Riley Martin – Picture by Todd Johnson

Today was a lot of fun at the old ballpark! There was a lot of action throughout the day. South Bend swept a doubleheader this afternoon from Peoria but Iowa lost in St. Paul as they gave up 8 runs in the final three innings. Myrtle Beach just kept thundering away at Salem as they won 9-6. Tennessee fell behind early to Birmingham and just kept grinding away but failed to capitalize on several opportunities leaving an astounding 19 men on base.

There were some great performances all day long.

Here are a few of today’s honorable mentions.

*Jordan Wicks looked good today going 4 innings and striking out two while not allowing an earned run. 
*Chris Clarke came on in relief of Wicks and went three scoreless and struck out 4.
*Scott MeKeon went 2-for-4 on the day
*Ed Howard went 2-for-3 and is now officially above .250. He is also 4-for-11 (.364) in May.
*Yohendrick Pinango, Edmond Americaan, and Jake Washer all went 2-for-3 in the nightcap.
*Blake Whitney threw 2 scoreless frames for Tennessee to bring his ERA down to 3.00 on the year. 
*Jared Young went 2-for-4 as did Nelson Velazquez in his Iowa debut.
*Nelson Maldonado went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI for Iowa and his average now sits at .333 after 1-for-11 start.
*Pete Crow-Armstrong had another great day going 3-for-5 to take his average up to .410.
*BJ Murray went 2-for-3 to bring his average up to .306. I knew this winter he would surprise some people. The kid can hit.
*Luis Rodriguez went 3.2 IP in relief and struck out 5 guys but did allow 1 run. His ERA as a piggyback starter stands at 1.26 on the year.

Today’s Winners

Max Bain and Riley Martin combined on a seven inning shutout of Peoria. They struckout 5 each – Bain in 4 innings, Martin in 3. Combined, they only allowed 4 hits and Bain looked very good lowering his season ERA to 2.84. As a result, they both get the Starting Pitcher and Relief Pitcher of the Day awards.

Last week in Davenport, I talked with Max about how much of a jump the competition was for him going from D II to High-A last year, he said it was huge. He added that this year he is trusting his stuff and is much more competitive and is not working on his arsenal as much as he is about getting results with his arsenal. He said he feels comfortable that he can produce and tinker at the same time this year. That’s a big realization for him. 

As for the Hitter of the Day, Kevin Alcantara was the man. He went 2-for-4 with a HR, double, and 3 RBI. He has 2 HR over the past week and is looking more and more like a steal in the Rizzo trade. I just love his swing and I am excited to see more and more of him.

In addition, Alcantara also had the Web Gem of the Day.

I will be back in the morning with The Weekly where PCA dominated the news of the week.