Preston Morrison, the Cubs eighth round pick in 2015, opened the game with three innings, striking out four. Kyle Twomey, a lefty the Cubs took in the thirteenth round in 2015, followed up with three strikeouts and a walk over three innings. Luis Hernandez, a 6’5″ 20 year old right hander making just his second appearance with the Emeralds, got into a bit of trouble thanks to two walks and some shakey defense, but with four strikeouts he was able to keep the no hitter going through his two innings of work. Trey Masek then struck out one in the ninth to seal the achievement.
None of these guys are considered significant prospects (yet, but we’ve seen how fast that can change). That should not take anything away from this game, though. A no-hitter, even a minor league multi-pitcher no-hitter, is still a no-hitter. It is still extremely rare and very difficult to pull off, and the Emeralds accomplished it against one of the best teams in the league.
And in the process they pulled themselves to within a game of the division lead. For Eugene, Sunday was a great day.
Scores From Friday
Iowa – The Cubs struggled in all aspects of this 9-2 loss. Tennessee – The Smokies fell into a huge early hole that turned into a 14-2 loss. Myrtle Beach – Myrtle Beach managed just three hits in this 7-3 loss. South Bend – The Cubs offense erupted in the late innings to seal a big 12-2 win. Eugene – The Emeralds kept coming back, but never quite got there. They lost 6-3. Arizona – The Cubs did not score in the final six innings as they lost 5-4.
Performances of Note
[Iowa] Ryan Buchter struck out 3 over 2 hitless innings. He had the only scoreless outing in this one.
[Iowa] Tommy La Stella doubled for Iowa’s only extra base hit.
[Myrtle Beach] Cael Brockmeyer homered, his 2nd for the Pelicans. It was the only extra base hit for the Pelicans.
[Myrtle Beach] Jeremy Null allowed just 3 hits in his 5 innings of work. He allowed one walk and struck out 2.
[Myrtle Beach] Jasvir Rakkar struck out 2 and allowed a run on a hit in his inning of relief.
[South Bend] Jesse Hodges doubled twice and homered (his 6th to finish with 3 hits). Ian Happ homered (his 3rd with South Bend) and also finished with 3 hits.
[Iowa] Carlos Pimentel struck out 6 in his 7 innings of work. He allowed a run on 4 hits and 2 walks.
[Tennessee] Jacob Hannemann hit his 4th homer and finished with 2 hits.
[Tennessee] Albert Almora kept his hitting streak alive with a double. Just one, though.
[Tennessee] Ryan Williams allowed just one run on 3 hits and 2 walks in his 6 innings on the mound. He struck out 4.
[Myrtle Beach] Chesny Young doubled and walked twice to finish 1 for 2.
[Myrtle Beach] Pin-Chieh Chen hit his 4th triple of the season.
[Myrtle Beach] Paul Blackburn pitched an excellent game. He threw 91 pitches over 7 innings, struck out 9, and allowed a run on 4 hits.
[Myrtle Beach] David Garner struck out the side in the final inning.
[South Bend] Jake Stinnett struck out 8 over his 6 innings on the mound. He allowed 4 runs on 8 hits and a walk.
[South Bend] David Bote doubled twice and finished 2 for 4. Jeffrey Baez added one double as part of his 2 hit day.
[South Bend] Charcer Burks doubled and stole his 24th base of the season.
[Eugene] Adbert Alzolay struck out 4, walked 3, and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits (including 2 home runs).
[Eugene] The bullpen did good work in this one, highlighted by 2 hitless innings from Jae-Hoon Ha (2 BB, 1 K) and the 3 strikeouts over 2 innings (1 H) from Tyler Peitzmeier.
[Eugene] Donnie Dewees homered for the 5th time this year.
[Eugene] Blake Headley finished 2 for 3. He had the only multi-hit game for the Emeralds.
[Arizona] Jesus Camargo struck out 4 in his 4 scoreless innings of work. He allowed 2 hits and a walk.
[Arizona] Tyler Skulina struck out 4 in his 2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit.
[Arizona] Dan Vogelbach began his rehab assignment with a 2 for 2 game.
[South Bend] Zach Hedges struck out 2 and allowed a run on 4 hits in his 5 inning start.
[Eugene] If you haven’t read the intro yet, do that. The pitching in this game deserves more praise than I could pack into this space.
[Eugene] Frandy Delarosa and Eloy Jimenez each doubled in this one. Kevonte Mitchell doubled and finished with 2 hits. He also stole his 10th base.
Other News
Until the Emeralds completed their masterpiece, the headline in this article was going to be Ian Happ. Happ has been hitting very well in South Bend lately, well enough that the Cubs may think about bumping him to Myrtle Beach for the playoff run as they have done with similar college draftees in the past.
The leader board for MiLB.com’s Jersey Joust has come into focus, and Myrtle Beach is on the board at number nine with their Christmas Vacation look. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the awesomeness on the leader board and cast a vote or three dozen.
The day has arrived. Opening Day. The most glorious day on the baseball calendar, save for the day of each Chicago Cubs World Series win, of course. See, I get to say things like that on Opening Day. Maybe the...
Last year, the Cubs started using their new LED outfield lights to do a little dancing display during 'Go Cubs Go,' lighting along with the song and throwing in a W. It was very fun and I liked it. This...
Boom. We made it. The offseason is over, and the Cubs regular season - and those elevated expectations - begins tomorrow. But in case you slept through the winter, I'm here to catch you up on everything you need to...
I don't know why Miles Mastrobuoni bugs some folks, but it's probably heavily-weighted toward his small-sample, bad-batted-ball-luck start last year, and that time he didn't dive while playing in right field. It can be hard to shake initial impressions, I...
New Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell has said, generally, his batting order philosophy is the very simplistic (and very correct): just get your best hitters the most at bats. Sure, there's some play in that to set up good match-ups,...
The Los Angeles Dodgers have done it again. And by it, I mean they have signed a funkily-structured contract that is going to leave some folks annoyed. The Dodgers are extending catcher Will Smith on a DECADE-long deal with a...
On Monday, during a team-building conversation with some of the Bleacher Nation and Betsperts Media Group folks, we discussed sports—shocking, I know—and Brian Twining asked the group what their favorite sport was. For me, it's baseball. There's no debate. I...
This week, in a conversation with Jon Greenberg at The Athletic, Cubs President Jed Hoyer made an honest and sober (but also moderately disappointing) admission about the 2024 Chicago Cubs: "We need to perform probably at or a little bit...
Given all the tumult in the baseball broadcasting world, and the uncertain future for that portion of revenues, you'd be forgiven for expecting that MLB franchise valuations would slow their recent surge. But, according to Sportico at least, you'd be...
The injury to Matt McLain's shoulder issue obviously wound up being worse than he and the Cincinnati Reds had been hoping. The damage to his left (non-throwing) labrum ultimately required surgery: https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/1772993402604339478 When the hope is that a guy can...
The day has arrived. Opening Day. The most glorious day on the baseball calendar, save for the day of each Chicago Cubs World Series win, of course. See, I get to say things like that on Opening Day. Maybe the...
There is one game featuring a Pac-12 teams on the Thursday postseason college basketball schedule, the Clemson Tigers versus the Arizona Wildcats. Make sure you check out below for today's best bets!How to Bet on Pac-12 Games[lasso rel="draftkings-promo-1" id="299003"]Best Pac-12...
The Tampa Bay Rays look to start their season with a win as home favorites (-135) in a season-opening matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays. First pitch is on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET on MLB Network, live from Tropicana...
The Houston Astros look to start their season with a win as home favorites (-156) in a season-opening matchup with the New York Yankees. First pitch is on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET on YES, live from Minute Maid Park.Houston's...
The Detroit Tigers begin their season as -181 favorites in a road tilt against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET, live on BSDET.Tarik Skubal starts for Detroit while Garrett Crochet is Chicago's starter for the contest.Tigers...
The Cincinnati Reds begin their season as -154 favorites in a home tilt against the Washington Nationals on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET, live on MASN2.Cincinnati's Frankie Montas gets the start, and he'll go against Washington's Josiah Gray.Reds vs. Nationals...
The Los Angeles Dodgers (1-1) will look to Will Smith, red hot after a four-hit game, to lead them in a matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals (0-0) on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET on BSMW. The Dodgers are -232...
The Miami Marlins look to start their season with a win as home favorites (-133) in a season-opening matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates. First pitch is on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET on Sportsnet PT, live from LoanDepot park.Miami's Jesus...
The San Francisco Giants (0-0) are the underdogs on the moneyline (-106) in Thursday's contest against the San Diego Padres (1-1). Game time is set for 4:10 PM ET on NBCS-BA. The Giants are favored against the spread in this...
The Minnesota Twins look to start their season with a win as road favorites (-122) in a season-opening matchup with the Kansas City Royals. First pitch is on Thursday at 4:10 PM ET on BSN, live from Kauffman Stadium.Pablo Lopez...