Cubs Minor League News: Shaw reaches 20-20 season, Stevens and Long raking, more |
As we get closer to the end of another week of Minor League action, the Cubs system continues to go about business as usual. The past few weeks have not only been filled with plenty of excitement across the board, but the wins have been coming in bunches, which hasn't been the case most of the year.
That success continued on Saturday, with the Cubs posting a 2-0 record in the evening. That marks twice this week that it has happened, as the regular season will be over before we know it.
The Cubs have had a lot of success against the Bats this week, but most of their games have been battles until the bitter end. This wasn't one of those games, as the Cubs offense jumped on the Bats early and often while the pitching took care of the rest. Riley Thompson has had a rough season, but since moving back into the rotation in late August, he has started pitching his best all season. That continued in this one, with Thompson going five strong innings, allowing just two runs and striking out three. He walked four but escaped trouble as the Cubs pen took over from there. Both of the runs Thompson allowed came in the first inning as a pair of RBI doubles from Levi Jordan, and Edwin Rios made this a 2-0 game. That has been a theme most of the week as former Cubs farmhands have put a hurt on Iowa all week, and that continued to be the case early on. It was all Iowa from there as Casey Kelly was about to get rocked. After holding the Iowa offense scoreless through two, the Cubs bats came to life in the third, scoring seven times the next two innings. Three of those runs came across in the third, with Kevin Alcantara getting the scoring started with an RBI single. Matt Mervis followed that up with a game-tying RBI single, only to have the Trayce Thompson sacrifice fly put the Cubs in front 3-2. One inning later, it was more of the same for the Cubs offense as they added four more runs to open up a 7-2 lead. Moises Ballesteros played a role in that with a massive two-run single to push the Cubs lead to 5-2, with Matt Shaw adding another homer later in the inning to make this a 7-2 game. Matt Shaw reaches the 20-HR plateau in style! Those were the only runs of the game for the Cubs and their offense, but they didn't need any more runs as the Cubs bullpen pitched four strong innings to finish off the bats. Hayden Wesneski played a role in that with a scoreless sixth inning, as did the newest Cub, Jimmy Herget, who struck out one in one inning. Shaw led the Cubs offense with two hits and two RBIs, and Hayden Cantrelle picked up two more hits. FOUR STRAIGHT WINS!!! pic.twitter.com/vwoprb0ShT
This has been a back-and-forth series all week, which could be the case when these teams meet next week in the postseason. Saturday saw the Smokies use pitching to pick up another win as they topped the Barons 2-0. Matt Thompson has been up and down this season, but you could make the case that this was his best outing of the season. Thompson didn't make the start, as Samuel Reyes did, but after two innings, Thompson took over and went five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out six. Opposing the Smokies staff was Noah Schultz who was equally as good by striking out six to go with one run allowed. That run came in the fourth inning as the Haydn McGeary single gave the Smokies a 1-0 lead, proving to be the game-winning run. Haydn McGeary with an RBI single to put the Smokies on the board! It's 1-0 in the bottom of the 4th. @haydnm35 #LastYearBestYear #NextStopWrigley pic.twitter.com/Buuw7fCCHb Had they not scored the rest of the way, this run would've been enough. Still, the Smokies were looking for more as Felix Stevens capped off the scoring with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to close out the 2-0 win. Tennessee had 11 hits in the win, with BJ Murray Jr., Jonathon Long, Luis Verdugo, and Stevens leading the way with two. The Smokies have one game left before the postseason. And they've done it again! | @zips3mincarwashIOWA CUBS 7 - LOUISVILLE BATS 2
106.4 mph EV off the bat of the @Cubs' top-ranked prospect with the Triple-A @IowaCubs, as he becomes the first player in the Chicago farm system with a 20-20 season in 2024. pic.twitter.com/1Wk7UM7PA3
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2 - BIRMINGHAM BARONS 0
Box Score: https://t.co/exMQtIYRNM pic.twitter.com/jxONt8EdMn
