The Tennessee Smokies managed just five hits yesterday, but sure enough Albert Almora had two of them. His multi-hit game streak is up to seven.
Using one hundred plate appearances as the barrier, we are about halfway to dropping the Sample Size Alert for Almora’s month of August, and so far in August he is hitting .415/.489/.561 with two strikeouts, six walks, and a stolen base. That already qualifies as a good month.
We are past the one hundred PA barrier for his second half numbers, and those read .304/.379/.490 with twelve walks, eleven strikeouts, three home runs, and three steals.
I do not recall too many minor league hot streaks any hotter than this one since I have been covering the Cubs, and certainly not at Double A. Even if you are skeptical that his second half surge is anything more than an aberration, it should be fun to see how long he can keep this streak going.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – Iowa could have used some extra hits in this 3-2 loss.
Tennessee – Not much went right for the Smokies in this one. They lost 8-0.
Myrtle Beach – This game was scoreless through seven, but in the end it was the Pelicans who took home the 3-0 win.
South Bend – It was an eventful game, but one the Cubs lost 7-5.
Eugene – Eugene had innings with one, two, three, four, and five runs in this wild 15-8 win.
Arizona – Arizona had the day off.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Javier Baez singled and finished 1 for 4. He was playing shortstop.
[Iowa] Taylor Davis had the only multi-hit day for the Cubs. His 4th homer of the season was also the only extra base hit.
[Tennessee] Gerardo Concepcion struck out 4 and allowed a run on 2 hits in his 2 innings of relief.
[Tennessee] Albert Almora doubled and finished with 2 hits.
[Tennessee] Bijan Rademacher was hitless, but he did walk twice.
[Myrtle Beach] Jonathan Martinez was one again excellent. He allowed just one hit over 6 scoreless innings, walked 2 and struck out 2. He did get more ground outs than air outs in this one; that ratio was 9 to 5 in favor of ground.
[Myrtle Beach] Trey Martin hit his 2nd homer and finished 2 for 4.
[Myrtle Beach] Jason Vosler doubled and finished with 2 hits. Pin-Chieh Chen stole 2 bases (he now has 18 for the Pelicans) and also finished with 2 hits.
[South Bend] Jeffrey Baez has been nearly as hot as Almora in the second half. He finished 2 for 5 with 2 more steals. His stolen base total is up to 27.
[South Bend] Charcer Burks finished 1 for 4 and swiped his 23rd bag of the season.
[Eugene] Adonis Paula led all Emeralds with 4 hits.
[Eugene] There were 5 players with 3 hits games: Frandy Delarosa (with a double and walk), Eloy Jimenez (he also walked), Ian Rice (with a double and his first Eugene homer), Andrew Ely (with a double and his first Eugene homer), and Tyler Alamo.
[Eugene] Trey Masek and Kyle Miller each managed to work 2 scoreless innings in the Emeralds’ slugfest win.
Other News
Yesterday was the first game for Eloy Jimenez since July 28th. He had been resting a bit of a shoulder injury.
Remember that incredible running catch Almora made late last week? It is a candidate in the voting for MiLB.com’s Play of the Week. And of last night, he wasn’t winning. You know what to do.
The next batch of players in the mid-season Top 40 will be revealed later today, and this list includes quite a few pitchers. Unless you’ve been paying particularly close attention to the farm system this year, there may even be a name or two you haven’t heard before.