First of all, my sincere thanks to Brett and JulioZuleta for picking up the slack on the Daily over this past week. They handled everything awesomely and I can’t thank them enough.
I sometimes refer to myself as a third generation Cubs fan. At the very end of last week I was called home for the funeral of that first generation. Home, in this case, is about seven hundred miles away. By car. And that, in turn, meant it was a very good thing that Brett and JulioZuleta were there to pick up my slack.
And what do I find when I return? A certain Daytona shortstop has started hitting, Iowa has finally won a few games, and a pair of Cub farm teams took their games into extra innings on Thursday night.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – Iowa was rained out. The Cubs and Sounds will make up the game as part of a doubleheader on June 21.
Tennessee – It took eleven innings, but Tennessee walked away with a 5-3 road win.
Daytona – Once upon a time (last week) Daytona looked like they had a pretty good pitching staff. Not lately, though, as evidenced by this 13-7 loss.
Kane County – Kane County lead early, but ultimately fell in ten innings by a final of 9-8.
Performances of Note
[Tennessee] Tony Zych, Trey McNutt, and Frank Batista combined to throw 5.1 innings of two hit, one walk, scoreless relief at the end of this game.
[Tennessee] Ronald Torreyes has been in Tennessee for five games now, and so far he’s hitting .385. Interestingly, the Smokies had him in the leadoff slot for this game; he responded with a a hit and a run.
[Tennessee] The Smokies were led by Arismendy Alcantara (three hits), Justin Bour (three walks), and Jae-Hoon Ha (one hit, two walks). Alcantara also swiped his seventh base of the season.
[Daytona] Jorge Soler looks like he is picking up right where he left off. Hitting cleanup again, the right fielder reached base twice on a single and a walk.
[Daytona] Fortunately, Javier Baez looks like he may be heating up. With two more hits last night, he has finally strung together multiple multi-hit games for the first time this season.
[Kane County] Six strikeouts in four innings is a good sign for Lendy Castillo, but that achievement is offset by his giving up five runs on seven hits and two walks.
[Kane County] The Cougars had baserunners to spare in this one. Gioskar Amaya, Marco Hernandez, Daniel Vogelbach, Jeimer Candelario, Rock Shoulders, and Willson Contreras all reached base at least twice in this game.
Other News
There will be no fireworks tonight in Iowa. Assuming the game is played, the sogginess of the grounds means the post-game fireworks show is a no go. This seems a little counter-intuitive to me. Wouldn’t wet ground be ideal for fireworks?
Dustin Geiger is continuing to play well in Florida. After only appearing in 75 games for Peoria last season, his promotion to Daytona at the start of the season was arguably an aggressive one. So far, though, he has posted an OPS of .886 and has seemed right at home in the middle of the Cubs’ lineup. If you are looking for breakout candidates this season, Geiger should be near the top of your list right now.
The wind was blowing out to left fairly decently (12 MPH) in the Kane County game. That somewhat explains the elevated scoring early. After all, not too many games are 7-5 at the end of the third inning.