Daniel Palencia by Todd Johnson

It was a very tense night of action in the Cubs’ system. There were only three games on tap tonight as Iowa played this afternoon and won 5 to 4 in 10 innings. It was their second win in a row over Louisville this week as Narciso Crook went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and Jackson Fraser went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs. The duo accounted for all of Iowa’s RBI today. Tennessee was in a barn burner with Chattanooga tonight. The Smokies eventually won it 11-7 in 10 innings. South Bend would win a pitchers duel 1 to 0. However, most of my attention was focused on Myrtle Beach tonight as they try to clinch a playoff berth. 

Heading into the night, the Pelicans held a slim one game lead over Charleston, who won tonight against Columbia. The pressure was on as the Pelicans fell behind early 3 to 0. They rallied late with one run in the seventh, three in the eighth, and one more for good measure in the ninth to win 5 to 3. With a win tomorrow, the Pelicans are in the playoffs. If they lose, they are going to need a little help from Columbia to beat Charleston to get in.

Let’s get to today’s awards!

Shout Out of the Day

I became part of South Bend Cubs broadcasting lore in tonight’s 8th inning with Todd Lott up at the plate for Peoria. Fun stuff from Bk and Max!

Starting Pitcher of the Day

This was the easiest award for the day as Daniel Palencia went 5 scoreless today. He scattered 3 hits and walked 1 while striking out 7 Peoria Chiefs. When I saw him in the Quad Cities last Thursday, Palencia looked pretty good except for one inning. His command tonight looked much better.

Reliever of the Day

While Riley Martin, Adam Laskey, Alfredo Zárraga, and even Tanner Jessin-Dalton all had good games today, my guy Zac Leigh shut it down in the ninth for South Bend to secure a 1-0 victory. He struck out two of the three men he faced to get the save and to give South Bend a one-run victory.

Hitters of the Day

I mentioned Crook and Frasier in the opening paragraph today, but neither of them are going to get today’s Hitter of the Day award. Another player who did not get the award but is worthy of mansion is Fabian Pertuz who seems to have found his stroke this month as he is hitting .280 with 10 RBI in June. Tennessee’s Matt Mervis was also in tonight‘s discussion as he went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a HR. None of them t.ied for the award

Today is unique though. We have a tie.

When the moment ca,me to put Myrtle Beach ahead in the top of the eighth running, Ezequiel Pagán came through for the Pelicans with a two-run single. He would end up going 3-for-5 on the day with three RBI. To tell you how good his month has gone for him, he is hitting .357 with a .446 0BP while driving in 22 runs. He is going to be right there in contention for player of the month next Friday.

The other winner is Jake Slaughter of Tennessee who hit his 7th HR this June in the bottom of the tenth inning to win it for the Smokies! However, it was not just any HR, it was a Grand Slam walk off! He is hitting .375 with 20 RBI since being promoted.

will be back tomorrow with some thoughts on pitch counts and innings limits in the second half and on Friday I will be dropping a post about some guys that are rising into the top half of the first round that could be on the Cubs radar.