JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-21-13 & 6-22-13

June 21, 2013

Nashville Sound 4 @ Iowa Cubs 5 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Nice game for the I-Cubs offense, which put up 10 hits, 7 going for extra bases. Logan Watkins had a big day,going 2-3 day leading off, with a double and a home run. Brad Nelson and Junior Lake each went deep as well on 1-3 days. Dave Sappelt was 2-3 with a double and a triple. Brett Jackson was 2-3 with a double and a stolen base, but did strike out once, naturally. J.C. Boscan was 2-3.

Guillermo Moscoso threw a mostly-solid 6 innings, giving up only 7 hits and 2 walks, but allowing 4 runs, including 2 bombs. He did K 5, though. Michael Bowden worked a clean 7th and K'ed 1.

Nashville Sound 6 @ Iowa Cubs 8 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

The offense stayed hot in game 2, collecting 12 hits, 7 going for extra bases, including four homers. Apparently, Brewers AAA pitching is bad. Shocking given the state of their major league club, I know.

Logan Watkins went deep again, going 2-4 with a homer and a double. Brian Bogusevic was 2-4 with a home run as well. Junior Lake got his homer in a 3-4 day and added a double for good measure, but was caught trying to steal third in the second inning. Donnie Murphy rounded things out with a 1-2 day with a homer. Tim Torres had a 3-3 day with a triple. Darnell McDonald was the only I-Cub with a hit that didn't go for extra bases. For shame. Steve Clevenger was 0-2, but did walk twice.

Jeffry Antigua had a short day, going 3.2 innings. He was at least efficient from a certain perspective, as he allowed every baserunner to score, allowing 4 runs off of 3 hits and a walk. 2 homers in 3+ innings will do that, I suppose. He did strike out 5 at least. Marcus Hatley got the win for his 1.1 innings of 3 hit, 2 run ball with a walk and a strikeout. Casey Coleman was the only I-Cub pitcher not to let a run across, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2 in 2 innings of work.

Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 8

The Smokies got a lot of runs out of a fair amount of station to station baseball in this one, scoring 7 on ten hits, 6 for singles. Matt Szczur was 2-5 with a double. Arismendy Alcantara continued to flash his newfound power, going 2-5 with a home run. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-4 with a stolen base and three strikeouts, so of course he was promoted to AAA after this one. Justin Bour and Christian Villanueva both went 1-5. Anthony Giansanti was 1-3 with a double. Ronald Torreyes flashed some motor with a triple in his 1-3 day. That was it for the offense.

Kyle Hendricks got roughed up a bit in this one, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings of work. He struck out only one, walked four, and gave up 7 hits including 1 bomb. Not his best day. Yeiper Castillo allowed a run in 2 innings on 3 hits, a walk, and 2 Ks. Zach Rosscup closed it out by getting all three of his outs on Ks, allowing a hit and a walk each.

Dunedin Blue Jays 3 @ Daytona Cubs 1

This lineup's a lot less fun with Jorge Soler out of it, but ah well. Not much offense here, just 4 hits and 3 walks. John Andreoli, Dustin Geiger, Ben Carhart, and Pin-Chieh Chen each had one hit, with Geiger's going for a double. Javier Baez did get hit by a pitch, and Zeke DeVoss, Wes Darvill, and Chen all drew a walk, with Chen adding a stolen base. That's about it.

Ben Wells tried to keep the D-Cubs in it, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings. He struck out three. Larry Suarez worked the final 3 innings, giving up box score bingo with 2 hits, an earned run, a walk, a K, and a HR.

Houston Astros 1 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Darwin Barney was 3-4 with a double and a home run, so that's apparently a thing that can happen. Anthony Rizzo was 2-4, including his first home run in a while. Hopefully a sign of him getting on another hot streak soon. Scott Hairston went deep as well in his 1-3, 1 BB day. Nobody else had an extra base hit. Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, and Dioner Navarro were all 1-4. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3. Cody Randsom was 0-3 but did draw a walk.

Matt Garza's Very Tradeable Contract threw 8 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 8 and walking 2. Damn fine show. Kevin Gregg worked a perfect 9th and punched out 1. 

Kane County Cougars 2 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 4

Albert Almora went hitless. I didn't realize that could happen. He also apparently got yanked for not running out a fly ball, briefly sending twitter into a panic thinking he was hurt.  No dinner for him. Gioskar Amaya had a good day, going 2-4 with a double and KC's only XBH. Bijan Rademacher was 1-4 with a walk. Dan Vogelbach was 1-4. Jeimer Candelario, Marco Hernandez, and Rock Shoulders were all 0-3 with a BB. Reggie Golden went 1-4. And Carlos Escobar was 2-4.

Taylor Scott gave up 2 runs on what appears to have been total smoke and mirrors, allowing 11 hits, 2 walks, and a homer in 5 innings of work, only striking out 2. Lendy Castillo sucked less than usual but still took the loss, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits, a walk, and three strikeouts in the final 3 innings.

Boise Hawks 4 @ Spokane Indians 1

Jacob Hannemann was 1-5 with a double in his debut. Yasiel Balaguert was 1-3 with a homer and a walk. Cael Brockmeyer was 1-4 with a double. Kevin Encarnacion was 2-4 with a homer of his own. Carlows Penalver and Shawon Dunston were both 1-4, and Jacob Rogers was 1-2 with 2 BBs.

Paul Blackburn had a nice day, tossing 5 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball with a walk and 4 Ks. Carlos Martinez-Pumarino and Michael Hamann combined for 4 innings of shutout 1 hit, 1 BB, 4 K ball to finish it off. Good work gents.

DSL Blue Jays 1 @ DSL Cubs 3

Frailin Figueroa threw 5 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk scoreless ball, striking out 4.

VSL Cubs 2 @ VSL Mariners 8

Humberto Garcia was 2-3 with a home run and a walk for the only real noteworthy performance here.

AZL Cubs 6 @ AZL D-Backs 4

Zak Blair was 2-2 with 2 walks for a spotless OBP in this one. Congrats to Zak Blair.

June 22, 2013

Iowa Cubs 2 @ Memphis Redbirds 6

Brian Bogusevic was 2-3 with a walk and a triple. He is not a fast man, so that's impressive. Brad Nelson was 2-4 with a double. Junior Lake was 1-4, and Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-3 in his Iowa debut. Cardinals Superprospect Oscar Taveras was 1-4 with no XBH for the other side, which, given the opposition, I think we can all consider a victory.

Speaking of which, Chris Rusin did Chris Rusin things, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 3 BBs, and 2 Ks in 6 innings of work. The Redbirds took him deep twice. Eduardo Sanchez worked a perfect 2 to finish, striking out 1.

Tennessee Smokies 8 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 11

Busy day for Matt Szczur, going 4-5 with a double and a SB. He was caught stealing in the 7th. Ronald Torreyes was 1-3 with a triple and a walk. Ty Wright was 2-3 with a SB. Jonathan Mota was 2-5. Rafael Lopez and Justin Bour both went 1-4 with a double and a walk. And Arismendy Alcantara was 1-5 with a SB.

On the pitching side, A.J. Morris threw 5 innings of 3 hit ball, walking and punching out 4 each, and giving up 3 runs. Hunter Cervenka allowed 2 runs in his inning off of 2 hits, a BB, and a K. Tony Zych took the blown save in 0.2 IP, allowing 3 runs off a walk and 3 hits, striking out 1. Oof. Kevin Rhoderick decided that seemed like a good time, and thus proceeded to give up 3 runs of his own in 1.1 IP, allowing 3 hits and striking out 1. He is not very good.

Dunedin Blue Jays 1 @ Daytona Cubs 2

Both the D-Cubs runs came off of Javier Baez's 16th homer of the year at Daytona. He can kinda sorta hit baseballs. He finished 2-4 on the day. Dustin Geiger was 2-4, both singles. Tim Saunders was 1-4 with a double. Zeke DeVoss and Chadd Krist were both 1-3. 

Zach Cates was impressive in this one, scattering 5 hits over 6.2 innings of1 run ball. He walked 2 and K'ed 4. Yao-Lin Wang closed it out with 2.1 scoreless innings, walking 2 and striking out 3 and allowing 2 hits.

Kane County Cougars 5 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 6 (11 innings)

Albert Almora only had 1 hit, but it was a home run so all is forgiven. Rock Shoulders went deep as well in a 2-4 day, adding a double and a walk for good measure. Reggie Golden was 1-4 for the only other Cougars hit of the day. KC did draw 6 walks as a team, however, which is good to see. Carlos Correa had a huge day for the other side, going 4-6 with a triple. He did get picked off the basepaths twice, however.

Michael Heesch worked 6 innings of scoreless ball for the cougars, scattering six hits throughout. He walked none and punched out 6, which is a nice performance to see. Armando Rivero decided to make things interesting by giving up 4 runs in 0.2 innings of work, and now his ERA sits at a fun 54.00. Yeesh. Sheldon McDonald blew the save afterward, giving up a run in 2.1 innings of work. He walked and struck out one each. Stephen Perakslis took the loss after giving up the walkoff run, allowing 3 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings of work.

Boise Hawks 2 @ Spokane Indians 3 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Justin Marra was 2-3 with a home run. David Bote was 2-4 with a double. Daniel Lockhart was 2-3. Kevin Encarnacion, Jose Dore, and Trevor Gretzky were all 1-4, with Encarnacion adding a walk.

Loiger Padron got touched for 3 runs in 4 innings off of 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3. Ethan Elias worked the final 2, allowing a hit and 2 walks with 2 Ks, letting none score.

Boise Hawks 3 @ Spokane Indians 4 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

Jacob Hannemann was 0 for 8 on the day, putting his average in a .077 hole to start his pro career. Shawon Dunston and Kevin Encarnacion went for near identical lines, both going 1-2 with a walk and a home run. Dunston managed not to strikeout, unlike Encarnacion. Lance Rymel was 1-3, Jacob Rogers was 2-3, Carlos Penalver was 1-4 with a SB. David Bote was 1-2 with a walk. And Daniel Lockhart was 0-2 with a walk.

Orbandy Rodriguez and Jasvir Rakkar both worked 3 innings. Rodriguez was not so good, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) on a walk and 4 strikeouts. Rakkar was much better, allowing no baserunners and striking out 1.

Houston Astros 4 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Nate Schierholtz's Fairly Easily Tradeable Contract was 1-3 with a walk and a home run. Welington Castillo was 2-3 with a rare walk. Luis Valbuena and Starlin Castro were both 1-5. Alfonso Soriano was 1-4 with a double. He got picked off, which really needs to stop happening. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3 with a BB. Darwin Barney went 1-4. Anthony Rizzo was 0-2, but did draw 2 walks.

Travis Wood worked a quality start, going 6 and giving up 5 hits and three runs on a walk and 5 Ks. He did give up a home run to J.D. Martinez, who is a player I'd never heard of until typing that. So that's less fun. Shawn Camp must be feeling better, as he worked a perfect 7th. Blake Parker walked a guy, but struck out 1 and was otherwise clean. Kevin Gregg took the loss after giving up a run on a single hit. He was bound to give up a run at some point. The losing effort sent his ERA ballooning from 0.77 to 1.11.

DSL Rojos 0 @ DSL Cubs 5

Good pitching from the DSL Cubs in this one, as the staff struck out 15 Rojos. Jose Zapata gave up 3 hits and K'ed 6 in 5 innings, while Jose Paulino gave up 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 in his 2 innings of work. 

VSL Rays 1 @ VSL Cubs 15

Roney Alcala had the game of the day, going 3-6 with 2 home runs.

AZL D-Backs 7 @ AZL Cubs 5

Kevin Brown was 1-4 with a triple; Xavier Batista was 1-4 with a double. Other than that, meh.