Kevin Alcantara – Picture by Stephanie Lynn

This afternoon, I joked with Jimmy Nelligan that I was going to give Kevin Alcantara all three awards today. His 8 RBI day, though, did set a new Pelicans’ record. If you’ve been following me all week on Twitter, I’ve been posting often how much I just love Alcantara’s swing and I have several videos of him up there just from this week. Alcantara’s performance did not come out of nowhere.

For Alcântara, his day began with a 2-run triple high off the right centerfield fence in the first inning. I love how it seemed like he barely swung at the ball and just destroyed it. I thought it was gone at first.

His second AB was a lowly single , ironically in the second inning. It was his only hit where he did drive in a run on a day.

His third at bat, in the third inning, was a three-run homer run that he just pummeled off of a lefty.

He came back a couple innings later and did a rinse and repeat to give himself eight RBI on the day.

Skipper Buddy Bailey let him hit in the ninth to attempt a cycle. He did reach on an error and was immediately pulled from the game. I would’ve hated hated for him to be running the bases and have a freak injury occur.

Now that his day is done, it is clear Alcantara is feeling comfy at the plate. This day does not require that he be promoted. Far from it. I would like for it to be the beginning of a month of domination. Put the team on your back and go get a playoff spot. With his beautiful swing, he could do it. But can her? We will find out and Myrtle Beach is the perfect place to do that.

Lost in the all Alcantara hub-bub was Kevin Made’s statistical wonder of the day. Jimmy Nelligan of North Side Bound pointed out that Kevin Made walked three times today. He walked six time s all of last year. Made now has 18 walks on the year including 10 in June.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

When it came to pitching, Tyler Schlaffer is today’s winner of the Starter of the Day award. He struck out seven but did give up two runs. I commented to my friend John how much I really like that Schlaffer has a live arm. He can get the ball up there in the mid 90s but he needs a little bit more movement on his fastball. Hopefully, the Cubs can work with him on that as he learns to command and control the gifts that he’s been given. But today he was good start against a good team.

Reliever of the Day

Nicholas Padilla only pitched one inning at Tennessee today. He did not allow a run and he got the side out all on strikeouts. That’ll do!