Right-hander Tyson Miller starts a rehab assignment with Iowa again. Right-hander Brody McCullough, who hasn’t pitched in over a year due to multiple injuries, starts a rehab assignment in Mesa.

Three of the four full-season teams played day games today. Only Knoxville was under the lights.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were boarded and seized by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 14-5.

Starter Connor Noland got rocked for three home runs as part of a ten-run Clippers third inning and took the loss. Noland finished with a line of seven runs, five earned, on five hits and two walks. He walked two and struck out four.

Tyson Miller pitched the sixth inning and walked a batter with one out, but permitted no other baserunners. Miller did not have a strikeout.

All five I-Cubs runs came via the home run, and two of them came off the bat of left fielder Kevin Alcántara. Alcántara’s first home run came with the bases empty in the top of the third and his second was a two-run shot in the sixth. He now has five home runs this year. Alcántara was 2 for 3 with a walk.

The other two Iowa runs came on a two-run home run by right fielder Owen Caissie in the sixth inning, his seventh on the season. Caissie went 2 for 4.

Alcántara’s first home run.

Caissie’s home run was a moonshot to the opposite field off a left-hander.

This second homer by Alcántara went 419 feet.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies smoked the Biloxi Shuckers (Brewers) on a half shell, 8-6.

Jaxon Wiggins started and went home with a no-decision after pitching four innings and allowing three runs on six hits, including one solo home run that cleared the left field fence by about eight inches. Wiggins was getting a lot of swing and misses, as he struck out nine and walked two. Five of the nine strikeouts were swinging. He hit 99 mph on the stadium gun at least once.

Brad Deppermann pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning and got the win when the Smokies scored three times in the top of the eighth. Deppermann gave up a one-out single, but nothing else. He struck out one.

A.J. Puckett pitched the final two innings without allowing a run for the save. He gave up a one-out single in the ninth, but ended the game when the next batter hit into a 6-3 double play. Puckett walked one and struck out one.

Trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning, catcher Casey Opitz tied things up with a three-run home run. It was his second home run on the year. Opitz went 1 for 4 with a walk.

The Smokies fell back behind 6-5 when second baseman Corey Joyce tied things up in the top of the eighth with an RBI double. Joyce went 2 for 4 with the double, a walk and two total RBI.

Joyce also scored in the eighth when the next batter, first baseman BJ Murray Jr. hit a two-run home run that gave the Smokies an 8-6 lead. It was Murray’s seventh home run this season. He went 2 for 5.

Right fielder Jordan Nwogu went 2 for 3 with a double and he was hit by a pitch twice. Nwogu scored on Opitz’s home run.

Third baseman Pedro Ramirez was 2 for 5 with one run batted in and one run scored.

A termite swarm attacked the field before the sixth inning and about two innings were played in it. There were still a few flying around throughout the entire rest of the game.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs got the venom from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers), 3-1.

Evan Aschenbeck was the victim of non-support today, as he took the loss after allowing just two runs, and only one earned, on six hits over six innings. Both runs scored on a two-run home run in the sixth inning by Marco Dinges.

South Bend’s only run came on a sixth inning home run by Edgar Alvarez, his second of the year. Alvarez went 1 for 4.

Shortstop Cristian Hernandez went 1 for 3 with a double and two walks.

The home run by Alvarez.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Jose Escobar hit a grand slam in the top of the tenth inning as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans boiled the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers), 10-7 in ten innings.

Starter Hayden Frank pitched four innings and surrendered six runs on seven hits. One of those six runs was unearned. Frank walked one and struck out one.

Yenrri Rojas pitched the next four innings without allowing a run and he only allowed two hits. Rojas also walked one and struck out one.

Jackson Kirkpatrick pitched the ninth and tenth innings and got the win. He allowed the automatic runner to score on an error in the tenth (with a big four-run lead), but otherwise was strong, permitting just one hit and walking two. Kirkpatrick struck out two.

Left fielder Escobar’s grand slam came with two outs in the top of the tenth. It was his second home run this year. Escobar went 2 for 5 with a double and a walk. He scored twice.

Catcher Owen Ayers hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth, his second. Ayers went 2 for 5 and was hit by a pitch.

Third baseman Angel Cepeda walked with the bases loaded later in the eighth inning to tie the game 6-6. Cepeda went 2 for 5 with a double and a two-run single in the third inning, giving him three total runs batted in today. Cepeda also stole a base and scored once.

Ayers’ home run

The grand slam.

ACL Cubs

Losing to the Giants, 2-0 in the seventh inning.

Chris Clarke gave up two runs, one earned, over three innings in a rehab assignment. It was his first game of the year. He struck out three and walked no one.