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Carolina - Columbia game called. Final in 8 innings. So an official loss. So we got Az Crew and Biloxi as the only hopes for a night time win. (One early DSl win and the huge hold ‘em off afternoon win at Wrigley )

Yay. Frieder Rojas. Gets a single. No more no hitter😉

Shuckers get the lead. 3-2 after a Restituyo sac fly. Vargas grounds out to end the threat. Meanwhile Renz has a HBP but still nothing else after the 1st inning. Nice job through 4 IP. But the position players are still being no hit. You know a no hitter game, where no hit balls result in a base runner. (Let’s jinx it here)

Well the shuckers heard the call. 5 straight have reached, and an Ethan Murray single gets two runs in. Tie game. Shuck yeah. Nashville - Dunn singles, but Vaughn is struggling after his amazing first Sounds start, and GIDP, Dalbec then Ks. I Cubs beat them 6-1 Az Crew are being no hit so far through 3.5 innings.

Nashville was playing without Mitchell, Quero or Seigler in the line up which will hamper the offense Biloxi kept Wilken, Warren and Spain on the bench. That will quiet the bats there as well. Hunt in fact lifted after a difficult 3rd inning. Petersen came in and retired the side. Still 2-0 Smokies. Nashville in the 9th and down 6-1. Renz with a better 2nd inning. But the bats quiet again - Perkins draws his 2nd wall. Trailing 2-0 going to bottom of 3. Rain delay still in Carolina.

My kingdom for a hit or run. The combined offense of all affiliates except for the DSL Blue Crew is 7 runs and 14 hits for Nashville(still playing), Biloxi (still playing), Wisconsin, Carolina (8ty inning rain delay), and ACL Brewers (still playing in 2nd inning only). ‘So a lot of time to find offense, but it is really really slow going tonight. And at risk of losing 3 of 4 to Cubs team (but the 1 win so far is the most important one) but still I want to be greedy- I mean 4–0 isn’t too much to ask 😉

Hunt trying to recover. A beautiful cutter and it’s called ball 3, then next pitch another cutter and he gets the swinging strike on pitch #75. Nice job of working out of that jam. But hits/walks and long innings keep KC from repeating his magical ‘24 season. Still nice job of getting yourself out of that jam, if not for the error it could have been only 1 run in. Elvis is in the building in Nashville and the I Cubs are threatening to add to their 4-1 lead.

Huge pitch. Pretty cutter and Hunt Ks the 2nd out. He’s about at 75 pitches in the 3rd. Gotta think he may out now if he gives up a hit or run, but maybe out next inning with that pitch count.

Adams misplays a grounder and a run scores. Hunt still with 1 out and sees Smokies at every base. C’mon KC let’s get some ‘24 KC Hunt Bulldog magic starting right here!

Mighty Burke goes down swinging. Dang it. Whitecaps clinch division with their win. They are a really really good club. Impressed with what I saw. Sounds in the board after Vaughn triple and Dalbec single. Alright let’s get some more hits and runs. Hunt was trying to be the bright spot tonight, but runs into trouble in the 3rd with three hits allowed and gives up a run only with one out and 2 runners on Meanwhile - the Az Cubs are winning too making my blood boil I mean at least the big Cubs team lost. Baby brew down 2-0 after first inning, Renz on the mound. Hunt now walks the bases loaded this season is a tough one for him. Hits and walks aplenty.

Yoho 21 pitches , 19 strikes. 6 up and 6 down in 2 innings of relief. So that’s a good sign. In West Michigan. Areinamo grounds out and it’s 17 straight outs. Yikes. Dinges strikes out Dinges. Wow. 19 straight. Up to Burke - you’re our only hope….

Yoho in for the Sounds and a hard hit ball right at him, may have hit his abdomen. He got the ball to first for the out. A few practice pitches in front of the trainer, and he’s ok to stay in and Ks Cantrelle. Meanwhile TRats will have to wake up in the 9th when they are up. No base runners since the 3rd inning!! 4th inning on they have retired 16 straight times . Oh boy.. ‘Yoho recovers and gets a nice defensive play by Olivia in right center. It’s a clean 6th inning for Craig.

Rains could thwart any Mudcat comeback. It’s top of 8 and sounds like it’s hard rain. Umps are talking and may call it - yup its a rain delay now. in Nashville maciejewski gives up a single, but gets a ground out next. Still 4-0 Bad guys, and Nashville with only 1 hit on offense. Trats still down, and the offense is only Dinges (2 hits) and Areinamo (1 hit). Gotta do more than that to win. Let’s see if some late game magic can be summoned.

Henderson out at 74 pitches. He went 4.2 IP 7K but 7H, and allowed 4 runs and has a runner on first who he is responsible for. I’m not watching so hoping it was a pitch count thing and not any other concerns with Logan. Maciejewski is in now. TRats still trail now 5-2.

A sac fly gets the Mudcats a run back. Then with Ordonez at bat with a chance to try to get some runs back, but no Holguin gets picked off 2nd by the catcher. Ugh.

A sac fly scores that runner. So two runs allowed by Ordonez. Then a good grab by Holguin, but he doesn’t make a great throw, but I also think Bitonti could have scooped it, error on Holguin in what was a poor throw, but not awful. Ugh inning still goes on Well Ordonez make up for to with a good throw to get the runner trying to steal 3rd. Ok. Baby steps.

Not a great couple of innings by Ordonez as I have seen him drop 2 pitches, and one wild pitch he didn’t block allowing the runner to get to first. Two errors on throws to 2nd base. He will need some work behind the plate but has some offense in him and still young. But tonight may be a night to forget.

Bitonti had a HR earlier in the game. But his last at bat he was just lost. Swinging way over change ups. He wanted to hit a HR on those pitches. He has the raw power tools, and will punish mistakes, but just looks unsure in many at bats. Henderson running into more trouble on the 3rd, as a contractually obligated Cubs win somewhere seems to be in progress. It’s 3-0 deficits and two men (on 2nd/3rd).

Phew. Rivera strikes out Um with bases juiced. Nice breaking ball and Um swings and misses. Nice recovery Bryan. Maybe the offense can come alive and return the favor with a late inning rally and come from behind win?

Game may be getting out of hand soon in Zebulon. 5-2 deficit and the 5th run scored on a single (after lead off man was HBP then picked off), and error on catcher and CF on SB attempt the runner scores. Must haven’t gotten to Rivera as he went walk-hit-walk including a pitch clock violation.

As I was writing that - McGonigle goes hard and TRats early 2– lead is now a 4-2 deficit. Whitecaps have 3 top prospects in that order and a few others who are playing well solid team.

Henderson with a rough start so far - 3 hits (2 HR), a walk through 1.2 IP. I-Cubs up 2-0 The Whitecaps tie the TRats 2-2. Flores gave up a HR to 20-year old C/DH J. Briceno, who has a 1.032 OPS this year in high A. Wow. Tigers #4 prospect, and two other prospects are on this Whitecaps team in Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle. Pretty stacked offense at the top.

Anderson hit the ball hard and deep just inside the foul pole, its 4-2 deficit. But this is why we dream on Jose Anderson still…

Impressive for Dinges. He has 85 AB in low A and high A and his stats are similar, except for way more walks in Carolina. Car: .353/.500/.576, 21BB:14K Wis: .333/.385/.536, 9BB:17K coming into tonight, so the average and slugging ticked up slightly in that at bat.

I think he is going through the expected growing pains you would expect from a kid who would be a HS player right now, who is spending his first year in the States. Aggressive promotion, but he was excelling in the Complex as noted. He is overmatched, and will either adjust this year and could be a second half break out player, or he may continue to struggle this year and hope to work on those aspects (pitch recognition for example) in the offseason. He is a good player as noted by his early ACL success, being highlighted in the Prospect Showcase game, but he is also not at the same level as Made, Pena, and even Lara or Yophery yet. I have been trying to figure this one out too. I wonder if it is that they want him to log more innings on a more regular basis so reliever in a pseudo-piggyback role. I don't recall another prospect doing that recently, and I would have to look at his actual games last year in the ACL and see if the first innings were a problem for him, or if it an issue facing batters the 2nd time around, and they are trying to build him up for success now, and then test him more later. If they viewed him as only a reliever he is not getting typical reliever outings as noted. And it would odd for a draft HS pitcher to be relegated to just a middle/long reliever at such a low level so early in his career. I suspect there is a plan, and I would hope he will be tried as a starter this year or next.