Last night we had terrible starting pitching throughout the system. Tonight we had great starting pitching everywhere. Go figure.
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs topped the Omaha Royals, 5-1.
Starter Casey Fossum gave up a home run to the second batter of the game and then shut the Royals down the rest of the way. Fossum went seven innings and allowed only five hits and one walk. (He did hit one batter too.) Fossum struck out five for his second win for the I-Cubs.
Bobby Scales was 2 for 3 with a double and a walk. Scales scored once and had two RBI. Third baseman Nate Spears was 2 for 3 with a triple. He scored once and had one RBI.
Shortstop Aaron Miles went 2 for 4 with a walk.
Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies were beaten by the Mississippi Braves, 2-1.
Hung-Wen Chen was the hard-luck loser tonight. Chen threw 6.2 innings and allowed two runs on eight hits. One of the runs allowed was unearned. Chen walked two and struck out four.
First baseman Blake Lalli had a double and an RBI single in a 3 for 4 game. Left fielder Ty Wright went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored.
Daytona Cubs
The Daytona Cubs shut down the Palm Beach Cardinals, 7-0.
Tonight's good pitching continued with Craig Muschko, who allowed only one hit in his five innings of work. Muschko didn't walk a batter and struck out five to improve his record to 5-1.
Third baseman Josh Vitters was 2 for 5 with a double. He scored twice and knocked one in.
I don't know what's going on with the PB Cardinals catching or pitching staffs, but the day after the Cubs stole eight bases, they stole another six bases tonight. The Cardinals used different catchers on the two nights, so it's not just one weak arm.
Center fielder Tony Campana was only 1 for 5, but he stole three bases and scored twice. Campana now has 38 stolen bases for Daytona, as well as 11 earlier in the season for Peoria. He was caught stealing once after getting picked off once. Left fielder Josh Harrison was 2 for 4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Harrison scored once.
Brandon Guyer had the other steal tonight. The right fielder was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. He also scored twice.
Peoria ChiefsThe Chiefs shut out the Lansing Lugnuts, 5-0.
Starter Justin Bristow turned in another great start for the Cubs tonight as he went six innings and gave up only four hits. Even more impressively, he struck out eight and didn't walk anyone.
Third baseman Jovan Rosa was 2 for 3 with a three-run home run. Rosa drove in all five runs tonight.
Center fielder Kyler Burke was 3 for 4 with a stolen base. Burke scored twice. First baseman Rebel Ridling went 2 for 4 with a stolen base and a run scored.
Boise Hawks
The Hawks polished off the Eugene Emeralds, 6-2.
He only pitched 2.1 innings, but since this is great starting pitching night, starter Jonathan Nagel didn't allow a hit and only walked one while striking out four. He did allow an unearned run though.
Andres Quezada picked up the win with 2.2 shutout innings of relief.
Second baseman Logan Wakins had two doubles in a 2 for 5 night. He also had two RBI. Center fielder Jose Valdez was 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored. Third baseman Greg Rohan was 2 for 5 with a double and two RBI
AZL Cubs