Boy, I could play the Mets every day.
The Smokies put on quite a show tonight with Tom and Laura Ricketts at the game. The Ricketts saw Daytona play yesterday. The D-Cubs are pretty good themselves.
Iowa Cubs
The one place where the Cubs aren't winning is in Iowa, where the I-Cubs were beaten by the Las Vegas 51s (Blue Jays), 4-1.
Starter Robert Coello got the loss. He gave up four runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings. He walked five and struck out four.
The good news was that Marcos Mateo pitched 3.2 perfect innings of relief tonight. Mateo struck out four.
Right fielder Brad Snyder was 2 for 4 with his seventh home run of the season. The solo blast came in the fourth inning.
Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies scored five in the fourth inning and five in the fifth to chop the Mississippi Braves, 10-5. The Smokies have now won eight straight.
Starting pitcher Alberto Cabrera improved his record to 6-2 by going seven innings and allowing three runs on six hits. Cabrera had a shutout through six innings before he allowed a three-run home run in the seventh. Cabrera walked three and struck out four.
Marco Carrillo pitched around two errors in the ninth inning to get his third save. Carrillo pitched 1.1 innings and did not allow a hit or a walk. He also did not strike out any Braves.
The Smokies teed off on Randall Delgado, ranked as the #3 prospect in the Braves system by Baseball America this past off-season. He'd been having a strong season this year too, before he allowed ten runs in 4.1 innings tonight.
The Smokies hit three home runs off Delgado. The first was by second baseman Ryan Flaherty, who clubbed his eleventh home run with a man on in the fourth inning. Flaherty was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice. Flaherty's 48 RBI leads the Southern League.
The second homer was another two run home run by right fielder Nelson Perez. It was his first home run for Tennessee and his fifth home run overall. Perez was 2 for 4.
Center fielder Jae-Hoon Ha connected for the final home run of the night, a solo shot in the fifth inning. It was also Ha's first Southern League home run and seventh overall. Ha was 2 for 5
Left fielder Matt Spencer went 2 for 5 with an RBI triple. He scored twice. Catcher Blake Lalli went 2 for 3 with a double and a sac fly. He had two RBI and he scored once.
The Smokies have a Southern League-best record of 30-16.
Daytona CubsJake Opitz hit a two-run walk-off home run as the Daytona Cubs came from behind to stun the St. Lucie Mets, 9-7.
Starter Brett Wallach pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three runs on two hits. Wallach walked four and struck out three.
Juan Serrano pitched the eighth and ninth inning and collected the win. He did not allow a hit or a walk, but he did hit one batter in each inning. Serrano struck out one batter.
Besides hitting the game-winning home run, third baseman Opitz was 2 for 4 with a double and four RBI.
Shortstop Junior Lake hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the game up at seven. Overall, he went 3 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored. He also stole a base. Lake has five home runs and 18 steals so far this season.
The first home run of the day for Daytona was hit by (who else?) first baseman Justin Bour. The solo home run in the seventh inning was his 12th already this season. Bour went 3 for 4 with two RBI.
Daytona has now won seven in a row and have a best-in-baseball record of 34-12
Peoria Chiefs
The Chiefs winning streak came to an end as they were snake-bit by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers) 10-2 in a game that had a rain delay of over an hour.
Su-Ming Jung got hit early and hard tonight as he gave up nine runs on ten hits over 3.2 innings. Jung walked one and struck out three.
Third baseman Greg Rohan was 2 for 4. First baseman Richard Jones went 2 for 3 with a walk.