Minor Matters – April 16, 2013 (Cubs Minor League Recaps)

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At The Plate – You wouldn’t know it by the hit totals, but the I-Cubs won this one rather handily 4-3.  Iowa only had three hits, and gave up ten, but that’s not what decides games.  Ty Wright was 1-for-4 with a run scored.  Ryan Sweeney had one of the other hits and it was a big one, he was 1-for-3 with a walk, a triple, and an RBI.  J.C. Boscan had the biggest hit of the day as he was 1-for-3 with a double, and two RBI’s, definitely an odd game at the plate, but drawing four walks definitely helped.

On The Mound –  Plenty of hits given up by the Cubs staff, but they didn’t walk anyone, and that was a huge reason they pulled this one out.  Brooks Raley had a tremendous outing getting his first win of the season going six scoreless innings giving up six hits, and striking out seven.  Yoanner Negrin continues to be untouchable out of the pen, he worked two scoreless innings only giving up two hits.  Cory Wade worked the ninth and gave up one run on two hits while striking out two.

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At The Plate – A back and forth game in Huntsville ended with the Smokies hanging on to win 4-3 over the Stars.  Matt Szczur continues to be productive out of the lead-off spot, he went 2-for-3 with a home run, a stolen base, a caught stealing, an RBI, and a run scored.  Justin Bour also joined in on the fun going 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, and a run scored.  Rubi Silva has been scorching hot all year and it was no different last night, he was 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, and two runs scored, he’s hitting .405 on the season now.

On The Mound – Alberto Cabrera got the start and his second win of the season as he went six innings giving up two runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five.  A.J. Morris was solid out of the pen going two scoreless, and hitless innings while striking out three.  Frank Batista worked the ninth for his second save, although he made it exciting, he worked one inning giving up one run on one hit while walking one.

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At The Plate – All sorts of offense from Daytona but it wasn’t nearly enough in this one.  Seven out of the nine players in the lineup had at least one hit.  John Andreoli was 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, two stolen bases, and one run scored.  Javy Baez connected on his second homer of the season, he finished the day 1-for-5 with an RBI, a stolen base, and two runs scored.  Stephen Bruno was 2-for-2 with two walks with a double, and a run scored.  Dustin Geiger continues to stay hot going 2-for-3 with an RBI, and a run scored, he’s now hitting .310 on the season.

On The Mound – I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anything like this in just nine innings.  The D-Cubs staff gave up fifteen runs, that was low in my opinion seeing that they gave up twenty-seven hits, twenty-seven!  Ryan Searle has been great this year, not last night, he went 4.2 innings giving up seven runs on fifteen(!) hits while striking out five, his ERA sits at 4.85 right now, a small miracle given how many runs he gave up.  Hunter Cervenka and Luis Liria gave up a combined seven runs in 2.1 innings.  Taylor Davis, a catcher, worked one inning giving up one run on four hits.

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At The Plate - The Cougars had a thrilling comeback win in game one as they scored twice in the last two innings to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3.  Gioskar Amaya was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.  Daniel Vogelbach was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and a run scored, with that two hit game his average climbed to .302 on the season.  Jeimer Candelario was 1-for-3 with a big two run double to help the Cougars come all the way back.

On The Mound –  Errors got the best of the Cougars early on and it showed in the pitching staff”s numbers.  Jose Arias got the start and went four innings giving up three runs, all unearned, on four hits while walking three and striking out three.  Jeffry Antigua was great out of the pen and was rewarded with his first win of the season.  Antigue went three scoreless innings giving up two hits while walking one and striking out three.

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At The Plate – No such comeback luck in this one from the Cougars as they were done in by a seven run second inning.  Marco Hernandez was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, an error, and two runs scored.  Wes Darvill was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Bijan Rademacher was 2-for-2 with a walk.  The top three guys in the Cougars order went 0-for-10 in game two, and the Cougars went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

On The Mound – Michael Heesch got the start and didn’t get much help from his defense.  Heesch went 1.2 innings giving up six runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out two.  Brian Smith got beat up a little bit as he went 2.1 innins giving up two runs on three hits while walking two and striking out two.  Steve Perakslis and Nathan Dorris each tossed a scoreless inning in the loss.

Thanks for reading,
- George