Solid wins for Iowa and Tennessee. Embarrassing losses for South Bend and Myrtle Beach.
It’s very disorienting looking at the I-Cubs box score and seeing Levi Jordan and P.J. Higgins in the lineup and not recognizing the rest of the names. And then you realize you’re looking at the Bats lineup.
Baseball America has added South Bend shortstop Jefferson Rojas to their top 100 prospects list as several players drop off. Rojas is ranked at number 99.
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs blinded the Louisville Bats (Reds), 4-3.
Chris Clarke started and gave up just one run on four hits over four innings. Clarke walked one and struck out two.
Edwin Escobar relieved Clarke in the fifth inning and got the win after tossing two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Escobar struck out two and walked three, although one of those three walks was intentional.
Porter Hodge threw a scoreless seventh inning, but then gave up a two-run home run to P.J. Higgins in the eighth with no outs and exited. Carl Edwards Jr. got called upon to get a two-inning save and he delivered, allowing no runs on just one hit. Edwards struck out three and walked no one.
Left fielder Owen Caissie hit his first career Triple-A home run with the bases empty in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Caissie was 2 for 3 with a walk.
First baseman Matt Mervis added two insurance runs with a double in the sixth inning. Mervis went 1 for 4.
Patrick Wisdom played just three innings and third base. He doubled and scored in his first at bat and walked his other time up.
Caissie’s home run.
First Triple-A homer for Owen Caissie pic.twitter.com/r6le9kmvmJ
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 17, 2024
The double by Mervis.
We take a 4-1 lead thanks to a two-run double from Mervis! pic.twitter.com/A6htGHyGtP
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 17, 2024
A nice play on defense by third baseman Jake Slaughter.
What a play from Jake Slaughter pic.twitter.com/VbdEPOoTH9
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 17, 2024
Tennessee Smokies
The Tennessee Smokies fried the Montgomery Biscuits (Rays), 4-2.
Starter Connor Noland gave the Smokies five solid innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked three, hit one batter and struck out four.
Eduarniel Nunez got the win after three strong innings of scoreless relief. Nunez allowed two hits, both singles, and walked one. He struck out one.
Michael Arias pitched the ninth inning and got the save. Arias allowed a leadoff single, but then retired the next three batters. He did not have a strikeout.
The Smokies scored one run in each inning from the fifth through the eighth. Second baseman Hayden Cantrelle got the party started with a solo home run in the fifth inning, his second in as many games. Cantrelle was 1 for 3.
Left fielder Cole Roederer scored the tying run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by James Triantos. Roederer went 2 for 4 with a stolen base and Triantos was 0 for 2 with a walk.
Center fielder Kevin Alcántara gave the Smokies the lead with a solo home run in the seventh inning, his first of the year. Alcántara went 2 for 4 with a double and the home runs. The two hits were twice as many as he had hit all season before tonight’s game.
Catcher Pablo Aliendo drove home Matt Shaw with the fourth and final run in the eighth. Aliendo went 1 for 2. Shaw was 0 for 2 with two walks.
Here’s Alcántara’s home run.
The Jaguar tees off for the first time in 2024!@Cubs No. 5 prospect Kevin Alcántara (MLB No. 59) wallops a homer for @smokiesbaseball: pic.twitter.com/y2IR4zy7Pk
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 18, 2024
South Bend Cubs
The South Bend Cubs got bombed by the Beloit SkyCarp (Brewers), 19-4.
Will Sanders got hammered for six runs in the second inning. Sanders’ final line was six runs on four hits and two walks over 1.2 innings. Sanders struck out two.
Every South Bend pitcher gave up at least one run and one home run. That included infielder Fabian Pertuz, who got rocked for six runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Catcher Casey Opitz hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, his second on the year. Opitz was 1 for 4.
Rafael Morel had a good game, going 4 for 5 with an RBi double in the top of the ninth. Morel also scored one run.
Jonathon Long was 2 for 4 with a double and one run scored.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were blasted by the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 17 to 8. It was the Pelicans fifth-straight loss and dropped the team to an overall record of 2-9.
Mason McGwire started this game and got pulled in the first inning because he threw 33 pitches. But Nick Dean bailed him out and McGwire ended up not allowing any runs. The final line on McGwire was no runs on no hits and three walks over two-thirds of an inning. McGwire struck out one.
Dean may have gotten the Birds out of that jam in the first inning, but he ended up getting the loss after allowing four runs on three hits over three innings. Dean did record eight strikeouts while walking just two.
The Pelicans pitching staff issued a franchise-record 17 walks in this game. That kind of dims the 16 strikeouts they had.
Left fielder Andy Garriola hit a solo home run in the third inning, his second on the year. Garriola went 1 for 4 with a sacrifice fly for two total runs batted in.
Second baseman Alexis Hernandez was 2 for 6 and scored once.
Every batter in the Pelicans lineup had at least one hit except for DH Wally Soto, but Soto was 0 for 1 with four walks. That’s not counting the one walk he issued in the ninth inning when he came on to get the final out of the top of the ninth. Soto gave up two runs in a third of an inning, both coming on a two-run home run.
If you’re really a glutton for punishment, here is the video recap.