NEWSLETTER
The only thing better than staying up late to watch the Cubs rally back and take the Brewers into extra innings is staying up late to watch the Cubs rally back and take the Brewers into extras while also tracking the Iowa Cubs as they put on a power show in California. Oh, and there might have been a few chocolate and peanut butter no-bake cookies somewhere in there as well.
AAA – Iowa Cubs. 15 – 19
The Iowa Cubs started their game hours after the Chicago Cubs, and finished minutes sooner. Iowa withstood a late rally to earn the 6-5 win.
Travis Wood pitched six effective innings and won his second game of the season. Jay Jackson came in for an inning and two thirds of scoreless baseball, and Jeff Beliveau retired the one hitter he faced. Blake Parker gave up two runs on two hits and a walk, but recovered for his fourth save of the season. Given that the wind was blowing out to right field, holding Fresno to five runs counts as a pretty good day for the pitching staff.
The Cubs broke the game open in the fifth inning when Anthony Rizzo, Josh Vitters, and Ty Wright all hit solo home runs. Rizzo finished the day two for five. Vitters added a double to his home run and finished two for four. Ty Wright added a base hit and a walk, finishing two for three. Matt Tolbert also hit a double for the Cubs.
AA – Tennesse Smokies. 15 – 21
Tennessee rallied in the ninth but could not come up with enough offense to win the pitching duel. The Smokies fell 2-1.
Brooks Raley pitched a very good game, but he wound up with his second loss of the season anyway. He went seven innings allowing two runs on five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Marcus Hately struck out three over the final two innings.
The Smokies had five hits in this game, and three of them came from Nate Samson. Justin Bour had a double and the team’s lone RBI, and Jae-Hoon Ha collected the game’s other hit. Junior Lake did not get a hit, but he did walk twice and was caught trying to steal second.
High A – Daytona Cubs. 12 – 22
The Daytona Cubs led 6-0 nothing in the second inning. That’s also where the game stopped. Two separate rain delays made the field unplayable, and so the game was cancelled.
Low A – Peoria Chiefs. 14 – 21
Peoria piled on the runs in the first. They scored five times to open the game and the pitching did the rest as the Chiefs won 6-2.
Michael Jensen took this game into the sixth inning and pitched pretty well. He yielded one run on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts, winning his fourth game of the season. Sheldon McDonald allowed a run in two and a third innings of work, and Jeffrey Lorick struck out two in the ninth.
Paul Hoilman kept the hitting streak alive, now at 24 games, with a double in the first inning. Marco Hernandez has definitely gotten hot; he went three for four. Catcher Yaniel Cabezas also had three hits. Other than Hoilman’s double, the only other extra base hit for the Chiefs was a triple off the bat of Ryan Cuneo. Rafael Lopez drew the only two walks earned by Peoria.
