BJ Murray – Picture by Todd Johnson

Today was a fun day for me when it came to taking pictures. For the first time, South Bend wore their blue alternate jerseys when I went to see them. Up to this point in the year, they had worn nothing but the road grays. I took over 300 shots tonight and probably a erased another hundred at the ballpark. But that was not the only game going on.

Myrtle Beach beat Charleston 3-1 to win game two of their series. We will get to the star of that game a little bit later. South Bend took it to the Beloit 5 to 1. Tennessee was busted by Rocket City 2-1 and Iowa was pummeled by Columbus 16 to 3. I don’t think we need to say anymore about that game.

Dinger of the Day

We got a little poetry going because it Kevin Made.

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Today, there were three outstanding performances from starting pitchers, but like the movie “Outlander”, there can be only one. Jordan Wicks of South bend pitched really well, probably the best I’ve seen him in person. It didn’t look like he was trying out things too much. It look like he had a plan as he went five innings and struck out five and gave up on run. Javier Assad from Tennessee also went five innings and gave up one run but he struck out six for Tennessee. It looks like Assad has Pitcher of the Month wrapped up.

The winner for today, though, is Luis Devers of Myrtle Beach who struck out nine Charleston RiverDogs in five innings while giving up one run. That’s an impressive feat because Charleston was the second best team in the minor leagues in the first half, second only to the Pelicans. Devers is putting himself near the front of the line for Pitcher of the Year.

Web Gem of the Day

Devers also gets this kudo, a rare double feat!

Reliever of the Day

 Chase Watkins of Myrtle Beach had the best outing of his career. He threw two scoreless innings, he did not allow a hit and he also struck out four RiverDogs in Myrtle Beach as well.

Hitter of the Day

This was the toughest award to hand out today. Kevin Made had a nice day going 2-for-4 with a home run, a solo shot. Darius Hill went 2-for-5 at Iowa, which seems to be an every day occurrence. But South Bend had three players in the discussion today. Pablo Aliendo went 3-for-4 today. Luis Verdugo also went 2-for-4 to continue his hot streak. But it’s BJ Murray of South Bend who is going to take today’s mantle as he went2-for-4 with two RBI.

Picture of the Day

I call this one, “The Future.”

Picture by Todd Johnson