Flashback: June in the Midwest League
June 3 -- Chicago Cubs right-hander Mark Prior made his second rehabilitation start for the Peoria Chiefs, throwing 59 pitches against the Fort Wayne Wizards. Prior, who was recovering from a strained right shoulder, gave up one run on three hits and struck out five in five innings of a 2-0 loss to Fort Wayne.
June 4 -- Manuel Ferrer went 3-for-4 with a grand slam and five RBIs to lead South Bend to a 10-8 victory over Lansing. The fifth-inning blast was his first home run of the season and highlighted a seven-run frame. Ferrer finished a double shy of the cycle after a triple in the seventh.
Audio: Ferrer's grand slam
June 4 -- Adam Daniels allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings as the Swing of Quad Cities blanked West Michigan, 6-0. Daniels gave up consecutive singles in the first inning and didn't permit a hit in his final six frames. He retired 10 in a row before a fourth-inning walk.
June 4 -- Cedar Rapids' Flint Wipke went 5-for-5, but the Kernels were routed by Burlington, 13-4. Wipke had four singles and a double while driving in a run and scoring once. Teammate Mark Trumbo went 4-for-5, combining with Wipke for nine of Cedar Rapids' 14 hits.
Audio: Trumbo goes yard
June 5 -- Beloit reliever David Shinskie was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week. Shinskie appeared in three games and permitted just one hit in eight scoreless innings. He struck out five and walked two. The right-hander earned a win against Quad Cities and went 4 1/3 innings in an appearance against Dayton.
June 5 -- Kane County's Jeff Baisley was named the Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week. Baisley batted .500 (13-for-26) with a home run and 14 RBIs to raise his Minor League-leading total to 55. Baisley, who would go on to lead the league with 110 RBIs, also extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
June 6 -- The Beloit Snappers had a league-high nine players selected for the Midwest League All-Star Game, while the Dayton Dragons wound up with seven players on the Eastern Division team.
June 6 -- Trey Hearne, Brian Stitt and Matthew Trent combined on a 12-inning three-hit shutout as the Swing of Quad Cities outlasted Cedar Rapids, 2-0. Even more impressive than the shutout was that the Swing retired the final 27 Kernels batters in a row. Hearne gave up three hits and struck out seven in seven innings. Casey Rowlett hit a two-run walk-off homer in the 12th to give the Swing the win.
June 7 -- Todd Blackford gave up just two hits in six scoreless innings as Peoria defeated Burlington, 5-2. Blackford didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, while striking out four and walking five.
June 8 -- Michael Hernandez became the second West Michigan player in team history to hit for the cycle when he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs in a 10-3 win. Josh Lee hit for the cycle against South Bend on June 19, 2005. Hernandez also tied a team record with four runs scored.
June 10 -- Cameron Maybin blasted a grand slam in the ninth inning as West Michigan scored five times and pulled away for a 6-1 victory over Dayton. Maybin also singled in a run in the first and finished with five RBIs. William Rhymes singled home the tiebreaking run in the ninth before Maybin went deep for his second home run with the Whitecaps.
June 10 -- Stephen Marek struck out 12 in six innings as Cedar Rapids defeated Fort Wayne, 8-3. Marek allowed one run on four hits to raise his record to 7-1.
June 12 -- Dayton outfielder Jay Bruce was named the Midwest League's Offensive Player of the Week. Bruce went 14-for-29 (.483), with half of those hits going for doubles.
June 12 -- Beloit starter Oswaldo Sosa was named the Midwest League's Pitcher of the Week. Sosa did not allow an earned run in 13 innings and struck out 12 while winning both of his starts. The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings and gave up four hits to South Bend, while allowing an unearned run on four hits in six innings against Clinton.
June 12 -- Dayton starter Carlos Fisher struck out 10 in seven innings as the Dragons edged West Michigan, 1-0. Fisher retired the first 12 batters he faced before Justin Justice singled to lead off the fifth. Blake Hendley worked a perfect ninth to end the game, which took just over two hours to play, and earn his 12th save.
June 13 -- Fort Wayne starter Steve Delabar gave up one hit over seven shutout innings and the Wizards hung on for a 2-1 victory over Cedar Rapids. Delabar retired the first 12 batters he faced before Flint Wipke led off the fifth inning with a double.
June 18 -- Cory Meacham tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout as the Swing of Quad Cities blanked Wisconsin, 6-0. The complete game and the shutout were both career firsts for Meacham, who faced two batters over the minimum. He threw 101 pitches and recorded 17 ground-ball outs in a game that lasted just one hour and 48 minutes.
June 18 -- The Peoria Chiefs clinched the first-half division title, their first since 2002, with an 8-5 victory over the Kane County Cougars. Mark Reed went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead Peoria.
June 19 -- Dayton's Zachary Ward was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts. Ward gave up three runs on seven hits in 13 innings and improved his record to 6-0 in 13 starts. The 22-year-old right-hander permitted one run on three hits in seven innings against Southwest Michigan.
June 19 -- Fort Wayne catcher Nick Hundley was named the Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week. Hundley went 7-for-13 in four games, but five of those hits were home runs. He also had eight RBIs and scored six runs.
June 20 -- Randy Roth won the Controlling the Game Home Run Derby that took place before the Midwest League All-Star Game at John O'Donnell Stadium. The Quad Cities first baseman was hitting in his home park and won on a tiebreaker against Cedar Rapids slugger Jordan Renz.
June 20 -- Dayton outfielder Jay Bruce had three hits, including a two-run homer to lead the East team to a 7-1 victory over the West in the Midwest League All-Star Game. Bruce broke a 1-1 tie with a run-scoring single in a three-run third inning. He put an exclamation point on the game with his home run in the ninth and claimed the league's Star of Stars award.
Video: Bruce's ninth-inning homer
Video: East All-Stars win 7-1
Video: MWL All-Star Game broadcast
June 23 -- Kristian Bell and Po-Hsuan Keng combined on a two-hit shutout as Lansing defeated Beloit, 5-0. Bell surrendered one hit and three walks while striking out five in seven innings. Keng retired the side in the eighth, but hit a batter and permitted a single in the ninth before striking out two of the next three batters to end the game.
Audio: Keng ends game with a K
June 24 -- Burlington pitchers struck out 20 West Michigan batters, but the Whitecaps scored four times in the top of the 16th inning to come away with a 5-1 victory over the Bees. Burlington starter Matthew Kniginyzky went six innings and struck out seven. Relievers Yovany D'Amico and Gilbert de la Vara each struck out four in two innings. Matthew Joyce singled to plate the go-ahead run and spark the deciding rally for the Bees.
June 25 -- Fort Wayne left fielder William Venable went 5-for-6 with two home runs, including a game-winning solo blast in the 13th inning. Venable drove in three runs and scored twice in the Wizards' 7-6 win over Cedar Rapids.
June 26 -- Kane County starter Joe Piekarz was named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week. Piekarz struck out 11 in eight scoreless innings in an 8-0 victory over Wisconsin. Piekarz, who hadn't pitched more than four innings in any appearance all season, gave up three hits without issuing a walk.
June 26 -- Kane County's Isaac Omura was named the Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week after batting .643 (9-for-14) with five RBIs and six runs scored. The second baseman went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, two runs scored and was a home run short of the cycle in an 8-0 victory over Wisconsin.
June 27 -- Cedar Rapids starter Nick Adenhart pitched eight scoreless innings to earn his league-leading 10th win as the Kernels edged Burlington, 1-0. Adenhart, a 19-year-old right-hander, struck out six while allowing three hits and three walks. Richard Aldridge struck out two in the ninth for his 15th save.
Audio: Aldridge picks up the save
June 29 -- Whitney Robbins went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and a home run in his second game with Beloit as the Snappers defeated Kane County, 9-6. Robbins, Minnesota's 2006 fourth-round draft pick, had a two-run single in the third inning and a solo homer in the fifth.
Tim Leonard is a contributor to MLB.com.