Four close games, three wins, two contests working into extras — and both of those games in A-ball, both going 10 innings, ending victoriously. With the exception of mercurial Charlotte, on Saturday the White Sox system learned how to win!

Nashville Sounds 5, Charlotte Knights 4 (Statcast box)
While Charlotte (49-51) would scrape back into this game to make it close, the truth is that Nashville’s four-run second, off of TJS-rehabbing starter Jesse Scholtens, was pretty much all it needed for the win. Overall, it was a dismal effort, with just seven hits and seven hard hits, against nine Ks, the offense pushing scant runners into scoring position. And Scholtens wasn’t all to blame among the arms, as Jared Shuster was sloppy in immediate relief. All told this could have been more of a runaway loss.

A bright spot? Jacob Gonzalez, somewhat curiously called up from Birmingham in the aftermath of the Sox selling Tristan Gray to Tampa, went 0-for-4 but was one of just two Knights with two hard hits in the game.

Birmingham Barons 6, Montgomery Biscuits 4
So the Barons (56-39) ended up taking just one day off from their relentless winning of mid-late July, making it 13 of 14 wins and fortifying first place (overall and second half) in the Southern League. Tonight was a blitzkrieg of paper cuts, as Bham extended the advantage to 6-0 at the midpoint before the Biscuits awoke for breakfast; Montgomery threw up three in the ninth, making this final appear closer than was the experience of nearly 3,800 at Regions Field. Jake Palisch held it down with a scoreless start, but given the short four innings he was handed did not qualify for the win. Rikuu Nishida, Matt Hogan and Calvin Harris had two hits apiece, with Harris the only batter for Bham to notch extra bases.

Winston-Salem Dash 5, Aberdeen IronBirds 4 (10 innings)
If the concession lines were long in spite of just 2,500 at Ripken Stadium today, and somehow you were forced to miss a middle chunk of the game (say, the third through sixth innings), you dodged a bullet — no scoring between the two worst teams in the Sally. And in fact you’d be forgiven for thinking the Dash might coast, 3-2, to an easy win that would pull them within a half-game of the horrid IronBirds.

However, Aberdeen touched new arrival Jonathan Clark for a run in the seventh, and the game remained deadlocked through regulation.

In the 10th, the bats awoke on both sides. The good news? Wilber Sánchez picked a fab time for his second longball of the season, blasting a two-run shot in the top half:

Phil Fox, on for the save, allowed two ground outs that saw Aberdeen’s Manfred Man run to score, but no more. The Dash (36-57) are just a sneeze from getting out of Sally’s basement!

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5, Carolina Mudcats 4 (10 innings)
No this is not a clerical error with the High-A score cut-and-pasted from above, both A-ball games went 10 innings and ended in 5-4 wins for the White Sox. That’s happened, what, zero times ever?

There’s a lot of stuff that happened in this exciting game, but Caleb Bonemer must be cited for awesomeness, singlehandedly trying to knock down the left field wall at Five County Stadium; the rookie SS dented the metal twice, and the other time he missed came as a result of clocking a ball OVER the tall wall for a homer.

Abraham Núñez, who has had a ROUGH 2025, was today’s hero, with the GWRBI in the 10th:

And Núñez drove in new (finally!) Baller Adrian Gil, now up from the ACL after the conclusion of the rookie ball season:

Reliever Ethan Hammerberg is also back in full-season ball after more than a year away, did not pitch at all in 2024; his debut was not so hot, with a blown save and three walks in his frame.