For about a week now there have been signs that the Daytona offense was better than we were seeing. Their hit totals would be oddly high given their runs scored, or their walk to strikeout ratio as a team would be quite good despite totalling few runs, and that’s just two examples. The signs were there.
And last night Daytona finally blew up, and Clearwater’s ERA took a beating as a result. This game is not quite as impressive as the show put on by Kane County last week, largely because Kane County’s game came against one of the better teams in the league while Clearwater has an even worse record than Daytona, but it was still impressive.
By the numbers, in this game the Cubs piled up:
18 runs
17 hits
12 extra base hits
8 walks
8 doubles
3 triples
And 1 grand slam.
For real. Rock Shoulders (two doubles and the grand slam) finished with eight total bases, and he didn’t even lead the team in that stat. Pin-Chieh Chen had nine.
Even stranger, the two best prospects in the lineup, Albert Almora and Jeimer Candelario, went a combined 1 for 10 with a walk and a strikeout. Dan Vogelbach had the day off. And even without their three most potent bats the offense scored at least three runs in five separate innings.
Personally, I hope they can do it again today. Clearwater is starting Jeb Stefan this afternoon, and he has an ERA over 11. This one could get interesting.
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – The Cubs took a large early lead, and this game was never in doubt. The Cubs won 10-3. Tennessee – This was a close game until the Smokies gave up eight runs in the fifth. Tennessee lost 14-3. Daytona – To recap, Daytona went off on a massive hitting spree and slugged their way to an 18-5 win. Kane County – Kane County scored late and survived a later rally to win this one 5-4.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Javier Baez tripled (his first) and finished with 2 hits and 2 strikeouts. Luis Flores also had two hits along with a walk.
[Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara had a pair of hits, but his came from a double and by homering for the second straight game.
[Iowa] Eric Jokisch gave up 7 hits in 7 innings, but thanks to 8 strikeouts and no walks he was able to limit the damage to just 3 runs.
[Iowa] Chris Valaika continued his torrid start to the season with a 3 for 3 game that featured his fifth double.
[Tennessee] For a first start of the season, Pierce Johnson did not pitch badly, but you can see there is some rust to work off. He tossed 78 pitches over 4 innings (plus 3 batters in the fifth). He gave up 4 hits and 4 walks, resulting in 3 runs (all in the fifth, and a couple of which were of the inherited variety) and struck out 5.
[Tennessee] The Legend of Kris Bryant continues to grow. His silly-good Double A line got even better as he went 3 for 5 with a double and a strikeout. And his impressiveness goes beyond the box score. His at bats are so disciplined and smooth that he is an absolute joy to watch. If he is ever in a stadium within a few hours of your house, make the trip. You’ll thank me later.
[Tennessee] John Andreoli, 2 singles and 2 walks, and Taylor Davis, 2 singles, also enjoyed good days at the plate.
[Daytona] Tayler Scott took the game into the sixth and allowed just one earned run (3 runs total) on 4 hits and 3 walks. Stephen Perakslis and Austin Reed completed the blowout win.
[Daytona] So many hits. In addition to those noted in the intro, Gioskar Amaya finished 3 for 4 with a walk, and Marco Hernandez, Bijan Rademacher, and Tim Saunders each had two hits. Rademacher and Saunders each hit a pair of doubles. Chadd Krist drew two of the teams eight walks.
[Kane County] Paul Blackburn did not strike out anyone, but he only allowed one run in his 5.1 innings of 5 hit, 2 walk ball. Nathan Dorris allowed another run on 2 hits in his 2.2 innings.
Ryan Searle had an awful inning in the fifth for the Smokies. He inherited a tough situation, replacing Johnson with runners on first and second, but it went steeply down hill from there. In one cringe worthy sequence, he hit a batter to drive in one run, gave up a grand slam for four more, and then a solo shot for six runs allowed in just three batters. And then he hit another batter. It was bad. But he came back out in the 6th inning and held the heart of the Baron’s order to one run. And in the seventh he faced the minimum. As bad as that fifth inning was, it was good to see him shake it off and pitch much better through two more frames.
Even though they got shelled last night, the Smokies still matched their walks to the their strike outs with four each. Silver linings.
Speaking of positive walk/strikeout differentials, Kane County earned eight free passes as opposed to their four strikeouts.
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NEWSLETTER
For about a week now there have been signs that the Daytona offense was better than we were seeing. Their hit totals would be oddly high given their runs scored, or their walk to strikeout ratio as a team would be quite good despite totalling few runs, and that’s just two examples. The signs were there.
