White Sox Minor League Update: Kyle Teel powers Knights through 12-4 rout

The blue-chip catcher homers again, and the bullpen strikes out 15 as Charlotte keeps the hits coming

Charlotte Knights 12, Gwinnett Stripers 4 (Gameday Box) (Statcast Box)
Following their impressive season opener, the Charlotte Knights again showered the Gwinnett Stripers with run after run on Saturday, to claim their second win of the season.

Tested against Atlanta ace Spencer Strider, who is pitching in Triple-A for his UCL surgery rehab assignment, the Knights capitalized on the few cracks in the righty’s pitching.

Thanks to Chase Meidroth’s single and Kyle Teel’s RBI double off Stripers second baseman Luke Williams’ glove, the Knights took an early lead in the first inning.

Strider limited the Knights to one hit, one walk, and one earned run while he rang up six strikeouts in his 60-pitch outing.

Although the bats were largely silenced by Strider, the lineup took advantage of the bullpen. Charlotte pounced on relievers Chad Kuhl (yes, the former White Sox arm) and Buck Farmer to add seven runs in the seventh inning to break the game wide open. A three-run bomb from Teel capped Charlotte’s offense off, putting the Stripers far out of arm’s reach of rallying.

Teel shined for the second straight night, finishing 3-for-5 with six RBIs and two runs. He got help from Edgar Quero, Tristan Gray, and Greg Jones Jr., who combined for five hits, three runs, and four RBIs.

The only players who didn’t get a hit were Colson Montgomery and Cal Mitchell, who substituted for Jones late in the eighth.

On the other side of the mound, Nick Nastrini was serviceable but not great in his first start. He managed to evade danger in the third, but failed to finish strong after giving up three runs off his own throwing error on a wild pitch. Nastrini punched out six batters and gave up three earned runs off five hits in four innings.

Despite Nastrini’s rough outing, the bullpen stood strong. Trey McGough, James Karinchak, and Steven Wilson tossed five scoreless innings and struck out eight batters, making it easy for Chase Plymell to slam the door closed.

Hands-down the Knights were more fun to watch than the White Sox today. Outside of Nastrini, the game was filled with highlights, and the lineup continued to pile on the runs. With nearly every prospect contributing value to the win, it’s hard to imagine this lineup will remain intact for long.

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