Ben Brown – Pic by Iowa Cubs

There were three dazzling displays of starting pitching in today’s full season affiliate games.

Starting Pitcher of the Day 1

Ben Brown started off the festivities today with 5 innings of glorious pitching in Des Moines. He allowed just one hit and struck out 9.

Starting Pitcher of the Day 2

Brody McCullough had his best game at High-A South Bend going  4.1 scoreless frames with 7 Ks.

Starting Pitcher of the Day 3

Jackson Ferris also did well. He went 3.2 innings with 5 Ks as he gets more and more stretched out. He did allow one run on the night.

Dingers of the Day

The day began in Iowa with the I-Cubs pulling off a 7-1 win, their third in a row. Yonathan Perlaza went yard again but Nelson velazquez did most of the damage with a grand slam.

Meanwhile, a Second Matinee

The South Bends had one of their best games in a while as they shut out the West Michigan White Caps 5-0. After McCullough left, Adam Laskey, Frankie Scalzo, and Sheldon Reed continued the shut down on the White Caps. Kevin Alcantara went 3-for-3 before being lifted for a pinch runner in the sixth.

Heads Up Play of the Day

Note to all you kids out there. You can’t ump and play at the same time. PCA made the Braves pay.

Smokies Were Born to Comeback

They fell behind 2-0 only to come back and take a 3-2 lead only to fall behind 6-3. Then the Smokies got dingers from BJ Murray and the ultra-hot Cole Roederer to pull within one after five innings. Then, in the sixth, Luke Little was outstanding in 1.1 inning striking out 4.

In the seventh, PCA doubled to bring in a run then Pablo Aliendo gave the Smokies a two-run lead driving in Owen Caissie and Haydn McGeary.

Later Brailyn Marquez made his Double-A debut tonight. He had a 1-2-3 inning needing just 16 pitches to head to the stretch.

Unfortunately, the Braves tied things up in the top of the eighth, ironically at 8.

In the ninth, Cole Roederer was hit by a pitch again. Then, with two outs, Andy Weber singled, Levi Jordan got on after getting hit by a pitch. That meant the bases were juiced for Owen Caissie, who did what Owen Caissie does best. He walked it off for the win … when he was walked.

As for the Birds…

They fell behind 2-0 on just two hits by Columbia. The Pelicans bats were working, they just could not push any runs across despite 7 hits in the first five innings. The Birds got on the board in the sixth when Parker Chavers tripled and came around to score on a Cristian Hernandez sac fly. Unfortunately, the Fireflies expanded the lead in the top of the 8th. Hernandez hit a solo dinger in the 8th to close the gap back to 1 again. However, that was as close it got for the Pelicans as they lost 3-2.