At The Plate – The Cubs jumped out in front of the RedHawks 4-1 after one inning and 5-1 after three, they had to withstand a late charge but held on for the 5-4 victory. The Iowa Cubs are surging as of late as they moved to within five of .500 for the first time since forever it seems. The Cubs could only manage four hits in this one, but they made the most of them. Brian Bogusevic, Dave Sappelt, and J.C. Boscan all had one hit on the night, all singles. Josh Vitters had the big night for the Cubs going 1-for-2 with two walks, his third home run of the season, an RBI, and two runs scored.
On The Mound – Nick Struck struggled with his command in this one but worked deep enough and effective enough to earn his third win of the season. Struck went 5.1 innings giving up three runs on six hits while walking five and striking out four. Esmailin Caridad also struggled with his command in this one, he worked two-thirds of an inning giving up one run on no hits (yes, no hits), while walking two. Hisanori Takahashi was effective out of the pen going one scoreless inning giving up one hit while walking one and striking out one. Zach Putnam was excellent going two scoreless innings giving up one hit while walking one and striking out two to earn his third save of the season.
At The Plate – The Smokies and Stars were locked in a 1-1 battle until the seventh when the Stars broke the game open, scoring five times over the last three innings to take this one 6-2. Matt Szczur was 1-for-4 with a walk, a caught stealing, and his eighth double of the season. Rubi Silva had a solid day going 2-for-4 with his eighth home run of the season, an RBI, and two runs scored. Tim Torres was 1-for-3 with a walk, and an RBI in the loss, he’s now hitting .286 on the season.
On The Mound – Yeiper Castillo who was outstanding in Daytona was promoted up to Tennessee and his first start was tonight, and he was brilliant. Castillo worked six innings giving up one run on three hits while striking out seven. Trey McNutt took the loss in this one as he worked one inning giving up two runs on one hit while walking one. Kevin Rhoderick continued to struggle with his command; he worked one inning giving up one run, unearned, on one hit while walking one. Tony Zych was roughed up going one inning giving up two runs on three hits while striking out one.
At The Plate – Daytona jumped on top of Lakeland with two runs in the first, unfortunately they couldn’t get much going after that and Lakeland exploded for seven runs late in a 7-3 victory. John Andreoli continued his strong 2013 campaign going 3-for-5 with a double, two stolen bases (15), and a run scored. Javier Baez is picking things up at the plate and making contact as well, he was 2-for-4 with a run scored, he also made two more errors bringing his 2013 total to twenty-two, and he’s now hitting .271 on the season. Jorge Soler was 1-for-3 with a walk, his fourth stolen base of the season, and a run scored. Dustin Geiger continued his assault Florida State League pitching; he was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s, which brings his total to forty-two on the season.
On The Mound – Ben Wells suffered the loss in this one, unfortunately he really didn’t have too much of a say in that. Wells went five innings giving up three runs, one earned, on six hits while walking two and striking out two. Frank Del Valle was roughed up in probably his worst outing of 2013, he worked two innings giving up four runs on three hits while walking one and striking out two. Austin Reed was really good out of the pen going two scoreless innings while walking one and striking out two.
At The Plate – The Cougars only needed two innings to blow this game open, they scored four times in the fourth inning and four times in the seventh en route to an 8-1 victory. The Cougars had an excellent attack, they only had eight hits, but walked seven times, that’s how you score runs (hear that Cubs?). Albert Almora continued his hot start to the season going 1-for-3 with two walks, and a run scored in the win. Dan Vogelbach was 1-for-4 with a walk, and two runs scored, sensing a theme here? Rock Shoulders is having a hard time finding hits as of late but was still productive today, he was 0-for-3 with two walks, an RBI, and two runs scored. Yaniel Cabezas was 1-for-2 with two walks, a triple, three RBI’s, and a run scored.
On The Mound – Pierce Johnson was outstanding again, this time he had enough support from his offense to get a win and improve his record to 3-3 on the season. Johnson worked 6.2 innings giving up one run on six hits while walking two and striking out eight. Steve Perakslis was solid out of the pen to close this one out; he worked 2.1 scoreless innings while striking out two.
Born on Third 