Because Jonathan Cannon was called up on regular rest Friday to supplement the White Sox bullpen -- and Pedro Grifol made good use of it by letting him record the Sox's first three-inning save in six years -- Charlotte had to scramble to find a starter.
Enter Shane Murphy, who's gone from piggybacking on Peyton Pallette's starts in Winston-Salem to making his Triple-A debut at Truist Field on Friday. Nobody should've expected excellence under the circumstances, and the Jumbo Shrimp indeed shelled Murphy for six first-inning runs, although Murphy was able to recover and give the Knights three better innings afterward.
But there's still value in the cameo from the outside. Murphy, a 6-foot-5-inch, 210-pound lefty the Sox drafted out of the junior college ranks in Arizona in the 14th round in 2022, had been excellent in relief of Pallette, posting a 1.27 ERA by allowing just 15 baserunners against 23 strikeouts over 21⅓ innings, so I'd been curious whether he'd been merely showing above-average polish for A-ball, or if his stuff made a jump.
His first sample of Statcast data suggests the former, as his fastball topped out at 89.4 mph and he generated whiffs on just four of 79 pitches. So, it'll probably be tougher sledding for him when his fastball-changeup attack from the left side isn't paired with Pallette's harder profile from the right, but one emergency start two levels up isn't enough to seal a fate one way or another.
Jacksonville 10, Charlotte 4
- Bryan Ramos went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-3 with a walk and a K.
- Shane Murphy: 4 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 2 HR
- Steven Wilson on rehab: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
- Prelander Berroa: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
- Josimar Cousin: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 7 of 8 pitches for strikes.
Tennessee 6, Birmingham 3
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a K.
- Brooks Baldwin, 1-for-4.
- Edgar Quero was 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras went 0-for-3 with a sac fly and two strikeouts.
- Tim Elko, 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- Jacob Burke was 1-for-4.
- Jake Eder: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 54 of 86 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 5, Rome 3 (12 innings)
- Eddie Park went 0-for-5 with a walk.
- Calvin Harris went 1-for-6 with a double.
- Ryan Galanie was 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Wes Kath, 1-for-5 with a K.
- Samuel Zavala went 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Peyton Pallette: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Kannapolis 6, Fredericksburg 2
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-5.
- Grant Taylor again looked overqualified: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 39 of 60 pitches for strikes.
ACL Royals 8, ACL White Sox 0 (7 innings)
- Javier Mogollon went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Adrian Gil was 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.
- Abraham Nunez was 0-for-2.
