Cubs Minor League News |
Friday was by far the busiest day of the Cubs Minor League season, as several teams had makeup games along the way. That led to nine, yes, nine total games being played across the Cubs system, and it would be impossible to get into full detail with every game.
From a results side, the Cubs limped to the finish line, going just 2-7 overall. That makes two rough nights in a row for the Cubs as the losses have been mounting the past few days, which isn't what you want to have when the Big League team is struggling. COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 6 - IOWA CUBS 3: Despite the Cubs' best effort this week to win games, they have been having a rough showing all week, and that continued with a 6-3 loss on Friday. Sam McWilliams got the start in what was a bullpen game, striking out five in under three innings but also allowing three runs to take the loss. Opposing him was Xzayvion Curry, who went figure won his first game of the season by striking out four in six strong innings. Backed by a Jose Tena homer in the first, the Clippers took a 1-0 lead, and they never looked back. Columbus would add to their lead with a two-run Jhonkensy Noel single in the third and an additional single from Angel Martinez in the fourth to make things 4-0. It took five innings for the Cubs offense to break through with Luis Vazquez picking up an RBI double to make things 4-1. Vazquez was the Cubs entire offense as he added a two-run homer in the top half of the eighth to pull the Cubs within 5-3 before the Clippers added the final run off a walk in the bottom of the eighth. Vazquez and Miles Mastrobuoni paced the Cubs offense with two hits, but Vazquez delivered all three RBIs. TENNESSEE SMOKIES 13 - BILOXI SHUCKERS 3: The lone full-season team to come away with a win was the Smokies, as they used an eight-run ninth inning to pull away from Biloxi. Trey Supak continues to pitch well since joining the Smokies staff as he improved to 3-1 following 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball striking five. The story of the game was Moises Ballesteros, whose two-run double put the Smokies in front 2-0 in the first, and they never looked back. Ballesteros was a man on a mission on Friday as he delivered four hits and four RBIs, hitting for the Cycle in the process. Biloxi tried to keep things close early with an Ernesto Martinez single in the first, only to have Yohendrick Pinango go deep in the third to make things 4-1. With Andy Yerzy answering the Pinango homer with one of his own, the Shuckers were within 4-3, but that was it for the Biloxi offense, as the Smokies took care of things the rest of the way. Ballesteros added to his game with a solo shot in the sixth to extend the lead to 5-3 before the offense came through with eight runs in the ninth. Fabian Pertuz and James Triantos had singles as part of that massive ninth inning, with Pinango adding a double. You also had a wild pitch and a Luis Verdugo sacrifice fly, but the Ballesteros triple capped off the Cycle as the Smokies took care of things 13-3. Joining Ballesteros with big games was Pinango, who also drove in four with his two hits. PEORIA CHIEFS 9 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 (Completion of Thursday): In what was the completion of their Thursday contest, it was the Cubs storming back to take the lead only to let the Chiefs pull away late. Trailing 3-0 entering the fourth, it was the Cubs offense starting to get with Felix Stevens putting them on the board with a two-run blast before Ed Howard capped off the four-run frame with a single to put the Cubs up 4-3. It was a lead that didn't last long, with Dakota Harris tying things up with a single at the bottom of the fourth before the Chiefs took the lead for good on the Leonardo Bernal homer in the sixth. Peoria put the game away with a three-run seventh inning, sparked by a Harris homer as the Chiefs opened up an 8-4 lead. South Bend tried to keep things close with Brian Kalmer and Brett Bateman adding RBIs in the eighth, but it wasn't enough in the Cubs 9-6 loss. PEORIA CHIEFS 9 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2: Despite the second game of the day being just seven innings, the Chiefs offense was alive and well right from the start as they scored four times in the first and eight times in the first four innings to take the win. Drew Gray had the worst outing of his professional career as he walked six in just 1/3 of an inning, allowing four earned runs. With Hancel Rincon going six innings and striking out seven, that first inning would have been enough to win this game. Not only was the first inning a rough one, but all four runs in the first came on bases-loaded walks as the Cubs fell into an early 4-0 hole. Then came the second inning when Harris and Darlin Moquete added solo shots to extend the lead to 6-0. They would extend their lead to 8-0 in the third with two more runs before adding their ninth run on the Tre Richardson single in the fourth. That 9-0 lead would hold until the seventh inning when the Cubs scored a pair of runs off RBI groundouts from Dilan Granadillo and Rafael Morel. COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 7 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 2: Despite what the final score shows, this was a much better game than it would indicate, as it was the six-run seventh inning that did the Birds in. Nazier Mule battled through some command issues with three walks and four strikeouts in three innings, but he only allowed one run. He set the tone for the Pelicans' pitching as he went pitch for pitch with Logan Martin, who allowed just two runs in five innings. Leading 1-0 after scoring on a wild pitch in the second, the Fireflies pulled even in the top half of the fourth on the Dionmy Salon sacrifice fly. The Pelicans answered in the bottom of the fourth off the Carter Trice homer to take a 2-1 lead, but that was it for the offense as the six-run seventh would be the final blow. The Derlin Figueroa double and Erick Pena single played a role in that big inning, but the three-run homer from Brennon McNair was the game-winning hit in the 7-2 win. ACL CUBS 5 - ACL GUARDIANS 3: The lone Rookie league win for the Cubs came in Arizona, where the Cubs topped the Guardians 5-3. Three of those runs scored in the first inning, with a Joan Delgado sacrifice fly opening the scoring before the Geuri Lubo homer put the Cubs up 3-0. The Cubs would add two more runs in the fourth off the Albert Gutierrez homer and wild pitch to make things 5-1 before the Guardians pulled closer with two in the sixth. DSL GUARDIANS 8 - DSL CUBS BLUE 3: DSL ORIOLES 8 - DSL CUBS RED 4: DSL ORIOLES 8 - DSL CUBS RED 1 KANE COUNTY COUGARS5 - CHICAGO DOGS 2 GATEWAY GRIZZLIES 9 - WINDY CITY THUNDERBOLTS 1
