Cubs Minor league News: Cubs rookie league teams goes 1-1

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Tue Jul 26 11:09:25 GMT-05:00 2022

Now that the All-star break is over, things can get back to normal regarding the minor league schedule. That means it is back to Rookie League Monday as they were once again the center of attention.

AAA Iowa was supposed to join them on Monday Morning, but inclement weather forced that game to be postponed with the makeup date scheduled for September 21. Still, with three teams in action, there was plenty of baseball to go around as the Cubs went 1-1 on the day with one game suspended.

ACL CUBS 1 - ACL Indians 1 (suspended)

It is incredible what a little time away from the diamond can do for a team. Since returning from the all-star break, the ACL Cubs have not only been more competitive, but have been winning more games. Monday saw that competitive nature again as they played the Guardians to a 1-1 tie before the game was suspended in the seventh.

Jose Romero got the start and struck out four in three scoreless innings. He gave way to Jonathan Holder, who made his season debut and picked up a pair of strikeouts in one inning. Had it not been for Felix Hernandez and his third-inning hit, the Cubs would have been no-hit as he came around to score on a wild pitch to make things 1-0.

That score held until the sixth inning when Angel Genao flew into a sacrifice fly double play, but a run scored to tie things up, which is where things will pick up once this game resumes.

DSL METS 4 - DSL CUBS BLUE 2

Coming off their off day, the DSL Blue squad was looking to start a new week with a win. Despite strong pitching for most of the day, the offense couldn't match the Mets, doubling up the Cubs 4-2.

Adrian Martinez and Joel Jimenez posted nearly identical lines as they both went 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs with one earned. Had it not been for more walks from Martinez, their lines would have been identical, which is fun to talk about. Abel Moya came in to take care of the final 1 2/3 innings allowing no runs in the process.

It only took two innings for the Mets to strike first, with Martinez helping them out with a wild pitch to make things 1-0. Mike Ibarguen then delivered an RBI single in the second to double the lead, with the Cubs looking to get something going.

Fortunately for them, their offense started to come in the next two innings, with Jefferson Rojas picking up an RBI groundout in the third before the Abel De Leon steal of home in the fourth brought things back to even 2-2.

Moments after the Cubs tied things up, the Mets took the lead for good as Jose Melendrez cashed in with a two-run single to lift the Mets to a 4-2 win. The Cubs had five hits on the afternoon, with Sandy Sanchez, Gueri Lubo, Jose Herrera, De Leon, and Brayan Altuve getting those hits.

DSL CUBS RED 7 - DSL PIRATES 6

It may have taken extra innings, eight innings if you go by some DSL rules, but the DSL Red squad opened the week with a solid win over the Pirates. Kenyi Valdez continues to anchor the DSL staff as his ERA sits at 1.63 for the season. Across his four innings, Valdez allowed one unearned run on two hits to go with four strikeouts, as he has been the ace thus far.

That unearned run came in the third inning when he uncorked a wild pitch to lead to the game's first run with the Pirates jumping in front 1-0. Thankfully, the Cubs offense had none of it as they started making some noise in the fourth. With one swing from Josias Ramirez, the Cubs took a 2-1 lead as he connected for his first home run of the summer. Luis Maza added an RBI single later in the inning, but was thrown out trying to reach second as the Cubs led 3-1.

The Cubs continued to build on that lead in the fifth, with Adan Sanchez cashing in with an RBI single in the fifth, followed by a costly error that saw the Cubs comfortably in front 5-1. Moving to the bottom of the fifth, you had the Pirates starting to chip away as a fielding error mixed with a Kelvin Diaz single made things 5-3.

The Cubs extended that lead to 6-3 in the sixth off of Ramirez's second homer, but a three-run bottom of the sixth brought the game back to even 6-6. Diaz picked up his second single in as many at-bats to pull the Pirates within 6-5 as Fraimin Marte's wild pitch brought in the tying run.

With seven innings not enough, the two sides went to extras, where the Cubs struck first in the top of the eighth. Offerman Hernandez came through with the game-winning RBI for the second time in four days as his sacrifice fly put the Cubs in front 7-6. They would win by that score. Ramirez was one of three Cubs with two hits as he led the way with three RBIs. Erbin Jacque and Elizaul Chalas had the other multi-hit games.