DJ Herz – Picture by th eTennessee Smokies

I am not sure where to begin tonight. I attended the South Bend at Cedar Rapids game, and I am now sitting in a hotel room piecing together a recap of the days events. I got some good pictures which I’ll put out on Twitter in a little bit, but I wanted to get the Daily post done as soon as possible.

Plenty of Hits, Not Enough Runs

That pretty much describes what happened in Myrtle Beach tonight. The Pelicans pounded out 12 base hits as a Reivaj Garcia, Moises Ballesteros, Andy Garriola, Cristian Hernandez, and Jefferson Rojas all had two hits. But the Pelicans could only score 4 runs. Starting pitcher Grant Kipp was stymied by four errors despite striking out six in five innings. Although, he did give up two home runs but it was not enough to stop the Pelicans from losing 6 to 4.

Errors also do in South Bend

Unlike the Pelicans, the Cubs only could manage four hits and Jacob Wetzels two run homer could’ve been enough tonight had South Bend not committed for errors. Two of them came in the first inning and that allowed two runs to score. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids walked it off and the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2.

There are a few things I need to highlight since it’s the first time I’ve seen this team in person in three weeks.

1. Connor Noland looked fabulous going five innings and striking out two and getting a 10 ground ball outs and three flyball outs. Nobody really square dthem up as he only gave up two hits.

2. Kevin Made still continues to amaze me every time he plays shortstop. If he had the range of Luis, Vazquez, Made would be all world because he has a much better arm than anybody else in the system.

3. Adam Laskey threw the best inning I’ve ever seen him pitch striking out all three batters with a vicious curveball that righties coukd not do anything with.

Playing catch-up

Iowa and Indianapolis played a close game for about four innings before the Indians put up four runs in the fifth inning to make it 5 to 0. Iowa scored two in the fifth to cut the deficit, thanks to a Jared Young home run. Iowa would score again in the eighth on another Jared Young home run to make it 6 to 4. But they just could not complete the come back and fell 7 to 4.

I’m beginning to wonder just how much Young hast to do to catch the attention of the Bigley club because he is just dominating AAA the past three weeks,

DJ Dominates bu the Bullpen Falters

Our starting pitcher of the day is none other than DJ Her, who threw five innings and struck out nine inhis best start at Double-A. I really liked what he did in his last start before giving up a couple runs in the fifth, but tonight DJ just flat out shoved.

He got some help from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Luis Vazquez who both drove into runs. To be frank, both should be in Iowa as soon as Tennessee clinches a playoff spot.

When DJ left, he had a 5-0 lead. Three innings ater, the bullpen gave it back and then some as Birmingham won 7-6.

Mesa Side Note

Occaisionally, we will put something in the Daily about a Rookie League performance. Welp, Drew Gray went three scoreless, struck out 3 and allowed just hit. That’s a good performance that pushes Gray closer to Myrtle Beach. However, the side note is that Dom Hambley came in after Gray and thre threw 4 scoreless in the best outing of his young career since being drafted in 2021.

Player Pics of the Day

Today’s awards

Jared Young – Hitter of the Day

DJ Herz –  Starting Pitcher of the Day

Adam Laskey – Reliever of the Day

10-Year-Old Todd Pictures of the Day

This was just so cool!!!!!!!!!