Cubs Minor League News |
By this time next week, the Cubs Minor League Schedule will be cut in half as both Myrtle Beach and South Bend will see their season come to an end. Until that point, fans can enjoy one more week of a full slate of baseball action as the Cubs closed out another week of competition by going 3-1.
It was another day and another crazy ball game between Iowa and Memphis. While the playoffs have long been out of the picture for this team, their lineup at least provides plenty of excitement, which continues to carry them. This was one of those games that felt like an offensive showdown, especially when you look at how both starters pitched. Riley Thompson got the start for the Cubs, and despite pitching well out of the gates, he allowed six runs in six innings. He walked two and struck out six before the bullpen took over from there. Thompson found himself trailing 1-0 in the first after he balked in the game's first run, but with the Cubs offense ready to tee off on Lance Lynn, that lead wouldn't last long. Most of the Cubs damage in this one came in one inning as they scored five times off Lynn in the second inning. That all started with an Owen Caissie single to tie things up, while an RBI double from Kevin Alcantara put the Cubs in front 3-1. Iowa capped off that massive inning with a pair of RBI singles from James Triantos and Moises Ballesteros as they took a 5-1 lead into the third. Even with Lynn allowing those five runs, he still managed to strike out eight in just 3 2/3 while the Memphis offense started to rally back. That rally started with a Thomas Saggese homer in the fourth to pull within 5-2, only to have their offense add three more in the fifth. Saggese was part of that again with a game-tying RBI double, which followed a Chandler Redmond double and a Nolan Gorman sacrifice fly to make things 5-5. Memphis continued to make life difficult for Thompson in the sixth as Nick Dunn took his turn to take him deep as the Redbirds stormed back to lead 6-5. However, with the Cubs pen tossing three scoreless innings the rest of the way, all it took was one massive hit to get the job done as Ballesteros came up clutch again with a two-run single in the seventh to push home the winning run 7-6. Ballesteros led the Cubs with three hits and three RBIs, and he was joined by Caissie.
Surprisingly, the only team to lose on Sunday was the best team in the organization as the Smokies were blanked 6-0. There wasn't much to get excited about in this one as most of the Trash Pandas damage came in the first four innings, and it came off of Antonio Santos, who has been outstanding most of the season. This wasn't his day, as he was lifted after just 3 2/3 for his shortest start of the season after allowing five runs. He walked three and struck out one before the bullpen did a solid job. Santos was victimized by the long ball in the second inning as a Denzer Guzman homer put the Trash Pandas in front 3-0. That would be all the offense they would need as Chase Chaney gave Rocket City six shutout innings on the mound. Rocket City added to their lead in the fourth with Nelson Rada working a bases loaded walk ahead of a Guzman steal of home to push their lead to 5-0 after four. They would cap off the scoring on a Seth Brown sacrifice fly in the eighth as the Smokies bats were cooled off 6-0. Fabian Pertuz was responsible for two of the teams five hits with Reivaj Garcia, Pablo Aliendo and Luis Verdugo grabbing the rest.
For the Cubs organization to have the long-term success they are hoping for, it will all come down to the pitching. Despite being out-hit 7-4 in this one, the Cubs pitching was phenomenal as they shut out the Loons 2-0. Erian Rodriguez played a massive role in that as he gave the Cubs five shutout innings of five strikeout ball. Rodriguez has had an excellent season and lowered his ERA to 3.86 since his promotion. He went up against Jose Rodriguez, who was also very good, allowing just one run in four innings. That run came in the second inning when Ezequiel Pagan touched him up for a solo shot to put the Cubs in front 1-0. That would be all the offense they would need as Luis Devers and Mitchell Tyranski combined to toss four shutout innings of seven strikeout ball with Tyranski picking up five of those. The final run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth when Jefferson Rojas scored on a wild pitch to make this a 2-0 Cubs win. Four Cubs had one hit in the win with Pedro Ramirez, Cam Smith, Pagan and Jordan Nwogu as the one with the hits.
This season hasn't gone as planned for the Pelicans, but they have played much better in the second half. This was a game that summed up their season as they were nonexistent offensively most of the game as all of their runs came from the fifth inning on. That included two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead and double up the Wood Ducks 4-2. The Pelicans have relied on their pitching for most of the second half, and Kenten Egbert is a big reason for that. Egbert has been one of the better starters in the Cubs system this season, and after going six innings and allowing two runs (1ER), he lowered his ERA to 3.26. He didn't walk a batter and struck out six before handing things over to Luis Martinez-Gomez, who struck out three across his three innings of work. Egbert went pitch for pitch against Wilian Bornie who also allowed two runs (1ER) across five-plus innings with six punchouts. Both of the Wood Ducks runs came in the first two innings, with one coming on a steal of home in the first and the other off an error in the second. Apart from that, the Pelicans pitching continued to deliver as they made things challenging the rest of the way. Still trailing by that 2-0 score in the fifth, Myrtle Beach got on the board as Cameron Sisneros connected for his first homer of the season. Sisneros was the Pelicans offense most of the game as he tacked on an RBI single one inning later to pull things back to even 2-2. With things still tied 2-2 in the eighth, the Pelicans grabbed the lead for good off a wild pitch before Sisneros capped off his massive night with an RBI triple to lift the Birds to a 4-2 win. Sisneros was responsible for three of the team's five hits with all three RBIs, as Miguel Pabon and Eriandys Ramon added the remaining hits.
It took three games for the Railcats to score a run this weekend, but they did manage to score four on Sunday. That still didn't matter as the Dogs hung 10 runs on them for the second straight game and will now go for the sweep on Monday. Zach Davidson took the ball for the Dogs and despite lasting just five innings, he did enough to earn the win. Davidson scattered three hits, allowed two runs, and struck out eight as the Dogs offense continued to make life difficult for the Railcats. This time, it was Tai Tiedemann having a rough go of things as he was hammered for eight earned runs in less than five innings. After taking a 1-0 lead in the first off an error, a Nick Novak single doubled their lead to 2-0 in the second. Once the third inning rolled around, the Dogs offense went to work as the Chase Harris single pushed their lead to 3-0 with Gus Sosa adding a double to make things 5-0. It took 21 innings for Gary to break through against the Dogs staff with Marcos Gonzalez picking up an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third. Gary then tacked on another run in the fourth to pull within 5-2 only to have the Dogs offense deliver another massive inning in the fifth to push their lead to 8-2. Harris played a role in that with his two-run triple before coming home on the Novak grounder. Chicago managed to push their lead to 10-2 by the seventh before picking up the 10-4 win.
Although a day late, the Windy City Thunderbolts capped off what has been a rough season by closing out a winning homestand to end the year 6-0. Ruddy Gomez picked the perfect time to throw one of his best outings of the season as he tossed six scoreless frames with eight punchouts. Gomez was backed by three instant runs of support as the Henry Kusiak single in the first was all the offense they would need. Tyler Sandoval tacked on a second RBI single later in the inning before stealing home to open up a 3-0 lead after one. Sandoval tacked on a second RBI single in the fifth, with Joe Johnson adding the other two runs with singles in the third and fifth innings to close out the scoring. IOWA CUBS 7 - MEMPHIS REDBIRDS 6
ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 6 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 0
SOUTH BEND CUBS 2 - GREAT LAKES LOONS 0
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4 - DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS 2
CHICAGO DOGS 10 - GARY SOUTHSHORE RAILCATS 4
CITY THUNDERBOLTS 6 - EVANSVILLE OTTERS 0
