Eduarniel Nunez – Picture by Todd Johnson

With only three games happening tonight, doing the Players of the Day post kind of snuck up on me. The Tennessee game did not get called off until the Myrtle Beach game hit the bottom of the eighth inning. Iowa had played early this afternoon and lost 9 to 4 and there wasn’t anybody who really had a stand out day for the Cubs in Memphis.

That left basically two games to pick from and there were some good performances in each one.

When it came to hitting in South Bend, Fabian Pertuz went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double. South Bend won 6-4 as Owen Caissie also drove in 2 runs and Yeison Santana went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .353 for the High-A Cubs. Daniel Palencia went three innings and threw 48 pitches tonight and he gave up one unearned run while striking out three. Unfortunately, none of those three prospects won any of the awards tonight.

For Reliever of the Day, South Bend’s Eduarniel Nunez showed off a nasty slider to go along with his upper 90s fastball. He threw two frames and struck out two while getting the win for South Bend in relief. After a rough April, Nunez has really started to string together some successful outings here lately as opponents are just hitting .125 against him in May.

As for Hitting…

The night belonged to the Pelicans as they pounded out 12 hits and scored eight runs to win their ninth game in a row. They defeated Augusta 8 to 5 as a James Triantos went 3-for-4 with a walk and scored three runs. Kevin Made went 2-for-5 with one RBI.

Sadly, neither of those guys are going to get Hitter of the Day.

That honor goes to Reggie Preciado who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a walk. Preciado is now hitting .346 in the month of May and his on base percentage is now .397. He’s going to be just fine. I’m excited to see what he can do in June. So, Preciado is our winner for Hitter of the Day.

On the Bump

Starting pitcher Porter Hodge looked really good tonight. He went five innings and only gave up four hits. He did give up one earned run and struck out seven on the night. He looked very much like the Porter Hodge we saw in April as he takes tonight‘s Starting Pitcher honor.

Meanwhile, out in Mesa…

We are getting close to rookie league starting on June 6.

Today, we got some good news as reliever Zac Leigh pitched one inning in an extended spring training game. He sat his usual 95-98 and only threw 9 pitches, 6 of them for strikes. I hope to see him in South Bend in a few weeks in mid-June.

And we even have some pics of Zac!

I will be back in the morning with a prospect update on Sheldon Reed.