Down on the Farm: Javier Baez, Iowa Cubs win in extras

Mar 18, 2014; Surprise, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs shortstop

(70) follows through on a swing against the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

What’s going on Chicago Cubs fans? I hope everybody is enjoying their Tuesday. Now we’re coming off a huge day yesterday provided by our big league club who absolutely poured it on the St. Louis Cardinals. Good thing that game was not stopped due to the weather, because the Midwest was picked apart by a massive storm. Weather is besides the point, but it was great to see our offense put some solid hits together. We can only hope that they keep it going.

With our big league club pounding the life out of the Cardinals pitching staff, our guys ‘Down on the Farm’ took the field. Four out of the five teams were able to get a game in last night. The hot topic over the last couple of days has been top prospects Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler. Bryant has been tearing the cover off the ball as he’s currently hitting .321/.426/.606 across the line with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. Soler who just recently came back from the disabled list has seven hits which six of those are doubles with seven RBI’s.

He’s currently hitting .412/.500/.765 in only five games this season. We may be struggling in the Majors, but we all have to feel good about what’s going on within our system. With these two prospects already highlighted, let’s see if they were able to make some noise during last night’s contests.

Iowa 2 – Nashville 1 (F/10)

We’ll go ahead and start off with the Iowa Cubs who continued their series against the Nashville Sounds.

Shortstop Javier Baez came up to the plate during the bottom of the 10th inning after Matt Szczur and Logan Watkins were able to string together a couple hits with only one out. Baez drive the 3-2 pitch to center field to plate the winning run in walk-off fashion, finishing the night 1-for-5 with the game-winner and two strikeouts.

There was not much scoring throughout the game as the Cubs trailed 1-0 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Lars Anderson came through with a much-needed game-tying solo home run to right field. It was Anderson’s second home run of the season which handed Donovan Hand a blown save. Anderson finished the game 1-3 with his lone hit being the aforementioned homer.

Iowa starting pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada put together another beautiful outing despite giving up a solo home during the top of the second. Wada worked through seven innings, giving up six hits and walking three, but striking out eight. He’s been able to sit down opposing hitters as he’s tallied 46 this season. Wada finished with a career-high 80 strikeouts last season.

The winning pitcher is Eduardo Figueroa (1-0, 1.86 ERA) and the losing pitcher is Donovan Hand (1-5, 3.69 ERA, 2 BS).

The Iowa Cubs improve to 20-15 on the year.

Generals 8 – Smokies 6 

After bouncing back from an early deficit, the Tennessee Smokies allowed the Jackson Generals to rally late, in a high-powered battle of offenses Monday night.

Tennessee put up a huge five spot during the top of the fourth inning after trailing the game by the score of 3-1. Rafael Lopez gave Tennessee the 4-3 lead with a three-run shot to right field, his third on the season, plating Stephen Bruno and Kris Bryant in the process. The Smokies continued the inning with an RBI single by Jae-Hoon Ha which was followed up by a two out, RBI double by Jeudy Valdez that made it 5-3 Tennessee,

Starting pitcher Dae-Eun Rhee worked through six innings today – giving up five hits, four runs (three earned) while issuing two walks and striking out three. Rhee was in line for his third win of the season, but the Generals decided to play spoiler. Reliever Austin Kirk entered the game to replace Rhee and was absolutely hammered by opposing hitters which resulted in a blown save opportunity.

The Generals would score five unanswered runs during the final innings of the game which was capped off by a two-run shot by Mike Dowd. The homer, his first of the season, made it an 8-6 ballgame during the bottom of the eighth. Tennessee bats would not respond during the top of the ninth.

The winning pitcher is Trevor Miller (2-4, 3.98 ERA) and the losing pitcher is Austin Kirk (1-1, 4.20 ERA, 1 BS).

Tennessee Smokies fall to 22-16.

Snappers 6 – Cougars 1

Last, but not least, we have the dominant Kane County Cougars taking on the Beloit Snappers. Well they were red hot before last night’s game, but were completely off their rocker during this contest.

Kane County has found ways to pour it on opposing teams but this wasn’t the case last night. The Cougars took a 1-0 lead during the top of the second inning thanks to Will Remillard. Remillard recorded his 10th double of the season which would drive in Jacob Rogers. Starting pitcher Tyler Skulina worked through five innings tonight as he gave up five hits and four earned runs while striking out seven. Michael Wagner replaced him on the mound but things didn’t quite work out that well for him either.

Wagner finished the rest of the game but was charged with two earned runs on five hits. Their counterparts – Bobby Wahl, Brent Powers and Andres Avila would combine for nine innings of work, three hits, one earned run and five strikeouts.

B.J. Boyd tallied the final runs of the ball game for the Snappers, hitting a three-run home run to left center. It was his third on the year which made it 6-1 Beloit.

The winning pitcher is Brent Powers (2-1, 4.76 ERA) and the losing pitcher is Tyler Skulina (1-1, 3.86 ERA).

The Kane County Cougars fall to 26-11.