Kohl Franklin – Picture by Tennessee Smokies

It has been a strange two days, but I will get you caught up on the last two night’s of action.

Tennessee played on Monday, but was off today, and they were the only Cubs affiliate to play Monday. The Smokies put on a display with their bats as they romped to a 10-1 victory over second place Chattanooga. The Smokies rattled off 13 hits and Chase Strumpf had one of his best games of the year going 2-for-4 with 4 RBI to get the Hitter of the Day nod. BJ Murray had 3 hits while PCA and Andy Weber had 2 hits. And today, Strumpf was finally promoted to Iowa.

However, the starting pitcher of the past two nights was Kohl Franklin. The lanky right-hander went 5 scoreless in striking out 5. He allowed just one hit. He put up a 3.42 ERA for the month between South Bend and Tennessee. Take away one start where he gave up 6 runs in 4 innings and you have a guy who would have gone 19.2 IP with an ERA of 1.37 for May. I am pumped to see how he does in June!

As for Tuesday’s Action…

Heading into Tuesday night, the South Bend Cubs had lost five games in a row. The offense had struggled quite a bit despite some solid starting pitching. Tonight, Manny Espinoza got some support in the top of the first with 2 runs. Espinoza lasted only 3 innings and gave up one run. He was relieved by Tyler Santana who quickly gave up two runs to gave Fort Wayne the lead. However, Santana settled down and the Cubs got back in the game and took the lead on a Jacob Wetzel double in the sixth. Kevin Made and Bryce Ball both had two hit nights. The Cubs would continue adding on in the seventh and eighth to build an 11-3 lead. The Cubs then hung on to win 11-8.

In Myrtle Beach, it was a pitcher’s duel between Grant Kipp who went 6 innings and allowed just 1 run. He also struck out 8. I’d say he’s ready for High-A. The game went to extras with each team scoring a run in the tenth to make it 2-2.

As for Iowa….

The Cubs game was suspended in the top of the 4th with Columbus leading 2-1. It will be completed tomorrow as a seven inning affair.