Cubs Minor League Daily: Can’t Predict Them All

tennessee smokies logoIn the last BN Live Stream Brett and I made our prediction for when Kris Bryant would make his major league debut. I believe I took today and Brett chose tomorrow. So maybe we were a few days off with that one.

In that same episode, I predicted the Cubs would get off to a slow start. I really hope that we look back in a few months and say “Can you believe the Cubs were only 8-6 after 14 games? What a slow start!” because that would mean they’ve won a ton of games in the intervening time, but I find it more likely that I got this one wrong, too.

Sometimes it is good to be wrong.

Scores From Yesterday

Iowa – For a brief time in the sixth the Cubs had a one run lead. In the end they had a 6-3 loss.
Tennessee – After the first inning this game looked like it would be a slugfest, but it was all Smokies after that. Tennessee won hugely by a final of 13-4.
Myrtle Beach – The Pelicans never quite got their offense going in this 4-1 loss.
South Bend – The Cubs took advantage of five Lake County errors and did plenty of damage with the bats as they one upped the Smokies and won by a final of 16-3.

Performances of Note

  • [Iowa] Junior Lake walked, doubled, and finished 2 for 3. With this game he has raised his OBP back up to .326.
  • [Iowa] John Andreoli doubled, walked twice, and finished 1 for 2 with his third steal of the season.
  • [Iowa] Jonathan Mota, batting cleanup, played both first and third during his 2 for 4 game.
  • [Iowa] Neither Tsuyoshi Wada or Hunter Cervenka were at their best, and both gave up more walks than we’d really like to see. Joe Ortiz, while allowing 2 walks in his 2 innings on the mound, only gave up a run on a hit while striking out one.
  • [Tennessee] Dan Vogelbach doubled (his 6th), homered (his 2nd), walked, and drove in 5.
  • [Tennessee] Kyle Schwarber led the team in hits as he finished 4 for 6.
  • [Tennessee] Stephen Bruno stole his 3rd base of the season in a game in which he finished 2 for 5 with a walk.
  • [Tennessee] Other multi-hit games came from Pin-Chieh Chen (3 H, 1 2B, 2 BB), Albert Almora (2 H), Elliot Soto (3 H, 1 2B), and Ryan Dent (2 H, 1 HR).
  • [Tennessee] Ivan Pineyro gave up those 4 runs in the first inning, but pitched well after that. He finished with 5.2 innings (86 pitches) and a line of 7H, 4 R, and 6 K.
  • [Tennessee] Zach Cates and Starling Peralta both pitched 1.2 innings of relief and both struck out 3. Neither gave up a run.
  • [Myrtle Beach] Wes Darvill had a great game, finishing 3 for 3 with a double. He came off the bench to replace Shawon Dunston in left field.
  • [Myrtle Beach] Jacob Hannemann reached on an error, stole a base, and scored the only run. He finished 0 for 4 with his 5th steal of the year.
  • [Myrtle Beach] Gerardo Concepcion turned in another very good appearance. He pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowed absolutely nothing, and struck out a pair.
  • [South Bend] Jeremy Null once again pitched an excellent game. Over 6 innings he allowed 3 hits and struck out 4. Tommy Thorpe finished the game, allowing 3 runs (only one earned) on 6 hits and a walk over 3 innings.
  • [South Bend] Justin Marra had the only home run for South Bend, and it came in his only at bat.
  • [South Bend] Cael Brockmeyer finished 3 for 4 with a double and a walk.
  • [South Bend] Chesny Young finished 3 for 3, was hit by a pitch, stole his 5th base of the season, and scored 4 times.
  • [South Bend] Trey Martin (2 for 6) and Jesse Hodges (2 for 6) both doubled.
  • [South Bend] Additional multi-hit games were provided by Gleyber Torres (2 for 5), Charcer Burks (2 for 3, 2 BB), and Rashad Crawford (2 for 5).
  • Other News

  • More numbers from the Tennessee beat down of Jackson. Every Smokey who stepped to the plate (keep in mind that this was a DH game) had a hit except for Bijan Rademacher (he finished 0 for 2) and Anthony Giansanti (who also finished 0 for 2, but did walk twice). Altogether Tennessee amassed eighteen hits and eight walks against just seven strikeouts. They chewed through five pitchers who ranged in duration from 0.2 innings to 3.1 innings, and scored on all five of them. It was, without a doubt, a good day.
  • The South Bend Cubs only walked five times against eight strikeouts, but they did pile up a total of twenty hits. Every one of their batters had a hit (DH game), but interestingly they only totaled thirteen RBIs. That’s a touch unusual given that they scored sixteen times (but is basically explained by all those Lake County errors).
  • 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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