On the other hand, the Famous Chicken makes a nice scapegoat… can a chicken be a scapegoat?… for a pretty bad bunt attempt by Alcantara and a resulting TOOTBLAN from Szczur:
Your browser does not support iframes.
Fortunately (for the chicken) we have plenty of other games to talk about as well.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – Despite the fowl-up at first base [Brett: I see what you did there!], Iowa hatched enough runs [And there!] in the eighth to beat the Redbirds 4-1. Tennessee – The Smokies let this one slip away in the middle innings. They lost 9-2. Myrtle Beach – Another strong pitching performance turned into another Myrtle Beach win. The final was 1-0. South Bend – The Cubs converted a big fourth inning into a 10-6 win. Eugene – Eugene was shutout at home 4-0. Arizona – The Cubs found just enough offense in this 2-1 win.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Tsuyoshi Wada pitched 6 innings in this rehab start, allowing a run on 5 hits and striking out 5.
[Iowa] Following Wada there appeared two possible second half bullpen reinforcements for the Cubs. First, Rafael Soriano struck out 3 and allowed a hit in one inning of work, and then Carl Edwards pitched one hitless inning while giving up 2 walks.
[Iowa] Mike Olt doubled twice and finished 2 for 4. Christian Villanueva (now hitting .261/.324/.447 for Iowa) doubled and also finished 2 for 4.
[Iowa] Junior Lake also had 2 hits, and one of them was his 5th homer. Lake’s Iowa line now reads .305/.396/.454.
[Tennessee] Ivan Pineyro and Zach Cates both struggled on the mound in this one, but Starling Peralta pitched 1.2 hitless innings to finish the game.
[Myrtle Beach] Jonathan Martinez is not discussed as being among the upper tiers of Cubs’ pitching prospects, but he pitched one of the better games of the season in this one. Martinez scattered 4 hits over 7 shutout innings while striking out 4.
[Myrtle Beach] The Pelican’s lone run was scored by Jeimer Candelario (1 for 4). Trey Martin (1 for 4) doubled for the only extra base hit.
[South Bend] Jake Stinnett allowed a run on 5 hits and 4 walks over 5 innings in this one. Alex Santana, pitching in relief, struck out 3 over 2 innings and allowed nothing but a walk.
[South Bend] Yasiel Balaguert doubled and homered (his 7th) as part of his 4 for 5 day. David Bote finished with 3 hits, including his 3rd homer.
[Eugene] Kyle Twomey struck out 2 in his 2 inning start, and allowed just one hit in the process.
[Eugene] Pedro Araujo later struck out 4 over the final 2 innings without giving up a thing.
[Eugene] Ian Happ was held to just one hit, a double, in this one. He did walk, though.
[Eugene] Ho-young Son finished 1 for 3 and stole his 2nd base of the season.
[Arizona] Dylan Cease allowed 2 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings to start this game. He struck out one. Trey McNutt, on rehab assignment, allowed a solo home run and nothing else in his one inning of work. He also struck out one.
[Arizona] Robert Garcia finished this game a perfect 4 for 4. He also stole his 5th base of the season.
[Arizona] Alex Bautista hit his first homer of the year.
Other News
Even though the Smokies lost, the good news is that they drew nine walks. The Cubs have consistently been one of the more successful farm systems in terms of drawing walks this season, a likely result of their dual emphasis on drafting players who have the ability to recognize a strike and coaching them to take advantage of that trait.
One possible side effect to look out for in the aftermath of the Kyle Schwarber repromotion: will the Cubs eventually promote Tennessee catcher  Willson Contreras? Contreras has been one of the best breakout prospect stories of the year for the Cubs, and there really aren’t any catching prospects left in Iowa now that Schwarber will be in the majors. The Cubs might take advantage of the opportunity to challenge Contreras against Triple A pitching. For the immediate future, though, it’s Cael Brockmeyer getting the bump to AAA.
Name a player hotter than Kevin Alcántara right now. Go ahead, I'll wait. (He's already raking again today. Literally as I type this.) More on Alcántara's big day and the Smokies home run parade last night in today's Cubs Farm...
Just three starts into his San Francisco Giants career, Blake Snell is heading to the injured list with a left-adductor strain. Oof. You hate to even say it — and who really knows if this was related — but early...
In 1997, I was a miserable Chicago Cubs fan. I mean, that was true a lot of the time, but I mean it in a very specific way that year: the Cubs had started the season 0-14. They had literally...
Cubs rookie starter Jordan Wicks has been impressing us all season long with his apparent offseason transformation (which led to more velocity on his heater and movement on his slider). But last night against the Astros? That was a whole...
The pitching staff has undergone a lot of changes over the past few weeks, and at the center of it all is Ben Brown, the Cubs No. 2 pitching prospect, who's been used out of the 'pen and rotation so...
I recently stumbled onto this live cover of Linger by The Cranberries and I can't stop listening to it. Give it a go. I bet you like it. In case you missed it last night, Cody Bellinger exited last night's...
The big league Cubs last night beat the Astros largely on the strength of the long ball, scoring six of their seven runs that way. Cody Bellinger kicked things off with a monster two-run shot, and Mike Tauchman followed with...
The Cubs cannot catch a break this year, man. They've already dealt with injuries to Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Drew Smyly, Julian Merryweather, Seiya Suzuki, and Ian Happ (did I forget anyone?). And tonight, it seems maybe something...
Well there was one big thing not to like about tonight's game - Cody Bellinger was lifted with a right rib contusion after colliding with the outfield wall - and about a million things that were great. And since we...
When you finish with the worst record in the NHL, it's hard to keep your job. Even when the front office strips your roster to the bare bones, apparently. And on Wednesday, David Quinn found out the San Jose Sharks...
On Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET, the New Orleans Pelicans play the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs, and CJ McCollum's 3-pointer prop for this clash requires four trifectas.CJ McCollum's Three-Pointer Prop...
At 9:30 PM ET on Wednesday, in Game 2 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs, it'll be the New Orleans Pelicans against the Oklahoma City Thunder -- with Brandon Ingram needing to connect only once from beyond the...
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander needs to make two 3-pointers to beat his prop when the Oklahoma City Thunder meet the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET, in Game 2 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Three-Pointer...
Name a player hotter than Kevin Alcántara right now. Go ahead, I'll wait. (He's already raking again today. Literally as I type this.) More on Alcántara's big day and the Smokies home run parade last night in today's Cubs Farm...
Just three starts into his San Francisco Giants career, Blake Snell is heading to the injured list with a left-adductor strain. Oof. You hate to even say it — and who really knows if this was related — but early...
The San Diego Padres (13-13) are set to take on the Colorado Rockies (6-18) Wednesday at 8:40 PM ET, airing on SDPA. The Padres are listed as -158 favorites by bookmakers, while the underdog Rockies have +133 odds for the...
The Houston Texans killed the NFL Draft last year, selecting the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year with back-to-back picks, and they also drafted a solid wide receiver in Tank Dell. Houston also had...
We have a new highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL! According to a report from NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, the Lions have made Amon-Ra St. Brown the richest wideout in the NFL with a four-year, $120 million contract extension...
The Toronto Blue Jays (13-11) visit the Kansas City Royals (14-10) at 7:40 PM ET Wednesday for a sluggers' duel between two of the best home-run hitters in baseball. Daulton Varsho has racked up six homers this season (No. 7...