Make that three excellent pitching performances in these playoffs by the Daytona Cubs. And they have only played three playoff games. They gave up plenty of hits in this one, but not a single opposing run crossed the plate. Two shutouts in three games is a nice way to kick off the postseason. Given who is on the mound for the Cubs tonight, we could be in store for yet another impressive outing.
The Smokies, on the other hand, ran into some good pitching and suffered the first playoff loss for the Cubs farm system this season.
Scores From Yesterday
Tennessee – The Smokies offense went silent in this 3-1 loss.
Daytona – The Cubs were again led by their starting pitching in this 5-0 win.
Boise – The Boise Hawks had the day off.
Performances of Note
[Tennessee] John Andreoli had the only multi hit day for the Smokies, finishing 2 for 3 with a stolen base.
[Tennessee] The Smokies struggles on offense happened in part because the first four batters in their lineup – Matt Szczur, Arismendy Alcantara, Javier Baez, and Justin Bour, went a combined 0 for 15 with 9 strikeouts. I doubt we see that sort of widespread struggle too many more times this postseason.
[Tennessee] Rubi Silva hit a solo home run for the Smokies only tally. Christian Villanueva doubled for the team’s only other extra base hit.
[Tennessee] While Nick Struck struggled somewhat on the mound in the start, the bullpen of Yeiper Castillo, A.J. Morris, and Tony Zych pitched pretty well.
[Daytona] Pierce Johnson pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing 5 hits with 6 strikeouts. Jeffrey Lorick pitched 3 more scoreless innings, and Zach Cates (despite walking 3) finished off the shutout.
[Daytona] The pitching was very good, but they were not alone. The offense was pretty good too. As a whole the team finished 5 doubles.
[Daytona] Pin-Chieh Chen doubled as part of his 2 for 5 game. Zeke DeVoss doubled twice, walked twice, and stole a base as part of his 2 for 2 night. Dustin Geiger and Anthony Giansanti both doubled and finished 2 for 4.
[Daytona] Kris Bryant had his first off night of the playoffs, finishing 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts.
Other News
The second game of Tennessee’s best of five series is also in Birmingham, but the last three games of the series will be back home in Tennessee. For Game Two the Smokies send Dae-Eun Rhee to the mound, and the Barons answer with Chris Beck. The Smokies scored six times on Beck on August 19, but Rhee has pitched very well twice lately against Birmingham (including in that same August 19th game). I like Tennessee’s chances to head back home with series tied at one.
The Daytona Cubs are still at home in their best of five Championship Series, and they send the fourth of four good starters to the mound tonight. Ivan Pineyro takes the mound against Charlotte’s Grayson Garvin. Pineyro last faced the Stone Crabs on July 19th, and in that game he pitched six scoreless innings. Garvin has not faced the Cubs this season and only has 16.2 innings of Florida State League experience. He has pitched well though, so this could be a pretty good game.
Boise opens their best of three Championship Series at home against Vancouver tonight. Starting pitchers have not yet been announced for either team.
NEWSLETTER
