Matt Shaw – Picture by Tennessee Smokies
Wearing Down
The end of the season is always tough. Players get worn down, there are injuries, it’s more about grinding it out and surviving than anything else.
For the Smokies, they have pretty much lead their division in the Southern League wire-to-wire this half. That lead is starting to shrink quickly. They can still get in the playoffs if they finish second to Chattanooga. But if Rocket City, who is 5.5 games back, catches them, the Smokies would be left out.
Today was another game for the Smokies against Biloxi who have had the Smokies’ number this week. Both teams had 10 hits today, but Tennessee only managed to score 3 runs as Biloxi put up 7. Half of Tennessee’s hits belonged to Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie. Shaw went 3-for-4 and Caissie went 2-for-3. But the death blow for today’s loss falls on the starting pitching as Chris Kachmar gave up five runs in the first.
For the Smokies, they still have a really good shot of getting in, especially since they play Rocket City in a six game set to end the season.
Woof!
That pretty much sums up what happened today with the Pelicans as they did not score and they gave up double digit runs. Not much to write home about there. But the Pelicans should be using this next week to get the rotation set up against Charleston. Guys may be pushed back a day or two, we may see both in days, and we may see you guys just get skipped this week.
The Other Cubs
For South Bend, today was a good sign is Michael Arias pitched better than he had in about a month. He went four innings and gave up just one run. That came on a solo shot. That was the best I’ve seen in pitch sense Beloit back in late June.
However, the offense just did not show up today. South Bend managed to only managed 4 hits.
The Iowa Cubs fell behind early as Riley Thompson gave up five runs in the second and third innings. However, Iowa slowly fought their way back in it. Brennen Davis went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Darius Hill also had 2 hits on the day.
