Jonathan Long – Picture by Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Day one of the heat wave here in northern Illinois is over and we have one more day left for high temps. We will return to normal on Friday. As for baseball today, things got started in the afternoon as Iowa had a matinee.

Canario Is Back!

Today, the toolsy outfielder the Cubs acquired in the Kris Bryant trade, went 3-for4 with a home run and two RBI. The I-Cubs lost 9 to 4, but Canario looks like he is finally 100% after his horrific double injury early last fall in the Dominican. In August, the power returned. He’s hitting .288 with four home runs and 19 RBI. That RBI total is otherworldly. His OPS this month is .896. 

A Hot August Night in South Bend

James Triantos got South Bend going with two RBI singles. Connor Noland was dealing through 4 innings as he had 8 Ks while allowing just two runs. In the top of the fifth, A couple of Ethan Hearn errors opened the floodgate for the Kernels to take the lead. The Cubs never caught back up losing 8-4.

Web Gem of the Day

Starting Pitcher of the Day

Cade Horton might not be in Tennessee much. Tonight was not a dominant night where he had 10 Ks. Yet, Horton pitched very well this evening. Horton threw 76 pitches over five innings and struck out 6 while giving up two hits. He did not allow any runs as he lowered his Double-A ERA to 1.00 over 4 starts. Yup, he could go to Iowa at any time. Whether he will is a different story.

As for the rest of the Smokies, they strung together hit after hit after hit after hit tonight.in the second, third, and fourth innings. Haydn McGeary had 3 more RBI on the night as he now leads the system in RBI with 83.

The Smokies finally won 8-4.

Comeback of the Day and Dinger of the Day

The Pelicans got a really good start from Jackson Ferris tonight. He went four innings, gave up 1 run and struck out five. It was 1-1 when Ferris left. The Cannon Ballers scored a run in the sixth to make it 2-1. That lead held until the bottom of the ninth when, ironically, ninth round pick Jonathan Long cranked out a walk off home run with Brian Kalmer aboard as the Pelicans won 3-2.

I will be back in the morning with a draft pick profile on Grayson Moore.