Nashville Sounds 10, Charlotte Knights 0 (Statcast Box)
The Knights (59-71) continue to flounder, and this day was an unmitigated pitching disaster: Five hurlers, all godawful, and leading the charge Tyler Gilbert, kissing any hopes of a return to the majors in 2025 away.

Likewise, the bats were limp — save for two safeties from Mario Camilletti, Charlotte was no-hit on Saturday.

Noah Schultz got the start and went three innings, giving up two earned but keeping a harness on his control. He walked just one and threw a solid 32 of 48 pitches for strikes. He struck out just one but his contact brought no great harm (three singles).

Knights MVP
Mario Camilletti (2B): 2-for-3, two hard hits, 8.0% WPA
Other Notables
Bryan Ramos (3B) 0-for-4, two hard hits
Evan McKendry (RHRP): 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 4 K
Joshua Palacios (DH): 0-for-2, 2 BB

Knights Cold Cat
Tyler Gilbert (LHRP): 1/3 IP, H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 10-of-25 strikes
Others, Chilled
Andre Lipcius (1B): 0-for-3, HBP, 2 K
Corey Julks (LF): 0-for-4, K
Dominic Fletcher (CF): 0-for-4, K
Adam Hackenberg (C): 0-for-3, 2 K, 0-for-4 CS
Dru Baker (RF): 0-for-3, 2 K, RF assist at 2B
Noah Schultz (LHSP): 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB, K, LOSS (0-2)
Jairo Iriarte (RHRP): IP, 2 H, ER, BB, K, WP
Ben Peoples (RHRP): IP, H, 2 ER, BB, K, HR

Knoxville Smokies 4, Birmingham Barons 2
It was another flaccid offensive performance on the farm (six hits), but the headline here despite the Barons (75-50) loss was the return of all-caps HAGEN SMITH: five innings, a hit, a walk and eight Ks! Whew. The Smokies are worse than .500 so not a world-beater, but they are the Triple-A Cubs affiliate, so bully to Hagen for earning some Cubs-killer cred. Seriously, what a relief to him to get this, a 66-pitch (41 strikes) effort on the books before August is out. It’s not crazy to see him, with a strong September, position himself for a run at the White Sox rotation as soon as Spring Training 2026.

Short of a flatulent, four-run effort from reliever Mark McLaughlin, the rest of the arms kept Bham in the game. Not enough of the bats rewarded the effort, however.

Barons MVP
Hagen Smith (LHSP): 5 IP, H, BB, 8 K, HB, pickoff at 1B, 20.8% WPA
Other Notables
William Bergolla (SS): 1-for-4, R, 2 SB
Rikuu Nishida (RF): 1-for-4, R, 3B, K
Wilfred Veras (RF): 2-for-4, R, RBI, 2 K, CS
Caden Connor (1B): 1-for-3, 2B, SB, BB
Calvin Harris (C): 0-for-2, HBP, K, 2-for-5 CS
Jared Kelley (RHRP): 1 2/3 IP, H, BB, 2 K
Dalton Roach (RHRP): IP, H, K, 9-of-11 strikes

Barons Cold Cat
Mark McLaughlin (RHRP): 1/3 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, K, 8-of-26 strikes, BLOWN SAVE (1), LOSS (2-1)
Others, Chilled
Sam Antonacci (2B): 0-for-3, RBI, SF, 2 K
Braden Montgomery (CF): 1-for-4, 2 K
Jacob Burke (CF): 0-for-4
Jason Matthews (3B): 0-for-3, E, K

Rome Emperors 7, Winston-Salem Dash 6 (10 innings)
The Dash (52-71) broke out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning, but then Aldrin Batista struck, giving four runs right back. Still, Winston-Salem hung in, and even re-took the lead in the top of the 1oth on an Alec Makarewicz sac fly. The end came down to Phil Fox being unable to limit Rome’s damage to just the Manfred Man. Get off of Fox’s back, though, the winning margin came in due to a single and two fielder’s choices!

Give ’em credit, the Dash always find exotic ways to lose games.

Dash MVP
Kyle Lodise (SS): 0-for-3, R, 2 BB, SB, 35.8% WPA
Other Notables
Carson Jacobs (RHRP): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 20-of-27 strikes, 23.9% WPA
Dylan Cumming (RHSP): 5 IP, 6 H, BB, 6 K, HB, 53-of-78 strikes
Alec Makarewicz (1B): 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, K, SF
Jackson Appel (C): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 1-for-1 CS

Dash Cold Cat
Aldrin Batista (RHRP): IP, 4 H, 4 ER, BB, K
Others, Chilled
Samuel Zavala (CF): 1-for-5, R, RBI
Caleb Bonemer (SS): 0-for-4, SB
Cole McConnell (LF): 0-for-3, BB
T.J. McCants (RF): 0-for-4, 2 K

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 9, Salem Red Sox 6
In improving to (59-66) Kanny had a really impressive game all-around; beyond a couple of faltering relievers it was a full-roster effort, which included 10 hits and 10 walks by the offense. Well, and a 2-for-18 performance with RISP …

The other details are in the linescores below, but the rest of this short recap laments again the loss of Yhoiker Fajardo. Now, trading away a DSL arm is never abject horror, as pitchers in the Dominican Republic are 99% teenagers and hey, just, who knows. That said, Fajardo was South Side Sox’s No. 67 prospect heading into the season — tops among all DSL players — before he was shipped to Boston for Cam Booser. Fajardo came Stateside in 2025 and murdered the ACL (one earned run in six games for a 0.44 ERA) and has flexed into Low-A ball on that basis, pitching to a 2.79 ERA over 48 innings for the Red Sox. OUCH OUCH OUCH.

Ballers MVP
Jordan Sprinkle (SS): 1-for-1, 2 R, RBI, 4 BB, SB, 2 CS, 35.3% WPA
Other Notables
Mathias LaCombe (RHSP): 3 IP, H, 3 BB, 4 K, 15.1% WPA
George Wolkow (CF): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, K, SB, 12.7% WPA
Ely Brown (LF-RF): 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB
Anthony DePino (1B): 1-for-4, 3 RBI, BB, K
Miguel Santos (3B): 2-for-4, RBI, 2B, BB, K
Arxy Hernandez (DH): 2-for-5, K
Jake Peppers (RHRP): 2 1/3 IP, H, BB, 4 K, WIN (2-1)

Ballers Cold Cat
Pierce George (RHRP): 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R/3 ER, 3 BB, K, 16-of-36 strikes
Others, Chilled
Colby Shelton (SS): 0-for-4, BB, K, E
Nathan Archer (RF): 0-for-2, R, 2 K