DSL Twins got three consecutive hits to take a four-run lead, and the DSL White Sox went down quietly in the ninth.