OVERALL: Cub farm teams have gone a combined 115-105 this year for a
.523 winning percentage, 10th highest of the 30 Major League clubs.
Iowa Notes
Iowa (23-33, 6.5 GB) dropped their fifth in a row, 7-6 at Memphis. As
usual, few positives could be taken from the loss. Ronny Cedeno extended his
hitting streak to six games and continues to hit well with a .380 average,
and David Kelton launched his sixth home run. Aside from that, veteran
Calvin Murray led the way with three hits and a stolen base, his sixth of
the year. Trenidad Hubbard also homered, and Nate Frese recorded just his
fourth multi-hit game of the season.
Ryan O’Malley (3-1) allowed a season-high six runs on nine hits in five
innings for his first loss since last September. He has given up nine runs
and 19 hits in his last two starts at Iowa.
West Tenn Notes
West Tenn (38-18, 1st place) fell 4-2 at Carolina as their lead over the
Mudcats in the Southern League East shrunk to a half-game. David Aardsma,
temporarily in the starting rotation, allowed two runs on five hits over six
innings. He got a no-decision, as Jon Searles (2-1) served up the
game-winning runs in the eighth inning for his first loss of the year.
Jose Reyes provided the Jaxx only runs in a hitless night at the plate.
Brandon Sing started back-to-back games in the outfield for the first time
this year and managed to go hitless in four at-bats. In doing so, his
average dipped below .300 for the first time since April 22. Sing still
leads the league with a .607 slugging percentage through 50 games.
Daytona Notes
Daytona (26-26, 4.5 GB) split a doubleheader with Brevard, losing 2-1 and
winning 10-1, respectively. Starters Sean Marshall
and Nate Sevier were both effective. Marshall (4-3) tossed a seven-inning
complete game in game one but picked up the loss. It was his first complete
game since May 11 of last year while at Lansing. Left-handed hitters have
still yet to score on him this season in 12 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old
Sevier pitched five innings in game two of the doubleheader, easily his
longest outing to date in a mostly bullpen-confined season so far.
On offense, Brian Dopirak’s slide continued. He went a combined
0-for-5 in Saturday’s doubleheader, as his average fell to .235. Twenty-nine
of his 46 base hits this year have come with nobody on base. Dopirak is
batting just .191 with runners on base and .087 (2-for-23) with RISP/2 outs.
Those struggles do not apply to suddenly red-hot J.J. Johnson, who is
8-for-11 in his last four games and batting a season-best .296. Johnson was
the Cubs’ top hitter in May with a .323 average for the month.
Scott Moore also continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-6 and stealing
his 11th base. Entering the year, the 2002 first round pick by Detroit had
amassed just five stolen bases in his minor league career. He currently has
a season best six-game hitting streak, his longest since June of last year.
Peoria Notes
Peoria (28-28, 4 GB) evened their record again, routing Lansing 9-1.
Starter Lee Gwaltney made it two straight starts without an earned run,
allowing just two hits over seven innings. The right-hander has a 1.49 ERA
over his last four starts. Gwaltney (4-1) began the year averaging just four
innings in his first three starts, but has since gone six innings or more in
all but two of his last seven outings. He improved to 3-0 in home games on
Saturday night.
CF Sam Fuld is starting to heat up. He recorded three hits for just the
third time this season and is 5-for-11 with two doubles in his last three
games. The 2004 10th round pick out of Stanford is batting .238—his best
average since game No. 3 of the season.
Bo Flowers also picked up three hits to tie a season-high for one
game, but the strikeout totals only keep adding up. Flowers, who leads the
team with 45 strikeouts, is off to a 5-for-13 start in June after batting
.266 through May 31. However, he has whiffed at least once in each of his
last seven games, and 15 of his last 16 overall.
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