Cubs Minor League News: Stevens and Quintero with three hits each, Garcia impressive, more |
With the Cubs getting postponed on Monday night, there wasn't much baseball action to follow unless you follow Rookie League ball. If you haven't been following them this season, where have you been? While all the full-season teams are off on Monday's Rookie League is not as this is the one day where they can take center stage.
Despite posting a winless 0-2 record for the day, there was plenty of good baseball to witness as all three games in action were close and competitive. That's right; I did say three games as one of the games was suspended in the early going and will be completed later this week.
You have to give the Diamondbacks a ton of credit as they scored all 11 of their runs after the second inning, with five of them coming in the final two innings to secure the win. Pitching has been an issue at times for the Cubs this summer, but Porter Hodge did his best to give the Cubs a strong start. Hodge was charged with three runs on five hits in his four innings, with only two of those runs earned. He walked none and struck out six. The Cubs were the first to get on the board, with Liam Spence picking up an RBI single only to see the Diamondbacks answer with a Juan Corniel sacrifice fly and a Shane Muntz double in the third to jump in front 2-1. They were able to push their lead to 3-1 in the fourth as Alvin Guzman connected for his first homer of the season. That 3-1 lead didn't last long as the Cubs bats came to life in the bottom of the fourth. Led by a Felix Stevens RBI single to get things started, the Cubs offense pushed across five runs to take a 6-3 lead. Ismael Mena tied things up with a sacrifice fly before Bradlee Beesley connected for the big three-run shot to put the Cubs on top. Refusing to go down without a fight, the Diamondbacks pulled within 6-5 the next two innings, with Corniel picking up a sacrifice fly in the fifth before a wild pitch in the sixth brought home another run. Looking to build on their lead, the Cubs did just that with Malcom Quintero connecting for an RBI double in the sixth ahead of another Mena sacrifice fly, putting the Cubs up three 8-5. A Corniel double in the seventh made things 8-6 before Kevin Alcantara went deep for his first homer with the Cubs putting the Cubs up 9-6. Up 9-7 after Guzman went deep in the eighth, the Cubs were looking to close the Diamondbacks out in the ninth. Instead, the Diamondbacks had the last laugh pushing across four runs to take an 11-9 lead. Daniel Sanabria tied things up with an RBI single before another wild pitch had the Cubs trailing. Jefferson Espinal added an RBI single later in the inning to gap off the scoring and gave the Diamondbacks a solid 11-9 comeback win. Stevens was a man on a mission at the plate, collecting a team-high three hits to go with his RBI. He was joined by Malcom Quintero and his three hits, with Alcantara adding two of his own. Mena and Beesley did a ton of damage from the top of the lineup combining for five RBIs.
While the offense was the story once again in the ACL league, runs have been hard to come by for the DSL teams, and that was once again the case Monday. Despite a great start by Carlos Garcia, who gave the Cubs four shutout innings, the offense was held in check as they fell to the Phillies 4-1. Not only was Garcia good, but the Phillies were able to match him pitch for pitch as the two teams were scoreless through five. That all changed in the sixth when the Phillies not only scored first, but used a big inning to put the Cubs in a hole they couldn't climb out of. With Albert Rodriguez putting the Phillies on top for good with his RBI single, it was the Jehisbert Sevilla RBI triple that proved to be the difference as two runners crossed home to make things 3-0. That triple proved to be extremely crucial, especially when you look at the top of the seventh when Anderson Suriel picked up an RBI groundout to pull within 3-1. Unfortunately, that would be all the offense for the Cubs in this one as the Phillies added to their lead with another run later, which was more than enough to win 4-1. One of the most challenging things to watch about DSL Red is they continue to hit the ball but can't score, and once again, they outhit their opponents. Pedro Ramirez Gouri Lubo led the offense with two hits, while Suriel and Brayan Altuve had the final two hits. Moises Ballesteros was held hitless but is still hitting .302 for the year.
Although they have the worst of the two DSL records at 6-12, DSL Blue has been playing much better baseball of late and looked to continue that is week. With Cristian Rojas on the mound, the Cubs got two innings of work for him and watched him allow one run as his ERA remains under 2.00. The two sides didn't even get through two innings before the game was suspended, as it will be completed on Wednesday. The lone run that Rojas allowed came in the first inning when Santiago Millan picked up a sacrifice fly to give the Rays the lead. The Cubs answered in the bottom of the first using a Frank Hernandez RBI groundout to tie things up before a stolen base and throwing error allowed for another run to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead before the suspension.ACL DIAMONDBACKS 11- ACL CUBS 9
DSL PHILLIES 4 – DSL CUBS RED 1
DSL CUBS BLUE 2 – DSL RAYS 1 (suspended in the second)
