Ben Brown via MiLB TV

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Tonight was a rather fun night as the recently acquired Ben Brown made his debut as a Cub as well as his Double-A debut. Brown had been promoted to Reading last weekend but never got to pitch there.

Tonight was a lot of fun as Brown was impressive. He pitched five innings, allowed four hits and one run, which came across on a wild pitch. Brown struck out nine and flashed up a plus slider and an occasional changeup to go along with a mid to upper 90s fastball. Most of the night he sat around 95 miles an hour and would occasionally touch 97 and 98, especially in the early going. For his efforts, he’s going to get our Starting Pitcher of the Day.

Honorable Mention goes out to Javier Assad who threw 5.1 innings and struck out eight batters but did allow two runs. Richard Gallardo had a better start his second go around at South Bend. While he was the losing pitcher, he only allowed one run in 5.2 innings. His weakness tonight was every pitcher’s weakness, walks.

Web Gem of the Day

Alexander Canario had to run a long way looking over his shoulder to get this ball.

Reliever of the Day

CD Pelham of Tennessee was just vicious tonight. He mowed through the Trash Pandas as he threw two scoreless innings. He did not give up a hit nor did he walk anyone and he struck out four of the six guys he faced. Honorable mentions go out to Hunter Bigge who quelled a Rocket City rally and Danis Correa who struck out the side in the ninth for Tennessee to get the save.

Dinger of the Day

A go ahead two run dinger in the top of the ninth by Chase Strumpf wins hands down.

Hitter of the Day

Hitter of the Day was a little rough as the offense was pretty sparse across the system. In his first game today‘, South Bend’s Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-5, scored once, and drove in two runs. In the nightcap he went 0-for-3 but 3-for-8 is a good day any day of the week and apparently twice on Saturdays…pun intended.

Art Piece of the Day

I love baseball art whether it is from Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Rikk Carlson, or, in this case, Greg Kreindler. Roberto Clemente looks glorious in this painting just standing on second in the sun. I, for one, think Clemente’s number should be retired for all of baseball besides Jackie Robinson’s. His influence on the game and his inspiration in others in Latin America is still felt today.

I will be back in the morning with The Weekly at 5:30 and the Rookie League Recap at noon. Hayden Wesneski debuts tomorrow at Iowa so keep an eye out for tomorrow’s action!