Owen Caissie – Picture by Todd Johnson

The ONKC Hitter of the Day award

Ironically, this goes to Owen Caissie of the Smokies who cranked two home runs and drove in four tonight. He went 3-for-5 on the night and is now hitting .281 with a .928 OPS for 2023. He’s20-years-old for 6 more weeks.

The Tennessee Hit Parade

The Smokies pounded out 15 hits today to go along with 12 runs. In addition to Caissie, Luis Vasquez, Nelson Maldonado, and Pablo Aliendo all left Smokies Stadium. That was more than enough runs for Jordan Wicks, who went six innings, allowed one run on a home run, and struck out four to lower his season ERA to 2.40. That’s a clear sign that he’s ready for Iowa.

The New Guys in Myrtle Beach Shine in 2-0 Win

Moreno Santy has gone from fantastic bullpen reliever to a pretty decent starter in no time. Tonight, he pitched 4.2 innings for the pelicans and struck out five and did not give up a run. He was relieved by Sterling Pichardo who had his second straight scoreless outing since coming up from Mesa. He went 2.1 innings with 4K‘s. Juan Mora continues to rake as he went 2-for-4 tonight and is hitting .372 since coming back from South Bend.

Reliever of the Day

But the star of the show in Myrtle Beach actually turned out to be Johzan Oquendo, who is making a case to get promoted to South Bend as he went two innings and struck out five of the six men he faced.

Iowa’s Big Offense Returns

After struggling for the past couple of weeks, Iowa’s offense came back to life, early and often against Nashville. Darius Hill, David Bote, Miguel Amaya, and Jared Young had multi hit games. Hayden Wesneski gave up three runs, one of which was earned, while Daniel Palencia made his AAA debut striking out two guys and walking one in one scoreless inning of relief.  The final score was Iowa 12, Nashville 5.

South Bend Falls Short

When you only get four hits on the day and commit three errors, your chances of winning go down to dramatically. Manny Espinoza threw four innings today. He struck out five and allowed one earned run. His ERA this month since returning from the IL is 0.69. However, with just four hits on the day, the Cubs lost 4-2 to Dayton.

The 3-Hit Club 

Ezekiel Pagan went 3-for-3 with a walk and for South Bend. He’s now hitting .412 at High-A.

At Tennessee, Andy Weber and Owen Caissie both had three hits on the day.

For Iowa, Jared Young, Miguel Amaya, Nelson Velazquez, and David Bote had three hits on the night.