Cade Horton – Pic by Danny Kelly/The Post and Courier

For the first time since last Friday, all four affiliates were in action!

On the whole, it was a pitcher’s kind of night as most April nights are. Temps were dropping for both South Bend and Iowa while it was 80 degrees in Tennessee and 73 in Myrtle Beach . South Bend had a weather delay in Michigan while Iowa was done in just 2 hours and 12 minutes. That was a bit strange.

Scoreboard

Iowa – The Cubs got a 1-0 shutout as Caleb Kilian threw 5 innings as he scattered 3 hits and struck out 4. Ryan Borucki, Jeremiah Estrada, Tyler Duffey, and Manny Rodriguez all pitched a scoreless frame to secure the big goose egg against Buffalo. On offense, Brennen Davis had a nice night and went 2-for-3

Tennessee – The Smokies struggled in several ways tonight. Daniel Palencia was removed after two innings. Whether it was because of an actual injury or just as a precaution, I do not know yet. The Smokies came from behind and scored 2 in the bottom of the 8th to take a 4-3 lead only to see Bailey Horn give up two in the top of the ninth as the Smokies lost 5-4.

South Bend – Richard Gallardo went 5 innings and gave up 1 earned run and struck out just two. The young Cubs struggled with guys in scoring position the first half of the game. In the second half, not so much. They scored some bonus runs after a rain delay and went on to win 4-2. Kevin Alcantara and Kevin McGeary both had two hits apiece

Myrtle Beach – The Pelicans’ star attraction was just that tonight as Cade Horton looked vicious. While his slider was working fine, I was really impressed with his fastball which was just eating guys up in the top of the zone. He went four innings, struck out seven and did not allow any hits or runs. Unfortunately, the Pelicans did not do well with their own runners on base as they lost 2-1. In fact, the Birds only had 3 hits on the night.

Tweet of the Day – Some Points to Ponder

Michael Ernst is one of my favorite follows on Twitter and someone who I have actually met a few times in Davenport and Clinton. Tonight, Michael had some very cool thoughts on Cade Horton I wanted to share with you rather than just post the tweets. Here are a few quotes from a thread where he discusses Horton’s placement and performance.

Everyone, Cade Horton is in Myrtle Beach because the Cubs no doubt wanted to avoid the early Midwest League cold weather with him. They don’t want him pitching in the cold. They don’t want to have him challenged with too many long innings early on. He’s never even pitched a full college season, let alone taking a turn every five days as a pro. Kid gloves until at least mid-season, if not the entire season. Probably spends time on the dev list at some point to control his innings too.

That hopefully puts some things in perspective for you.

The “Yeah….This Does Not Look Good” Tweet

As you can see, Daniel Palencia just does not look comfortable or loose in this brief vignette. However, he would go on to finish the inning before being removed from the game. We probably won’t know much until later as MiLB teams are notoriously tight-lipped.

The Good News of the Day Award

Brennen Davis went 2-for-3 today. That’s good but let’s just take it one game at a time with him.

Quirky Stat of the Day

Thee “We Probably Should not Sleep on This Guy Anymore” Award

Put me in the Caleb Kilian is back camp.