Cubs Sweep A's in Cactus League Minor League Opening Day Action
Rob Zastryzny and four relievers combined to toss a six-hit shutout and Trey Martin roped a double and an RBI single, reached base on an HBP, stole a base, and scored a run, as the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA affiliate) shutout the Midland Rockhounds (Oakland A's AA affiliate) 4-0 on Field #5, and Jeimer Candelario belted two run-scoring doubles, Dan Vogelbach singled twice, walked, and scored two runs, and John Andreoli hammered a solo HR and a single, leading the Iowa Cubs (AAA affiliate of the Cubs) to an 8-1 victory over the Nashville Sounds (A's AAA affiliate) in Cactus League Minor League game action Thursday afternoon at Mesa Cubtown at Riverview Park.
Although it doesn''t make much sense geograhically, the A's transferred their AAA affiliate in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from Sacramento to Nashville after the 2014 season.
Also, the A's Hi-A and Lo-A players reported to Spring Training a week later than the A's AA and AAA players, so the A's were unable to field teams to play the Cubs Hi-A and Lo-A squads at the A's new minor league home at Fitch Park, as would normally be the case when the two clubs' AA and AAA squads meet each other at Riverview Park. So the South Bend Cubs and Myrtle Beach Pelicans (the Cubs Lo-A and Hi-A affiliates, respectively) played an intrasquad game on Field #4 simultaneous with the Cactus League Minor League tilts on Fields 5 and 6.
Jake Stinnett got the start for Myrtle Beach and Josh Conway was the starter for South Bend in the intrasquad game, and both of the right-handers threw three innings and allowed one run a piece. Stinnett struck out four. James Norwood also threw three innings for South Bend. Eloy Jimenez clubbed a solo HR for South Bend off Pelicans LHRP Michael Heesch in the 4th inning.
Only six of the position players presently assigned to the Iowa squad played in the game against Nashville. The others (Contreras, Giansanti, Ha, Silva, Soto, and Villanueva) were called-up to the big club to provide depth at the MLB "B" game at Sloan Patk and the night game versus the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields. Several members of the Tennessee squad (including Caratini, Darvill, McKinney, and Rademacher) were also absent from Minor League Camp today (same reason as the I-Cubs six), and Candelario and Chen were moved-up from Tennessee to Iowa for the day.
Here are the abridged box scores from the two Cactus League Minor League games played on Fields #5 & #6 (Cubs players only):
FIELD #5
TENNESSEE LINEUP:
1. Jake Hannemann, CF: 2-5 (1B, E-5, 1B, K, E-3, SB, CS) :
2. Carlos Penalver, SS: 0-5 (F-9, P-4, 5-4 FC, K, F-9, R, RBI)
3a. Shane Kennedy, 3B: 2-3 (1B, K-DP, 1B, PO)
3b. Tim Saunders, 3B: 0-1 (K)
4. Dustin Geiger, 1B: 0-4 (K, 4-3, 4-3, L-9, RBI)
5. Jeffrey Baez, RF: 0-4 (L-7, K, K, 6-3)
6. Danny Lockhart, 2B: 1-4 (4-3, 1B, L-8, 3-1, SB)
7. Ben Carhart, DH-C: 1-3 (2B, BB, K, 6-3, R)
8. Cael Brockmeyer, C-DH: 2-4 (2B, P-3, K, 1B, R, RBI)
9. Trey Martin, LF: 2-3 (1B, 2B, HBP, K, 2 R, RBI, SB, PO)
TENNESSEE PITCHERS:
1. Rob Zastryzny: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 4/4 GO/FO, 46 pitches (30 strikes)
2. Andres Santana: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3/2 GO/FO, 23 pitches (14 strikes)
3. Jose Rosario: 2.0 IP 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GO/FO, 34 pitches (16 strikes)
4. Ben Wells: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GO/FO, 19 pitches (13 strikes)
5. Tayler Scott: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/0 GO/FO, 10 pitches (7 strikes)
TENNESSEE ERRORS: NONE
TENNESSEE CATCHERS DEEFENSE:
Ben Carhart 0-1 CS
FIELD #6
IOWA LINEUP:
1. John Andreoli, CF: 2-5 (1B, HR, F-9, 4-3, P-4, R, RBI, CS)
2a. Stephen Bruno, 2B: 1-3 (6-3, 1B, HBP, K, 2 R)
2b. Shawn Dunston Jr, PH-LF: 0-1 (4-6-3 DP)
3. Dan Vogelbach, 1B: 2-3 (BB, 1B, 1B, K, 2 R)
4a. Rafael Lopez, C: 2-3 (F-8, 1B, 1B, 2 R, 2 RBI)
4b. Taylor Davis, C: 0-1 (K)
5a. Jeimer Candelario, 3B: 2-3 (4-3, 2B, 2B, 2 RBI)
5b. David Bote, 3B-SS: 1-1 (1B, SB)
6a. Ryan Dent, SS: 1-2 (1B, BB, F-8, R, SB)
6b. Bryant Flete, SS-2B: 0-0 (1-3 SH)
7a. Pin-Chieh Chen, RF: 1-3 (3B, K, L-8, RBI)
7b. Adonis Paula, LF-3B: 0-1 (K)
8a. Kevin Brown, LF-DH: 0-3 (L-3, 3-6-1 DP, K)
8b. Tyler Pearson, PH: 1-1 (2B)
9a. Andrew Ely, DH: 0-3 (1-3, F-8, K)
9b. Shamil Ubiera, RF 1-1 (1B)
IOWA PITCHERS:
1. Ivan Pineyro: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 2/4 GO/FO, 48 pitches (28 strikes)
2. Barret Loux: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, 0/1 GO/FO, 18 pitches (10 strikes)
3. Hunter Cervenka: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/2 GO/FO, 14 pitches (7 strikes)
4. Fernando Cruz: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1/0 GO/FO, 15 pitches (12 strikes)
5. Matt Brazis: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 27 pitches (17 pitches)
6. Armando Rivero: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 0/3 GO/FO, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
7. Tony Zych: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/2 GO/FO, 8 pitches (5 strikes)
IOWA ERRORS: 1
2B Stephen Bruno - E-4 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely)
IOWA CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Taylor Davis: 0-1 CS
ATTENDANCE: 62
WEATHER: Overcast & very breezy with temperatures in the 60's
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