That is a partial list of the players that have or will soon have shuttled back and forth from Iowa to Chicago lately. And while positive starts by Beeler and Wada were very good to see, and while the upcoming debut of Hendricks is very exciting, the biggest news is that Alcantara will be coming to Chicago to take the place of Darwin Barney while the Cubs second baseman takes a short paternity leave (Congratulations to the Barneys!).
Odds are good that Alcantara will not start. Odds are good that he will come off the bench once or twice, maybe get in two at bats, maybe make a couple plays in the field, and then head back to Iowa for the Triple A All-Star game.
Personally, though, I’m hoping he starts both games and puts on such an incredible display of baseball virtuosity the entire Hall of Fame committee bursts into tears and commissions the Arismendy Alcantara Avenue of Awesomeness to be immediately built connecting Chicago to Cooperstown so that all the Alcantara memorabilia can be immediately whisked away for permanent display.
That’s not being too optimistic, is it?
Scores From Yesterday
Iowa – Iowa faltered late and lost this one 7-6. Tennessee – The Smokies tacked on three in the ninth to put this one out of reach. They won 7-3. Daytona – The Cubs were rained out. Kane County – Kane County scored often and pulled away for a 7-3 win. Boise Hawks – Boise scored ten times after the fourth inning as they won 11-4. Arizona – The Cubs lost their offense late as they lost 6-4.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Ryan Kalish homered for the 3rd time this season and for the second time in 3 games. He also walked, struck out, and finished 2 for 3.
[Iowa] Kris Bryant and Javier Baez both finished 1 for 4. Baez struck out once, and Bryant twice. On the second one, Bryant was ejected – more below.
[Iowa] Arismendy Alcantara, soon to be a temporary former Iowa Cub, doubled and struck out.
[Iowa] With most of Iowa’s pitching staff heading for Chicago, Dae-Eun Rhee came up from Tennessee to pitch yesterday’s game. He lasted 4 innings, allowed 4 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, and only struck out one. Alberto Cabrera followed that up with 3 hitless innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
[Tennessee] Jorge Soler did not start, but he appeared as a pinch hitter and walked.
[Tennessee] Eduardo Figueroa walked 5 and allowed a run on 2 hits in his 4 inning start.
[Tennessee] Tony Zych (2 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K) and Frank Batista (1.2 IP, O H, 2 BB) both pitched well in relief.
[Kane County] Kyle Schwarber doubled twice and finished the game 3 for 5.
[Kane County] Shawon Dunston finished 2 for 5 and stole his 12th base.
[Kane County] Kevin Brown, now with the Cougars after a brief stay in Tennessee, doubled and homered in his first game at this level.
[Kane County] Paul Blackburn pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. Zak Hermans struck out 5 more and gave up a run in 3 innings of relief, and Corbin Hoffner struck out 2 in the final inning.
[Boise] Jeffrey Baez doubled, homered (his 7th) and finished 2 for 4. His July OPS is currently 1.360.
[Boise] Chesny Young and Jason Vosler both finished 2 for 4. Vosler hit a triple for one of his hits, and Young stole his first base.
[Boise] Tyler Ihrig struck out 6 over 5 innings while allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk.
[Arizona] Andrew Ely homered (his first) and finished 3 for 4.
[Arizona] After a rough start by Adbert Alzolay, the bullpen of Zach Hedges, Tommy Thorpe, and Yomar Morel combined to pitch 4.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Other News
Bryant was thrown out of last night’s game for, apparently, commenting on the validity of a called strike in his final at bat to the home plate umpire. His manager was not happy about Bryant’s ejection and was also tossed. I’m sure that there will be some efforts to interpret into these events a deeply rooted and potentially fatal personality flaw in Bryant, or a dark and destructive influence on the part of Manny Ramirez, but those efforts are just so much nonsense and can safely be ignored. He’s still the same #sparkle guy he was last week. No need to worry.
Don’t forget that the current Kane County series in Quad Cities is on MiLB.TV. If you are a subscriber and want to see watch Schwarber and Hannemann firsthand, now’s your chance.
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NEWSLETTER
Dallas Beeler. Chris Rusin. Blake Parker. Tsuyoshi Wada. Dallas Beeler again. Kyle Hendricks. Arismendy Alcantara.
