Two playoff games and a boring old regular season game.
IOWA 4, ST. PAUL 1 IN ST. PAUL
Brennan Davis hit a three-run homer in the second to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.
Batting stars: Jose Miranda was 3-for-5. Jimmy Kerrigan was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Edgar Garcia pitched four shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out three. Ian Gibaut struck out all three men he faced. Chris Nunn struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Davis was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and a walk. Cory Abbott pitched 5.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out five.
Starter: Derek Law, normally a reliever, pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up one run on one hit and two walks and striking out one.
Good stats: Miranda is batting .338. Gilberto Celestino was 1-for-3 and is batting .311. Nunn has an ERA of 2.30. Garcia has an ERA of 2.85. Law has an ERA of 2.96.
Bad stats: Robinson Leyer gave up three runs in 1.1 innings and has an ERA of 6.20. Gibaut has an ERA of 6.86.
Record: The Saints are 61-59. milb.com is no longer breaking the standings out by divisions. Rather, they have something called the "final stretch", where apparently you get something or other for having the best record over the last ten games. The Saints are 0-1 in the final stretch, tied for seventh, 1.5 games behind Jacksonville.
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS 5, WICHITA 1 IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
The Naturals scored three in the fourth and two in the sixth. The Wind Surge had seven hits and five walks, but went 0-for-10 with men in scoring position.
Batting stars: Jermaine Palacios was 2-for-3. Austin Martin was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Alex Phillips struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Jeison Guzman was 3-for-4 with two runs. Seuly Matias was 2-for-3 with a walk. Yefri Del Rosario pitched four innings, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out one.
Starter: Cole Sands pitched five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and one walk and striking out four.
Record: The Wind Surge trails the best-of-five series 0-2.
QUAD CITIES 6, CEDAR RAPIDS 0 IN CEDAR RAPIDS
Nick Loftin hit a two-run homer in the first, and that was all the River Bandits needed.
Batting star: DaShawn Keirsey was 2-for-3. The Kernels had just three hits.
PItching stars: Andrew Cabezas pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Carlos Suniaga pitched a perfect inning. Ryan Shreve pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Maikel Garcia was 2-for-3 with a home run, three walks, and three runs. Loftin was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer. Anthony Veneziano struck out four in 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Starter: Sean Mooney struck out six in three innings, but allowed three runs on three hits and a walk.
Record: The best-of-five series is tied 1-1.
TODAY'S TILTS
7:05 Iowa at St. Paul (Bryan Sammons, 1-3, 6.50)