Down on the Farm: Kane County Cougars win seventh in a row

Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

What’s going on Cubs fans? I hope everybody’s enjoying this cold and windy day (If you happen to live in the Midwest), or just today in general no matter where you live.

Now today, the Kane County Cougars were looking to win their seventh in a row. Kane County’s bats have been extremely hot, and their pitching has been absolutely superb. Now before we continue on with today’s recaps from around the Cubs’ farm system, let me catch you up with some final scores from yesterday.

Daytona Cubs fell to the Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays) by the score of 10-3. Kane County Cougars won their sixth in a row against the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays) as they took both games of the double header by the scores of 2-0, and 1-0.

The Iowa Cubs fell to the New Orleans Zephyrs (Miami Marlins) by the score of 8-4. Tennessee Smokies and the Jackson Generals (Seattle Mariners) were postponed due to the weather.

Well now that we’re caught up, we can move forward with tonight’s results. Let’s kick things off with the Kane County Cougars.

Taking the mound today for Cougars was right-handed pitcher Tyler Skulina. The Cougars were able to get on the board first during the top of the first inning after Ben Carhart struck out swinging. Jacob Hannemann picked up his sixth stolen base of the year by stealing home plate to give Kane County the 1-0 lead.

Nobody would be able to plate a run until the bottom of the sixth inning when Bowling Green was able to tie the ball game. Johnny Field (great baseball name) hit a sacrifice fly to center field, driving in teammate Pat Blair to make it 1-1. The Hot Rods would take a one run lead during the same inning off a wild pitch by Cougars pitcher Gerardo Concepcion to make it 2-1 Bowling Green.

Kane County would then rally during the top of the ninth inning when it looked like their winning streak was going to be snapped. David Bote kicked things off with an RBI single to right field to tie the ball game at 2-2. Danny Lockhart would follow that up with an RBI single of his own to make it 3-2 which was followed by another RBI single but this time from Shawon Dunston to make it 4-2.

The Cougars would continue to put balls in play as Trey Martin picked up an RBI double to left field to make it 5-2 Kane County during the top of the ninth. Carlos Penalver would help add another run to the scoreboard in Kane County’s favor after drawing a walk to make it 6-2.

Winning pitcher from today’s game is Tyler Bremer (1-0, 4.76 ERA), losing pitcher is Andrew Hanse (0-1, 9.95 ERA, BS 1).

Final Score: Cougars 6, Hot Rods 2.

Kane County wins their seventh in a row to improve to an impressive 10-3 start.

The Smokies had right-hander Jake Arrieta take the mound today, who has been having himself a brilliant 2014 season early on.

Tennessee would get on the board first during the bottom of the third inning off a sacrifice fly by John Andreoli to make it 1-0. Jae-Hoon Ha would pick up two RBI’s on a single to center field to make it 3-0 during the bottom of the fourth. The Smokies would continue to cushion their early lead during the bottom of the fourth. Jonathan Mota would pick up an RBI off a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0, which would lead to John Andreoli picking up two more RBI’s on the night.

Andreoli lined a single to right field to make it 6-0, still during the bottom of the fourth. Jackson would finally get on the board during the top of the fifth thanks to Mike Dowd, who floated a single to right field to make it 6-1. Rubi Silva would pick up another run for the Smokies during the bottom of the sixth off a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 7-1.

Jackson would pick up one more run during the top of the ninth off a single by Daniel Paolini to make it 7-2, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Winning pitcher is Arrieta (1-1, 0.73 ERA), losing pitcher is Trevor Miller (0-2, 7.30 ERA).

Final Score: Smokies 7, Generals 2.

Tennessee improves to 6-6 on the year.

The Iowa Cubs would send right-hander Kyle Hendricks to the mound in hopes of bouncing back from a terrible outing by the Cubs last night.

Iowa would get on the board first with two during the bottom of the first inning. Chris Coghlan would line a single to right field to make it 1-0, then Josh Vitters would pick up an RBI of his own on a double to left field to extend the lead to 2-0 early on. New Orleans would cut the lead down to one during the top of the second thanks to Juan Diaz. Diaz would record an RBI on a single to center field to make it 2-1.

Josh Rodriguez would help tie up the ball game for New Orleans after he was able to steal home. Zach Cox would then drive in Juan Diaz on a single to center field to make it 3-2 Zephyrs. Logan Watkins would tie the game at three a piece after taking the second pitch of his at-bat deep to center field for a home run. It was his first of the year. The Cubs took the lead during the bottom of the seventh inning off a two run triple by Arismendy Alcantara, making it 5-3 Cubs.

Josh Vitters would hit his second RBI double of the night during the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-3 Cubs. That’s all Iowa would need in order for them to pick up the victory.

Winning pitcher today is Hendricks (2-1, 4.82 ERA), loss was handed to Jesus Sanchez (0-2, 11.81 ERA).

Final Score: Cubs 6, Zephyrs 3.

Iowa improves to 7-6.