Kohl Franklin – Picture by Todd Johnson

Today was a little different. First, South Bend started off their game at 5 o’clock Central, which is usually an hour ahead of schedule. Second, they were only three games again today because Iowa had their third game in a row canceled, this time due to cold in Buffalo, New York. Still, there were plenty of fireworks at the plate and three very good starting pitching performances today to go along with some really cool looking web gems.

Let’s get started!

Big Time Starting Pitchers Outing Awards

It was 44° and cloudy in Midland, Michigan tonight and Kohl Franklin pitched very well, going 3.2 scoreless innings while not allowing a run for the second straight start. He gave up three hits and walked two, but he struck out six and his stuff looked pretty darn good from the centerfield camera at Dow Diamond.

For Ryan Jensen, tonight was one of his better starts at Double-A he’s had lately. He went five innings and only threw 58 pitches, 44 of those were for strikes. Those are the numbers I take away the most from his performance. He did give up a run, and he did strike out five, but he only allowed two base runners. The fact that he was around the zone all night long is a positive trend.

For Myrtle Beach’s Michael Arias, the former shortstop had a really good start tonight for the Pelicans. He went four innings and struck out eight, he did not allow a single run, and he only allowed three base runners all night. That’s not too shabby for a 21-year-old kid who is still learning how to pitch. In addition, he flashed some nasty arm side run.

As for the actual scores…

South Bend lost 6-3. The bullpen just imploded tonight and the Cubs could not get back into the game.

It went to extra innings as the Pelicans were tied up 1-1 after nine. The Birds won it in the bottom of the tenth on a Rafael Morel single to drive in Reivaj Garcia.

The Smokies jumped out to a commanding lead of 7-2 and held on to win 8-5 as Hunter Bigge got the save.

Dingers of the Day

The Smokies looked to be having some fun tonight with three dingers in one game. Here they are in the order they happened.

Web Gems

As well, there were several good plays made in the field tonight. Here are two from Tennessee and one from South Bend.

Hot Take of the Day

Johzan Oquendo is very nasty. Once he gets his command down, he is going to be a serious bullpen arm. If all goes well, he could advance two levels this summer.