Scott McKeon – Picture by Todd Johnson

Since I missed work Monday, Tuesday,  and Wednesday because I did not have a voice, it was a little weird having a two-day work week just before the last week of school. I did not go to Beloit tonight as we had to clear out two bedrooms to clean the carpets tomorrow morning. And I don’t like driving on 90/39 up to Beloit on Friday nights. It’s a little too NASCAR-like for me. I will be back up there tomorrow afternoon as well as Sunday afternoon to see Brandon Birdsell pitch. 

They were only three games tonight as a Iowa and Indianapolis we’re rained out.

There were, however, plenty of transactions today that I’m gonna run through for you quickly. Right-handed pitcher Jordan Holloway was sent on a rehab assignment from Iowa to Myrtle Beach. Keegan Thompson was sent down to Iowa. Edwin Rios and Mike Tauchman were called up to Chicago. Bryce Wyndham was activated off the injured list yesterday at Iowa while Jake Washer was put back on the development list. The Smokies released catcher Tim Susnara yesterday as he just not recovered from TJS a year and a half ago. At Myrtle Beach, INF Reginald Preciado has been placed on the Injured List. That turned out to be more moves than I thought.

Let’s get to the action and awards

Batting Practice Team of the Day

This goes out to the South Bend Cubs, who had 14 hits on the day as they scored 13 runs. That win puts the Cubs 1/2 game out of first place and tied with Cedar Rapids for second place. This was on a night that James Triantos and Kevin Made sat on the bench,.

Guys with two or more hits – Kevin Alcantara had 2, Ezekiel Pagan had 3, Bryce Ball had 3, Scott McKeon had 3 along with four RBI, and he’s going to be our hitter of the day. 

Starting pitcher Tyler Santana went five scoreless innings and struck out three to be today’s starting pitcher of the day. He only allowed one hit on the night – easily his best outing of 2023. Also Sheldon Reed and Adam Laskey combined to throw 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, striking out six batters combined.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee,

The Smokies use some pretty solid pitching as Jordan Wicks, Chris Kachmar, Blake Whitney, and Ben Hecht shut down the Blue Wahoos of Pensacola to win 5 to 1. Wicks went five innings and gave up just two hits and one run on a dinger! Promote Wicks! He’s ready!

As for the office, Chase Strumpf hit a home run, his seventh. He went 2-for-5 on the day as he bumped his OPS up to .865.

Mr. Consistency Strikes Again 

BJ Murray pushed on base streak to 28 games. He is now hitting .290 with a 1.003 OPS. He now has seven home runs on the year to go along with 25 runs driven in. He is really breaking out!

As for the Pelicans…

Jackson Ferris went two innings and did not allow a run. And the reason he only threw two innings was that he ran up a high pitch count, throwing 45, 23 of them for strikes. When he left the game it was 1 to 0, after Rafael Murrell head hit a home run. That would be about it for the night for Myrtle Beach. Miguel Fabrizio had two hits, and Morel had the other one. The bullpen, as we’ve talked about before, is riding the struggle bus to the stadium every day. Today I actually saw Malcolm Quintero, a catcher, finish up the game in the top of the ninth.