Russell, Almora spark Tennessee's win

Addison Russell and Albert Almora, the Cubs' No. 3 and 5 prospects, respectively, combined for eight hits and four runs on Monday, helping Double-A Tennessee defeat Birmingham, 11-8.

Both Russell and Almora went 4-for-6 with a double. Russell scored once and drove in a run, and Almora added three runs and two RBIs. It was the first four-hit game for either player since joining the Smokies.

The Cubs acquired Russell, ranked No. 7 on MLBPipeline.com's list of Top 100 Prospects, in the deal that sent Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the A's earlier this month. Although Russell struggled right after the trade, he has gotten hot in the last week. He has four multihit games in his last five and is hitting .303/.338/.579 with six home runs in 19 games as a member of the Cubs organization.

Almora, ranked No. 41 on the Top 100, began the season with Class A Advanced Daytona and was promoted last week. He had just one hit in his first four games before breaking out on Monday. Overall this season, he is hitting .279/.302/.396 with seven home runs in 94 games.