Christian Franklin – Picture by Stephanie Lynn

Heading into today, I knew the weather was going to play a factor. It was raining when I got up and at the time I began writing this post, it was sleeting a little bit and supposed to snow overnight. Well, that snow is coming straight from Iowa as they had a doubleheader postponed. However, South Bend, Myrtle Beach, and Tennessee all had exciting games going on all afternoon.

Let’s get to the action!

The Walkmeister of the Day

This award goes out to Yohendrick, Pinango of South Bend who walked four times today. He’s walked five in the past two games And has been looking to lay off some pitches where he would normally try and see if he could do something with them. That’s a big piece of maturity for him and one of the things that’s going to help him get to Tennessee at some point. He has 8 in 9 games and is walking at almost a 20% rate.

The Bat Toss of the Day/Homer of the Day

This belongs to the guy I predicted to be the Cubs Comeback Player of the Year and that is Mr. Christian Franklin. With the Pelicans down 5 to 0, Franklin hit a three-run jack. He knew it was gone immediately and had one of the sweetest that tosses and struts I’ve seen in a while.

Come from Behind Win of the Day

As previously mentioned, the Pelicans were down, 5 to 0, to Lynchburg. After Franklin‘s homer, Andy Garriola hit a two-run shot to tie it and then a sacrifice fly by Miguel Pabon brought in Jefferson Encarnacion with the go ahead run in the bottom of the eight top of the eighth. The bullpen has been an issue for Myrtle Beach this year, but Saul Gonzalez pitched a scoreless frame and then Nick Hull came in and pitched four scoreless innings while striking out three. That was easily his best outing as a pro.

Meanwhile in South Bend…

After giving up a solo homer to start the game, Connor Noland settled down and the South Bend Cubs scored seven unanswered runs. Haydn McGeary went 3-for-5 and is just pulverizing the Midwest League. He also drove in three runs on the day. Bradley Beesley went 2=for-4 with two RBI as he seems to be setting the table for the rest of the lineup. He also drew a walk and scored twice. Casey Opitz continues to hit well as he went 2-for-4 with three RBI and is now hitting .320 with a .948 OPS.

Noland pitched four innings and allowed just one run for the second time this week to go along with five strikeouts. Same Thoresen pitched two innings and gave up a run, but struck out four. Closer Carlos Guzman looked impressive going three innings and striking out three and flashing a changeup with some really nice fade. Take a look! 

The Starting Pitcher of the Day

Ben Brown threw his second start of the year and he looked really impressive going five scoreless innings in a seven inning game. He did allow five base runners, but he also struck out seven batters.

As for the Smokies…

The Cubs took the lead in the extra innings in the eighth but a three-run home run by Logan Driscoll off Ben Hecht ended the game. Luis Vazquez had the only two hits of the game for the Smokies. In the Nightcap, Porter Hodge got the ball and look much improved from his Double-A debut for the first three innings. After that, the Smokies fell apart giving up 9 runs in the fourth and they did not manage to get a hit all game. I don’t need to go any further.