South Bend brings out the bats. The Smokies split a pair.
Some transactions today.
Outfielder Gilberto Celestino officially joined the Iowa Cubs
Catcher Caleb Knight moves up from Tennessee Smokies to Iowa.
With the Arizona Complex League now over, two players joined the Myrtle Beach Pelicans:
Infielder Eriandys Ramon
Right-handed pitcher Connor Schultz
And two ACL players were released:
Right-handed pitcher Garrett Brown
Right-handed pitcher Jackson Tetreault
Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs lost to Indianapolis (Pirates), 7-3.
Brandon Birdsell started and took the loss after he got rocked for four runs on eight hits over three innings. Birdsell walked one and struck out three.
Keegan Thompson threw a scoreless inning of relief in a rehab assignment. Thompson did not allow a hit while walking one and striking out one.
Catcher Bryce Windham was 3 for 4 with a double.
First baseman Jake Hager was 2 for 4 with one run scored.
Second baseman Fabian Pertuz was 2 for 4 with a double.
Center fielder Gilberto Celestino was 2 for 5 in his Cubs debut.
Tennessee Smokies
The Tennessee Smokies split a doubleheader by the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), losing game one 3-1 and winning game two 7-3.
Alex Troop started game one and took the loss after giving up three runs on four hits over five innings. All four hits and three runs came in the second inning. Otherwise, Troop retired the side in order in his other four innings. (He did walk a batter to lead off the fifth, but that runner was thrown out stealing.) Troop walked one and struck out two.
The Smokies had two hits in game one, both singles. The one run came in the bottom of the second inning when center fielder Christian Franklin walked with the bases loaded. Franklin was 0 for 2 with two walks.
Matthew Thompson pitched the first five innings of game two and surrendered three runs on four hits. One of the three runs was uneraned. Thompson struck out four and walked one.
Blake Whitney pitched the next 1.2 innings and got the win. Whitney allowed one run on three hits. He walked one, hit one batter and struck out one.
Blake Weiman got called in to get the final out of the bottom of the seventh. He struck out the only batter he faced for the save.
Third baseman Matt Shaw hit a two-run home run in the second inning, his 12th on the season. Shaw went 1 for 4.
Right fielder Felix Stevens chipped in his two-run home run of his own in th sixth inning. Stevens now has four home runs with the Smokies and seventeen overall. Stevens went 1 for 3.
Center fielder Christian Franklin was 3 for 4 with one run scored.
First baseman Haydn McGeary was 2 for 3 with an RBI double that scored Franklin in the bottom of the first inning. He scored on Stevens’s home run.
Shaw’s home run.
South Bend Cubs
The South Bend Cubs demoted the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinal), 8-4.
Ty Johnson did not allow a hit or a run over his three-inning start. Johnson did walk three—and balked twice—while striking out five.
The win went to Tyler Santana with two innings of relief. Santana allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit. He walked three and struck out three.
South Bend took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with a grand slam by first baseman Brian Kalmer. It was Kalmer’s ninth homer of 2024. Kalmer finished the game going 2 for 3 with a walk and five total runs batted in.
Shortstop Ed Howard was 2 for 4. He scored twice and drove in one.
Right fielder Parker Chavers was 2 for 4 with a stolen base. He scored twice.
Kalmer’s grand salami.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
The Pelicans game with Augusta was rained out. It will not be made up.
