Moises Ballesteros – Picture by Stephanie Lynn
Tonight was a rare night.
All four games were close. While Myrtle Beach did jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first, Augusta quickly caught up and would go on to win 11-8. South Bend got off to an early lead only to lose that lead as they lost 4-2. While Tennessee and Rocket City played a nip and tuck game the whole way, the game ended up in extra innings with Rocket City winning in 10, 5-4. After a Yonathan Perlaza leadoff homer, St. Paul dominated the game until Jake Slaughter tied it in the ninth with a bases loaded ground rule double. Then Sergio Alcantara hit a two-run single to give the Cubs win at 7-5. Cam Sanders was the G.O.A.T. with three scoreless frames for the win.
Dingers of the Day
Scott McKeon also hit a 3 run homer for his first hit at Tennessee.
Pitcher of the Day
Cam Sanders got it done! 3 innings, 5 Ks, 1 BB, 1 hit, for his best outing in over a month. I wonder if he puts him back on the radar? More than likely, He will need some more consistent outings to get Chicago’s attention, but tonight helped.
Stat of the Day
It is clear he is just about ready to head to South Bend based on his home/away splits. Then again, nobody said it would be easy but Ballesteros has three dingers just the past 4 days. He is thriving outside of Myrtle Beach. Time to make that a permanent thing.
Tweet of the Day
This tweet is a good reminder that things can change greatly.
This month, Alcantara is hitting .462 since coming back after missing some games with a soft tissue injury. Know this, Alcantara is recognizing offspeed pitches much more now than earlier in the year. Back when South Bend played Beloit, all he saw were curveballs and they ate him up. Now….not so much. Guys improve at different rates. Sometimes, when it does click, they just take off. We may be seeing Alcantara take another step in his development over the next few weeks. I will investigate next week in Cedar Rapids for you.
I will be back in the morning with some IFA news.
