Fabian Pertuz – Picture by Todd Johnson

Heading into tonight, it looked like there were going to be several amazing pitching performances. Luis Devers was going to be taking the bump along with Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks while Matt Dermody was going to be trying to bounce back in Iowa. And that thought turned out to be quite prophetic and true. As bad as last night was in terms of all four affiliates losing, tonight was much better as Myrtle Beach, South Bend, and Iowa all won.

Web Gem of the Day

Juan Mora gave it all to snag this liner.

Debut of the Day

Michael McAvene appeared for South Bend tonight for the first time in a non-rookie league game since 2019. He threw 23 pitches and struck out one, but his first outing is over and he can get back to staying healthy. I am sure he was amped up beyond belief. I wish I could have been there. I will see him in Beloit, though.

Hitter of the Day

Let’s get to the easiest award of the night and that goes to Fabian Pertuz of South Bend who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and he raised his average over 10 points on the night. FYI – all singles.

Reliever of the Day

This goes out to Erich Uelmen of Iowa. He came on in the ninth and immediately gave up a single. And then something magical happened – Uelmen struck out the next three players to get the save for Iowa as they are starting to put some things together this week. 

Starting Pitcher of the Day

It all came down to one run. Javier Assad and of Tennessee and Luis Devers of Myrtle Beach both were outstanding in their starts tonight. After five, they each had not allowed a run and they each had seven strikeouts. Both men also wound up with nine Ks on the night. The only thing that differed was that Assad gave up a run in the sixth while Devers did not. In fact, Devers lowered his ERA since May 13 to 0.73 in that span. The 22-year-old righty from Semana in the Dominican looks like he is putting in exhibits A, B, in C to become the first pitcher to go back-to-back for the Cubs Pitcher of the Month in a long time. 

I will be back in the morning to look at and grade the last 11 years of MLB Draft classes by the Cubs.