Cubs Minor League News: Shaw homers twice, Pagan taken to hospital, Canario homers, more |
It would be nice if the Chicago Cubs MLB team could put together a nice win streak to climb back into the playoff picture, with the MILB teams getting back to winning more consistently on the diamond. Neither of those has been the case as the Cubs dropped another series to the New York Mets on Sunday to finish their homestand 4-5 while their minor league system had a rough weekend.
That weekend was capped off with a 1-3 mark on the diamond as South Bend took home the only win and has gotten off to a great start to begin the second half. The rest of the games may have resulted in losses, but all of them were highly competitive, although there was a scary injury in AA, which we will talk about soon.
This was one of those weeks for the Cubs where they had their chances, but couldn't deliver when needed. Throughout this six-game series, Iowa was in every single game, but they didn't do enough to win the series or even earn a split as they dropped another tight one 6-4 on Sunday. Thomas Pannone continues to pitch decently enough to get wins, although he has now lost seven of his last eight decisions to fall to 4-7 after starting the year 3-0. This wasn't one of his best outings, as he lasted just 3 1/3, allowing five runs and striking out three before the bullpen took over. Opposing him for the second time this week was Domingo German, who continued to show why he has MLB-caliber stuff as he got through five innings, allowing one run and striking out seven. Already in front 1-0 off the Malcolm Nunez single in the first, the Indians opened up a 3-0 lead in the second with Andres Alvarez taking Pannone deep. They continued that onslaught off him in the bottom of the fourth with an Alika Williams double putting them in front 5-0, which was the game-winning hit. From that point on, the Cubs were in catchup mode, with a Cole Roederer homer in the fifth, putting them on the board to make things 5-1. A big fly from Cole Roederer gets us on the board! pic.twitter.com/4oLO6uIqtN Trailing 6-1 in the sixth, Alexander Canario took it upon himself to unload for another solo shot while the BJ Murray Jr sacrifice fly pulled the Cubs within 6-3. Our @GreatClips Clip of the Week is Alexander Canario's 14th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/2ewM9ptOur Iowa inched closer in the seventh off an Owen Caissie RBI grounder, but that was as close as they would get as they fell 6-4. Five different players had one hit in the game for the Cubs, as they couldn't get much going offensively. Following his strong start, the Cubs bullpen was outstanding, including Ethan Roberts, who tossed two more scoreless frames with two punchouts. Back in Des Moines on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/mKpHZcL7Xg
Talk about a painful way to end the week in more ways than one. Not only did the Smokies miss out on the first-half title by losing this game, but they also lost a player for what could be a long time as Ezequiel Pagan collided with Matt Shaw and was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Our thoughts and prayers are with him as the Smokies were unable to pull out this victory. We're happy to report that Ezequiel Pagan is doing well after a collision on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who wished him the best. After a strong series of starts for Connor Noland, he was bound to have a clunker, and you could say this was his clunker of a game. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs. The only silver lining from his start was that two of the six runs were earned, making his line look better, as his ERA remains 2.98 for the season. Most of the damage off Noland came in the first, and it came after the Cody Milligan single put the Braves in front 1-0. That was because a bases-loaded double off the bat of Sebastian Rivero cleared the bases and gave the Braves an early 4-0 lead. They would extend that lead to 6-0 by the third inning as Geraldo Quintero and Tyler Tolve each added RBI singles the subsequent two frames to put the Smokies in a massive hole. Down, but not out, the Luis Verdugo double in the second put the Smokies on the board, and it was the hit that seemed to awaken them offensively, although they were still trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the fifth. James Triantos kept the comeback attempt moving with another RBI hit in the bottom of the fifth, but the Matt Shaw three-run homer was the big blow in that inning as the Smokies were suddenly within 7-5. Matt Shaw with a 3-RUN BOMB to put the Smokies within 2! #LastYearBestYear #NextStopWrigley pic.twitter.com/JB3OvkjJJt With Tolve adding another single in the sixth to push the lead to 8-5 and Quintero adding a triple in the seventh to make things 9-5, the Smokies were running out of time to mound a rally. Leave it to Shaw to keep hope alive as he connected for his second homer of the game in the eight to pull the Smokies within 7-5, but they would lose by that score. MATT SHAW DID IT AGAIN! #LastYearBestYear #Cubs #NextStopWrigley pic.twitter.com/QYINZNUidV Verdugo may have led the Smokies with three hits, but Shaw had the best game, as he had two hits and five RBIs. It took him a little while to get rolling, but he has been on a tear the past month and has raised his average from .221 to .245. Final score presented by @zips3mincarwash.
A lot has gone wrong for the Cubs this season, but the past month has seen them playing their best ball to the point where they have gotten off to a great start to the second half. Backed by 10 support runs, the Cubs came out strong and picked up another series win to earn the lone win in the Cubs system. Will Sanders bounced back from a shaky outing in his last start to pitch four strong innings in this one. He allowed two runs (1ER) on four hits and struck out seven before the bullpen took care of the rest. Nick Hull and Tyler Santana played a role in that as they combined for four innings, allowing one run and striking out four. Despite what the final score indicates, this was a much more competitive game early on, and that all started with the Maick Collado single to put the Captains up 1-0 in the first. South Bend immediately responded in the bottom of the first as Felix Stevens added his first RBI hit in a while, using a double to make things 2-1. After Lake County tied things up in the second on a Zac Fascia homer, the Cubs broke things open in the fourth as they scored four times in the fourth and fifth innings with two runs coming in each frame. All those runs came on two-run homers, with Jordan Nwogu going deep in the fourth to put the Cubs in front 4-2 and Brian Kalmer adding to that lead in the fifth. Lake County added their final run of the game on a sixth-inning force out before the Cubs tacked on four more runs late. Three came in the seventh off the Nwogu sacrifice fly and a two-run Dilan Granadillo double, while Stevens added the final run on an eighth-inning single. Stevens paced the offense with three hits and three RBIs, and every player in the lineup had at least one hit. Nwogu also added three RBIs, with Granadillo picking up two. Kalmer bookends the series with his 2nd homer of the week and broke down his approach with @BKingSports. Cubs move to 2-1 in the 2nd half with a convincing Sunday win! #FlyTheW #YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/HS6tUYAc1n Cubs Win!
When it comes to good old-fashioned pitcher's duels, this was the game for you as a late-game run sealed the fate of the Birds in a 2-1 loss to the Cannonballers. Will Frisch got the start, which lasted just one inning, before handing things over to Mason McGwire and the rest of the Pelicans pen. McGwire had one of his better showings of the season, as he allowed just one run in four innings while striking out three. Their efforts alone weren't quite good enough, as Lucas Gordon and company allowed just one run, with Gordon allowing that run in a five-inning start in which he struck out five and walked four. The lone run off of Frisch came on a first-inning sacrifice fly as the Cannonballers took a 1-0 lead and never looked back. They added to that lead off McGwire in the fourth when George Wolkol took him deep for the solo shot to make things 2-0. The lone run of the game for the Pelicans came from Andy Garriola as his solo shot made things 2-1 in the seventh before falling by that score. For Garriola, this was his 14th homer of the season after hitting just 13 all of last year, and he is starting to come into his own as a hitter. Garriola goes deep AGAIN. Final from Kannapolis.INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 6 - IOWA CUBS 4
MISSISSIPPI BRAVES 9 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 7
A statement from Ezequiel Pagan (@paganezequiel): "Estoy bien. Gracias a Dios y que gracias por el apoyo y que nos veremos la semana que viene❤️🙏" pic.twitter.com/MSD9gDe8n3
Box Score: https://t.co/aBvj1xNaE5 pic.twitter.com/FFBMmIOEr3SOUTH BEND CUBS 10 - LAKE COUNTY CAPTAINS 3
Also he likes velociraptors. pic.twitter.com/p9nt1DGOwx
Cubs Win! pic.twitter.com/u9nZCp4KwpKANNAPOLIS CANNONBALLERS 2 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 1
The 26th home run in his Pelicans’ career moves him to 4th in franchise history.
Birds trail 2-1 in the seventh. #MBPelicans | #YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/h7569cJYie
Birds return home Tuesday for the series opener against Fayetteville.#MBPelicans pic.twitter.com/BnEyuPftiX
