Oof!

The night began with a rainout in South Bend. That is never good news. The Cubs will make that game up on Saturday.

For Iowa, Matt Swarmer had his start cancelled. Instead, he would piggyback off of Wade Miley who was doing a rehab start. Combined, the two pitched six innings of shutout ball. However, it was not a good night to be a reliever named Eric (in any spelling) and both Stout and Uelmen got torched for six runs in their two frames as Iowa blew a 3-0 lead to lose 6-3.

And it was not a good night for Riley Thompson and Peyton Remy. Thompson was tagged for seven runs in the first inning without recording an out and walking four. Peyton Remy came on in relief and he was charged with six more runs, but those were over 4.2 innings. Giving up 13 runs is not conducive to winning last time I checked.

As for the Good Stuff…

Richard Gallardo pitched well after given up a solo shot (again) in the first inning. Then Gallardo went on to scatter five other hits and strike up 5 guys over six innings worth of work. For his efforts, Gallardo wins the Pitcher of the Day award. His ERA is now a season low 2.28. It’s OK is you start talking the “P” word about him. The issue is whose spot would he take in South Bend? The Cubs’ brass seem to have one perception of Gallardo and it is unclear if his performance is changing said perception. Does the brass think more highly of the guys in South Bend? If the answer is yes, he might not be going anywhere unless a spot opens up in Tennessee to move up someone from South Bend.

As for the Hitter of the Day, that nod goes to Kevin Made who went 2-for-4 with a HR and 2 RBI. Since returning from the IL on Tuesday, Made has gone 3-for-7. Made still only 9 total ABs this year but he has made them count as he is 5-for-9 with a 1.525 OPS in just 3 games. That bat is advanced.

When it came to who would be the Reliever of the Day, this was a tough choice. Not one reliever had what you might call a great night, but Bryan King had a good night in Myrtle Beach as he pitched 2 innings and struck out 3 including getting out of a bases loaded jam.

I will be back in the morning with an affiliate update of the Smokies.