Cubs Minor League Daily: Surging

tennessee smokiesWhile Iowa falters down the final stretch of the season, Tennessee and Kane County are playing some of their best baseball of the year.

Prior to last night’s ninth inning melt down, the Smokies had won six in a row and were in possession of a three game lead over Birmingham. Unfortunately, because of Birmingham’s own five game win streak, the Smokies weren’t able to open much of a gap.  Fortunately, Birmingham also lost last night, so despite Tennessee’s late stumble their lead remains at three games.

Meanwhile, over in Kane County, the Cougars have run up a nine game winning streak and a league-leading .649 winning percentage. Like the Smokies, however, they have also been unable to translate that streak into a big cushion atop the division. Second place Cedar Rapids has matched Kane County almost win for win, and thanks to their eight game win streak the Kernals remain just a game behind the Cubs Low A squad.

Scores From Yesterday

Iowa – The decline is now a five game losing streak after this 4-2 loss.
Tennessee – This game was going well, until it wasn’t. The Smokies lost 7-6.
Daytona – The Cubs won the first game of the doubleheader in extras 4-3, but lost the second game 5-2.
Kane County – Kane County’s winning streak is up to nine in a row after this 4-3 win.
Boise Hawks – On their first day in Canada, Boise was shutout 2-0.
Arizona – This Cubs-Giants game also ended with the Giants being shut out, except without the rain. Cubs won 7-0.

Performances of Note

  • [Iowa] Kris Bryant returned to the lineup with a double, a walk, and a strikeout.
  • [Iowa] Manny Ramirez was a little better. He also walked and struck out, but in place of the double Manny launched his 3rd homer.
  • [Iowa] Dallas Beeler allowed 3 runs on just 5 hits and a walk over 7 innings in this one.
  • [Tennessee] Addison Russell hit his 10th Smokies home run, and it was another grand slam.
  • [Tennessee] Russell also doubled in this one, as did Albert Almora and Lars Anderson.
  • [Tennessee] C.J. Edwards struck out 7 over 5 scoreless innings. He allowed 2 hits and 2 walks.
  • [Daytona] Steve Perakslis pitched 3 innings of no-hit relief in the first game, striking out a pair.
  • [Daytona] Kyle Schwarber finished the day with 4 total hits, including a double and his 4th Daytona home run.
  • [Daytona] Jacob Hannemann doubled twice and finished the day with 3 hits.
  • [Kane County] Paul Blackburn allowed 8 hits over 5 innings, but despite that he limited the damage to just 2 runs.
  • [Kane County] Trey Martin hit his 4th homer in this one.
  • [Kane County] Mark Zagunis and Jacob Rogers both doubled and walked.
  • [Boise] Josh Conway dropped his ERA to 2.35 with 3 scoreless innings of 2 hit baseball.
  • [Boise] Charcer Burks doubled and finished with 2 hits. Kevin Brown doubled and finished with 3 hits.
  • [Arizona] Justin Steele struck out 4 over 3 innings, allowing just one hit. Carson Sands followed with 3 strikeouts over 3 innings of 2 hit ball. Andin Diaz and Hector Perez completed the shutout.
  • [Arizona] Varonex Cuevas tripled and finished with 3 hits.
  • [Arizona] Eloy Jimenez finished with 2 hits.
  • Other News

  • Almora doubled for the second day in a row, picked up an extra base hit for the third time in four games, and has hit safely in six of his last seven. After the second game of the doubleheader on August 10 Almora’s batting average was just .175. Since then, though, the hits have been falling with more consistency and his average is up to .234.
  • Tennessee’s ninth inning collapse last night came as a result of a couple of errors on the infield. Frank Batista did allow a home run to end the game, but only after his defense let him down twice. His unlikely line reads 0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 R, 0 ER. The fifth run in the inning was attributed to Jeff Lorick.
  • written by

    Luke Blaize is the Minor League Editor at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @ltblaize.

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