Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
This is the holiday when we eat modified German cuisine cooked via an old Native American method popularized by French pirates while watching a (greatly improved) variant of a British sport followed by an exhibition of a very flashy Chinese invention often viewed to the soundtrack of a Russian symphony written to celebrate the defeat of the guy who sold the US about a third of the country. In other words, it is generally a great day.
Enjoy it, everyone.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – The Cubs surrendered two in the ninth, and it cost them in this 4-3 loss.
Tennessee – The Smokies held on for sixteen innings, but in the end they lost 4-3.
Daytona – Given that there is a hurricane just offshore, it comes as no surprise that Daytona was rained out.
Kane County – Kane County struck first, last, and frequently in this 10-2 win.
Boise Hawks – Thanks to some very good pitching the Hawks picked up another road win by a final of 4-0.
Arizona – This game was suspended due to wind with the Cubs trailing 5-2 in the fourth.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara and Chris Valaika both finished this game with a double and 2 hits.
[Iowa] Javier Baez and Kris Bryant both finished 1 for 4. Neither walked, and both struck out once.
[Iowa] Brett Jackson had his third good game in a row, finishing 1 for 3 with a walk.
[Iowa] Tsuyoshi Wada came out of the bullpen in support of Dallas Beeler. In his first relief stint for Iowa, he struck out 4 and allowed a run on 2 hits and a walk over 2.2 innings. Doing so set him up to start one of the doubleheader games next week, if the Cubs would be so inclined. Beeler, too.
[Tennessee] Jeffry Antigua pitched the final 4.1 innings for the Smokies, a much longer stretch than what he usually works. Despite that, he pitched well. He struck out 6, walked none, and gave up just 4 hits. The one run he allowed came on a solo homer.
[Tennessee] Dustin Geiger homered, doubled, and struck out 3 times in his 2 for 8 performance.
[Tennessee] Stephen Bruno, Jonathan Mota, and Jae-Hoon Ha also had a double and 2 hits.
[Tennessee] After stealing 8 bases in 16 tries for Daytona to start the year, Pin-Chieh Chen picked up his first Double A steal of the season in this game.
[Kane County] Cael Brockmeyer, DHing in this one, finished 2 for 4 with his 3rd homer.
[Kane County] Shawon Dunston doubled, stole his 11th base, and finished 2 for 4.
[Kane County] For the 5th time in 6 games Jacob Hannemann put together a multi-hit game. He finished 2 for 5 with a strikeout.
[Kane County] Daury Torrez was once again effective. Over 7 innings he allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk while striking out a pair.
[Boise] Trevor Clifton struck out 7 and allowed no runs on 4 hits and 3 walks over his 6 innings on the mound. Sam Wilson struck out 3 in 2 innings of hitless relief.
[Boise] Jeffrey Baez homered for the 5th time, walked, and finished 1 for 3.
[Boise] Alex Tomasovich finished 2 for 4 for Boise’s only multi-hit game.
[Arizona] In the suspended Arizona game, Jorge Soler, Eloy Jimenez, Kevonte Mitchell, and Alberto Mineo were all 1 for 2.
Other News
If you are visiting a minor league stadium today, you might get to try a Fried Oreo Sundae, or a cheese burger with cheese curds and cheese sauce, or a hot dog topped with Cool Ranch Doritos, or even a deep fried moon pie. These are all items that are featured in the MiLB.com Food Fight, and all items I just voted for. If you are still looking for last minute barbecue ideas, you could do worse than clicking through a few matchups and drawing some inspiration. Just don’t tell your doctor I said that.