Minor League Wrap--April 9

For those of you who haven't had enough baseball today.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs dropped one to the Albuquerque Isotopes, 2-1, in Des Moines tonight.

All the scoring in tonight's game took place in the sixth inning.  Iowa starter Mike Burns went four innings and surrendered three hits and a walk.  He struck out three.  He was relieved by, I'm sorry to say, Les Walrond, who took the loss.  Walrond gave up two singles in the fifth inning and escaped with no damage done, but wasn't so lucky in the sixth.  A single, a double and an error by third baseman Bobby Scales, all with two outs, led to two runs, one of which was earned.  Walrond's line on the night was two innings, four hits, two runs (one earned) while striking out three and walking no one.

Andy Cavazos, Carmen Pignatiello and Jose Ascanio finished out the game for Iowa.  Ascanio struck out two and gave up a lone double in his inning of work.

Jake Fox was the entire offense for the Cubs tonight, as he hit a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth.  It was Fox's only hit in four trips to the plate.   The rest of the night, Isotope pitchers scattered seven singles and a walk.  Matt Murton, Bobby Scales and JD Closser all went 2 for 4.  Eric Patterson stole a base.

Tennessee Smokies

The Smokies scoring woes continue as they lost to the Jacksonville Suns, 4-1.

Justin Berg was the hard-luck starter who pitched well but got tagged with the loss anyway.  Berg went 6.1 innings and surrendered two runs on six hits and a walk.  He struck out two.  Rocky Roquet struggled in relief.  He surrendered two runs on three hits in two thirds of an inning.  Ed Campusano threw a scoreless ninth.

Catcher Chris Robinson went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI.  Third baseman Kyle Reynolds went 1 for 4 with a double an a run scored.  Tyler Colvin went 0 for 2 to drop his average on the young season to .136.  The good news, however, was that he walked twice.

Daytona Cubs

The Cubs continued to show themselves to be the class of the minor league system as they downed the Palm Beach Cardinals, 7-4.

The "Jose Ceda as a starter" experiment didn't work a second time.  Ceda went three innings and gave up two runs on three hits and four walks.  The good news is that he's still blowing batters away as he struck out five.

Marco Carillo made the case that he and Ceda should be changing roles.  Carillo got the win with four strong innings of relief.  He gave up one run on two hits while striking out five and walking nobody.  Casey Lambert got his second save of the year by striking out the final batter when reliever Dumas Garcia got in trouble in the ninth inning.

First baseman Russ Canzler went 1 for 4 with with a double and 3 RBI.  Left fielder Yusuf Carter went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.  Second baseman Tony Thomas cooled off with "only" a 1 for 4, but he also made his second error of the young season.

Peoria Chiefs

The Chiefs split a double-header with the Beloit Snappers, losing the first game 1-0 and taking the second one by a score of 4-1.

In the first game, Ryan Acosta took the loss by giving up the only run on a solo home run.  He went three innings and allowed four hits and two walks.  He struck out four.

Audy Santana and Marcos Mateo each pitched two scoreless innings of relief.  

The Chiefs had three hits in the first game.

In the second game, the Chiefs got their second dominating start from Dae-Eun Rhee.  Rhee went five innings and gave up the one run on three hits.  He struck out seven and walked no one.  A few more outings like the last two and Rhee may get to enjoy the pristine beaches of Daytona Beach sooner rather than later.  It's only after two professional starts, but his stock has got to be rising.

Dustin Sasser threw two innings of scoreless relief to record the save.

The Chiefs only got five hits in the nightcap, but they made them count along with two walks and two Beloit errors.  The big stick in the game was right fielder Cliff Andersen, who hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning.  That was Andersen's only hit in three ABs.  Shortstop Marwin Gonzalez went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.

The Snapper catcher must have a weak arm, because the Chiefs stole five bases in the seven inning game, including two by Chief catcher Josh Donaldson.

The best news is that the Chiefs only made two errors in the double-header, which is real progress for them.