Cubs Minor League Daily: Baseball is Weirder Than You Think

If you watch or listen to enough baseball, you can start to think you’ve seen everything.

You haven’t. Sorry. Baseball is too weird for anyone to see it all.

For example, take last night. When Andrew Ely, infielder for South Bend (who is having a nice season), woke up yesterday morning, he had never in his baseball career scored on a balk. He’s 23. He’s been playing baseball for a long time. Then again, I’ve been listening to a baseball for a longer time and I don’t recall ever actually listening to a game where a runner scored on a balk. It isn’t a common play.

In the first inning of yesterday’s game, Ely scored on a balk.

That’s not the weird part.

The weird part is that he did it again in the ninth.

Ely says he had never scored on a balk in his career..does it in the 1st and 9th innings tonight. @SBCubs #Cubs

— SouthBend Cubs Radio (@SBCubsRadio) May 24, 2016

I don’t recall any player scoring on a balk twice in the same game before, and apparently it hasn’t happened in the minor leagues since … well, April 10 to be exact. So not only did Ely score on a balk twice in the same game, that is already the second time this season that someone has accomplished that.

Thanks to @MiLB – @SBCubs Andrew Ely scored on two balks tonight…also happened April 10, Wes Rogers of Asheville vs @TheRomeBraves #Cubs

— SouthBend Cubs Radio (@SBCubsRadio) May 24, 2016

Like I said, baseball is too weird for anyone to see it all.

Triple A: Iowa Cubs
El Paso 6, Iowa 1
If you’re looking for a Cubs team that can’t buy a win, I think I found them for you.

• Stephen Fife: 4 IP, 2 H, 5 K. A good game for a guy trying to come back from arm surgery, but he had to leave early with the trainer. We’ll see what’s up.
• Felix Pena: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 K
• Carl Edwards Jr.: 1 IP, 1 BB, 3 K
• Willson Contreras: 1 for 3, HR, BB. That was Contreras’s fourth homer.
• Arismendy Alcantara: 2 for 3
• Logan Watkins: 1 for 2, 2B.

Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Tennessee 3, Biloxi 2, 12 innings.
Extra inning walk off wins are fun.

• Brad Markey: 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K
• Starlin Peralta: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
• Miguel Mejia: 2 IP, 2 H, 4 K
• Chesny Young: 3 for 6, 2B
• Jacob Hannemann: 1 for 3, 2 BB, SB.
• Jeimer Candelario: 3 for 6. Looks like his slump may be over.
• Billy McKinney: 2 for 6
• Carlos Penalver: 3 for 5

High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Myrtle Beach 3, Lynchburg 1
This game was largely about the pitching.

• Zach Hedges: 7 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K
• Tommy Thorpe: 2 IP, 3 K
• Rashad Crawford: 2 for 4, 3B, HR. Crawford was involved in all three runs for the Pelicans.
• Cael Brockmeyer: 1 for 3, 2B
• Shawon Dunston: 1 for 3, 2B

Low A: South Bend Cubs
South Bend 6, Lake County 3
And with that the Cubs completed the sweep of a good team on the road.

• Carson Sands: 7 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K
• Casey Bloomquist: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
• Andrew Ely: 2 for 4, 2B, BB
• P.J. Higgins: 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB
• Eloy Jimenez: 3 for 4, 2B, BB. His OPS is up to .913.
• Jesse Hodges: 1 for 3, 2B, BB
• Tyler Alamo: 1 for 4, HR

Other Notes

• In case you missed it yesterday, Yasiel Balaguert and Eloy Jimenez were named Player of the Week for the Carolina League and the Midwest League respectively.
• Iowa outhit El Paso 9 to 7 and still lost. It was their eighth loss in a row, and the second time in that stretch in which they outhit their opponent and lost anyway. Their last win came in Reno on May 14; that was the game in which they scored seventeen runs.
• The Tennessee game became very worrisome for a time. Markey, the starting pitcher, took a hit ball off the leg and went down. He was ok, though, and was able to stay in the game.