Travis Wood Cracks Nuts at Fitch Park

Travis Wood threw five innings of shutout ball with eight strikeouts, Steve Bruno singled and doubled, scored a run, and drove-in another, and Wes Darvill tripled, walked twice, drove-in a run, and scored a run, leading the Daytona Cubs to a 5-1 victory over the Modesto Nuts (Colorado Rockies Hi-A affiliate) on Field #3, and Gioskar Amaya singled, doubled, tripled, and scored three runs, Marco Hernandez drove-in two runs with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, and Rony Rodriguez slugged a solo home run over the LF fence and onto Center Street, as the Kane County Cougars and the Asheville Tourists (Rockies Lo-A affiliate) played to a ten-inning 6-6 tie on Field #2, in Cactus League Minor League Camp action this afternoon at Fitch Park in Mesa, AZ.

Since the Cubs had the day off, Travis Wood took a ride down Center Street to Fitch Park and got his scheduled work in a minor league game. And Wood was outstanding, too, throwing five innings (81 pitches) of three-hit shutout ball with eight strikeouts. And when he wasn't punching-out opposing hitters, he was getting lots of ground balls (7/0 GO/FO). In addition to surrendering three hits (a double and two singles), Wood also issued two walks. He had one high-pitch inning (the 25-pitch 2nd), but he also struck out the side in that inning.

Micah Gibbs (considered to be the Cubs best receiver) was left behind at Fitch Park to be Wood's catcher (Gibbs is presently assigned to the Iowa squad, and the I-Cubs had a road game today).

Also, AA Tennessee RHP Eduardo Figueroa threw two innings in the Kane County game.

Cub brass (Epstein, Hoyer, Bush, et al) was in attendance at Fitch Park today, too (probably because Travis Wood was throwing there), and they got a good look at some of the Cubs youngsters as well.

As usual, players from the Boise/Mesa squad (which will eventually be the Extended Spring Training squad) provided most of the mid-game replacements for Kane County and Daytona, after completing their mid-day workout on Field #4.

1B Jose Dore (acquired from SD yesterday for a PTBNL or cash) made his Cub debut on Field #2, going 0-1 with a fly out. He also committed a costly fielding error at 1st base that led to two unearned runs scoring, and allowed the Tourists to tie the game after trailing 6-1 at one point.

Here are the abridged box scores from the two games (Cubs players only):

FITCH PARK FIELD #2

KANE COUNTY LINEUP:
1. Trey Martin, CF: 0-4 (K, K, K, HBP, 5-3)
2a. Gioskar Amaya, 2B: 3-3 (2B, 3B, 1B, 3 R)
2b. Danny Lockhart, 2B: 1-2 (4-6-3 DP, 3B)
3a. Marco Hernandez, SS: 1-2 (1B, F-8 SF, 4-3, 2 RBI, CS)
3b. Jeffrey Baez, LF: 0-2 (5-3, P-4)
4a. Rock Shoulders, 1B: 1-3 (4-3, 2B, K)
4b. Jose Dore, 1B: 0-1 (F-9)
5a. Yasiel Balaguert, RF: 1-3 (K, 6-3, 2B, R, RBI)
5b. Garrett Schlecht, RF: 0-1 (K)
6. Ben Carhart, 3B: 1-3 (HBP, F-8, 2B, 4-3, RBI)
7. Rony Rodriguez, DH: 1-3 (BB, HR, F-9, K, R, RBI)
8a. Dong-Yub Kim, LF: 1-3 (K, 3B, F-7, R)
8b. Carlos Penalver, SS: 0-1 (K)
9a. Wilfredo Petit, C: 0-1 (4-3, F-9 SF, RBI)
9b. Erick Castillo, C: 0-1 (BB, L-6)

KANE COUNTY PITCHERS:
1. Brian Smith: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 17 pitches (13 strikes), 2/2 GO/FO
2. Loiger Padron: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 33 pitches (17 strikes), 2/3 GO/FO
3. Eduardo Figueroa: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, 27 pitches (17 strikes), 4/0 GO/FO
4. Carlos Martinez: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 39 pitches (24 strikes), 5/1 GO/FO
5. Matt Iannazzo: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 22 pitches (12 strikes), 3/2 GO/FO

KANE COUNTY ERRORS: 3
1. C Wilfredo Petit - E-2 - overthrow on stolen base attempt at 2nd base allowed baserunner to advance to 3rd
2. 3B Ben Carhart - E-5 - fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely
3. 1B Jose Dore - E-3 - fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely and unearned run to score

KANE COUNTY CATCHERS DEFENSE:
1. Wilfredo Petit: 1-2 CS, 1 E (see above)
2. Erick Castillo: 1-4 CS

FITCH PARK FIELD #3

DAYTONA LINEUP:
1a. Bijan Rademacher, RF: 0-1 (E-4, BB, R, CS)
1b. Bobby Buckner, PH-RF: 0-2 (K, K)
2a. Steve Bruno, 2B: 2-2 (1B, 2B, R, RBI)
2b. David Bote, PH-3B: 0-2 (1-3, 5-3)
3. Anthony Giansanti, 3B-2B: 2-4 (2B, F-8, 5-3, 1B, RBI, CS)
4a. Dan Vogelbach, 1B: 1-3 (1-3, 2B, P-4, R)
4b. Jesse Hodges, 1B: 0-0 (BB)
5a. Micah Gibbs, C: 0-2 (BB, 5-3, K, RBI)
5b. Willson Contreras, C: 0-1 (K)
6a. Oliver Zapata, CF: 0-3 (6-4 FC, K, 5-3)
6b. Rashad Crawford, CF: 0-1 (4-3)
7. Reggie Golden, LF: 1-2 (1B, BB, F-9, R, PO)
8. Wes Darvill, SS: 1-2 (BB, 3B, 5-3, BB, R, RBI, CS)
9. Xavier Batista, DH: 1-2 (1B, K, BB, RBI, CS)

DAYTONA PITCHERS:
1. Travis Wood: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 81 pitches (51 strikes), 7/0 GO/FO
2. Michael Jensen: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 37 pitches (29 strikes), 5/3 GO/FO
3. Hunter Ackerman: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 24 pitches (14 strikes)

DAYTONA ERRORS: NONE

DAYTONA CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Willson Contreras: 1 PB

ATTENDANCE: 62

WEATHER: Mostly cloudy and warm with temperatures in the 80's