Cubs Minor League News |
Sunday marked the end of another week of competition for the Cubs Minor League System, and it is worth noting that this will be the final week of action for a limited slate of games as the Dominican Summer League begins on Monday, adding two more Cubs teams to cover.
For the most part, this past week was an excellent week for the Cubs affiliations, as the wins were plentiful across the board. That wasn't quite the case on Sunday, as the Cubs closed out the week with a 2-2 record, but it could've been much worse than that. LOUISVILLE BATS 4 - IOWA CUBS 2: Making what could be his final rehab start before returning to Chicago was Jordan Wicks, who wasn't great, but gave the Cubs all they needed to see. The left-hander pitched into the fourth, allowing three runs (2ER) on 68 pitches. He walked two and struck out three as his ERA sits at 3.12 during his rehab stint. Typically, an outing like that would keep you in the game, which it did, but with Louisville holding the Cubs scoreless through eight innings, runs were hard to come by in a 4-2 loss. Most of the early damage came from a pair of former Iowa Cubs as Levi Jordan and PJ Higgins provided the offense for the Bats. Jordan opened the scoring with a first-inning sacrifice fly before adding an RBI single in the fourth, with Higgins adding an RBI single in the third to give the Bats a 3-0 lead. Jordan capped off a three RBI day with an additional RBI single in the eighth as the Cubs found themselves down 4-0 entering the ninth. Iowa managed to cash in late to keep things close with an error ending the shutout ahead of the Alexander Canario single, but those were the only runs for the Cubs in a 4-2 loss. Canario remains red-hot and has been hitting .313 since returning to Iowa. He joined Owen Caissie by recording a hit while Darius Hill led the way with two. TENNESSEE SMOKIES 6 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 4: The beat goes on for the Tennessee Smokies as they remain one of the hottest teams in the Southern League. This time, a five-run second inning busted the game open while they held off the lookouts late. Kyle McGowin benefitted from that massive inning to improve to 2-1 on the season. McGowin went five innings, striking out seven and allowing two runs, as his ERA sits at 2.22 since signing with the Cubs. His effort alone was good enough as the Smokies offense backed him with five runs of support in the second inning, starting with a Wally Soto double to make things 1-0. The big blow in that inning came from Josh Rivera, whose three-run shot made things 4-0, while Matt Shaw added a homer shortly after to push the lead to 5-0. Had the Smokies not scored again, they would have made this inning stand up as both of the Lookouts runs off McGowin came in the third. Josh Torres pushed home the first run on a solo homer, with the red-hot Tyler Callihan adding a double to make things 5-2. Tennessee got one of those runs back later in the game on the Moises Ballesteros groundout, while the Lookouts added two late-game runs on wild pitches to pull within 6-4 before losing by that score. Seven players had a hit for the Smokies in the win as they improved to an organizational best of 31-20 and sit two games out of first. SOUTH BEND CUBS 5 - QUAD CITY RIVER BANDITS 2: Had the Cubs not dug themselves such an early season whole, they would be in a position to clinch the first-half title based on how they are playing right now. Going back three weeks, especially the past two, you will see that South Bend is becoming a team no one wants to play as they capped off another big series with a win. Whether it was starter Tyler Schlaffer on the mound or Nick Hull coming in for relief, the Cubs pitching was strong as those two combined for 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, walking four and striking out seven. With the offense scoring all five runs in the first five innings, including three in the first, the Cubs led this game from start to finish and never looked back. Jordan Nwogu opened up the scoring with a two-RBI single as he continues to battle his way back to AA. Nwogu not only made a difference with his bat, but also his legs as he would go on to steal second later in the inning aiding to a throwing error which brought home the third and eventual game-winning run. After Carter Jensen pulled the River Bandits within 3-1 with an RBI groundout in the first, Brett Squires made this a 3-2 game with his single in the third as the momentum was shifting in a hurry. That was as close as South Bend would get as the based loaded walk by Ed Howard in the fourth led to another run ahead of the Reivaj Garcia groundout to cap off the scoring. Garcia led South Bend with two hits as the Cubs were outhit 6-5 in the game. Jefferson Rojas, Pedro Ramirez, and Nwogu had the remaining hits. CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 7 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4: It's hard to make the playoffs when you can't consistently win a series, which has been the case for the Pelicans this season. Believe it or not, this was the Pelicans' first series victory all season, and it couldn't have come at a better time despite losing the finale. Big innings were the theme most of the night, and this was no different as the Riverdogs scored all seven of their runs in the first three innings, including a five-run third to break the game wide open. Alfredo was on the losing end of that massive inning, allowing six runs in just 2 1/3 as he fell to 0-6 with an ERA north of 10. Take away his outing, and the rest of the Pelican's pitching staff delivered in a big way, including Yenrri Rojas, who tossed three scoreless frames of relief. After Blake Robertson put the Riverdogs in front 1-0 with an RBI single in the first, the Pelicans offense responded by pushing across two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Alfonsin Rosario was responsible for the first of those runs with his RBI single, followed by a Frank Hernandez RBI single that gave the Birds a 2-1 lead. Charleston tied things up in the second off a wild pitch, but the third inning did the Pelicans in as the Riverdogs scored five times to open up a 7-2 lead. Wooyeoul Shin gave the Riverdogs the lead for good with a sacrifice fly, while the Carlos Colmenarez double went down as the winning hit to put the Riverdogs in front 5-2. Charleston scored two more runs later in that inning off a bases-loaded walk and an RBI groundout as the Pelicans found themselves down 7-2. Despite their best efforts at the plate, they were unable to do much more as Rosario added an RBI double in the fourth to make things 7-3, with Alexis Hernandez closing out the scoring in the fifth with an RBI groundout. Rosario continues to have a strong three weeks as he led the Pelicans with three hits and two RBIs. Cristian Hernandez, Ismael Mena, and Frank Hernandez came away with multi-hit games as the Pelicans pounded out 13 hits in the loss.
