Down on Cubs Farm: SB wins with huge inning, Ems shutout, Rookie league takes all |
With the top affiliate levels off on Monday, focus shifted to the lower level leagues as those teams continue to battle this season. For the most part, we saw plenty of positive things as the Cubs managed to go 5-2 on the day with the Rookie league going a perfect 4-0.
IOWA CUBS: Off Travel Day to San Antonio TENNESSEE SMOKIES: Postponed, Doubleheader for Wednesday MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 1 – Salem Red Sox 5: After completing their suspended game with a 6-1 win, the Pels took on the Red Sox in their regularly scheduled contest which was now a seven-inning game. Erich Uelmen (4-3) got the ball in this one and labored through five innings of 3ER ball to take the loss as the Pelicans managed just one run in the contest falling 5-1. With Salem in front 1-0 after the Pedro Castellanos triple in the first, it was Charlie Madden that put them in front for good in the fourth inning as his two-run single made things a 3-0 game with the Red Sox never looking back. Madden was just getting started in the game as he added another RBI single in the top half of the sixth to push the lead to 5-0. Despite putting runners in scoring position in three of the first five innings, Myrtle Beach was held scoreless as they needed offense in a hurry with just six outs to work with. Look no further than Miguel Amaya picking up a one-out double in the sixth to once again put a man in scoring position. With Jimmy Herron at the plate, a routine grounder turned into a fielding error as the Pels were finally on the board 5-1. Down to their final outs, Grant Fennell led things off in the seventh with a leadoff double before a two-out single from Delvin Zinn moved him to third. The late Myrtle Beach rally stalled there as they fell 5-1 to the Red Sox and sit at 38-61 for the year. Both Zinn and Tyler Payne had good nights at the plate collecting two hits each for the Pelicans. Cam Balego, Fennell and Amaya added the teams other three hits with Amaya also reaching base on a hit by pitch. Tyler Durna was 0-3. SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 – Beloit Snappers 4: South Bend was able to end their Wisconsin trip on a positive note as Riley Thompson (6-5) was backed by his team's six-run sixth inning to pick up the win in a 6-4 triumph. Thompson may have allowed 4 R in his five innings of work, but only one of those runs was earned as his ERA falls to 2.78 on the season. South Bend didn’t do their pitcher any favors in the second inning as an error allowed for the inning to get extended in which Anthony Churlin made them pay with a two-run double and early 2-0 lead. Add in a passed ball later in that inning, and the Snappers took a 3-0 lead into the third before a fifth-inning homer from Devin Foyle pushed the lead to 4-0. Looking for some instant offense, the South Bend bats came to life in a big way as they needed only one inning to win this game. Fidel Mejia got the scoring started in the sixth with his second homer of the season to cut the deficit in half 4-2. With a pair of runners on base, Rafelin Lorenzo ripped a single to make things a 4-3 game before Yonathan Perlaza tied things up with an RBI groundout. With traffic still on the base paths, South Bend continued to keep the pressure on as both Rafael Narea, and Clayton Daniel delivered RBI hits to cap off the six-run frame with the Cubs now in front 6-4 and their bullpen set to take over. With Ivan Medina tossing three perfect frames to bring his ERA to 1.02 on the season Carlos Vega took over in the ninth to seal the deal with his first save as the Cubs improve to 51-47 with a 6-4 win. Both Daniel and Narea were the leaders on offense, collecting two hits each to go with their go-ahead RBI’s. Lorenzo, Mejia and Luke Reynolds added the other three hits for South Bend as they picked up seven in the game. Cole Roederer went 0-2 but managed to take two walks and picked up his 10th steal of the season. EUGENE EMERALDS 0 – Hillsboro Hops 4: There was not much going on for Eugene on Monday as they managed just three hits in 4 -0 shut out loss to the Hops. Eduarniel Nunez got the start and lasted only 2/3 of an inning as a passed ball and an RBI double from Andy Yerzy put the Hops in front 2-0 as they never looked back. Now in the fourth, it was Chris Allen in his second of four innings of work as the lead grew to 3-0 on a Ricky Martinez single. With the Lead now 4-0 following a seventh-inning balk, the Emeralds were down to their final outs as they still had a zero on the scoreboard. Eugene also failed to put any runners in scoring position after the first inning but that all changed when Edmond Americaan picked up a one-out double in the ninth hoping to start a rally. It was not meant to be for Eugene as the next two hitters were called out on strikes to end the game with Eugene falling 4-0 and are now 16-22 for the year. Eugene had only three hits with Americaan, Nelson Maldonado and Luis Vazquez recording those hits. Fernando Kelli had a day to forget as he not only went 0-4 but had 4 K’s. Jake Slaughter was also 0-4 with a pair of Ks of his own. Brandon Hughes made his season debut out of the pen and was the lone pitcher to not yield a run in his 1 1/3 inning outing. DSL CUBS (2) 3 – DSL DBacks (2) 0: It was a rather impressive day for the 27-16 DSL Cubs 2 as they picked up the 3-0 shutout win. Not only was that impressive enough but the combination of Kelvin Feliz, Alejandro Carrillo, and Marcos Encarnacion allowed just one hit in the victory. Offensively speaking, all three runs came across to score in the eighth inning when Felix Stevens connected for the three-run shot and his third homer of the season. The arms took care of the rest in the win. Stevens along with Ronny Simon led the way with two hits each as Stevens provided all the offense they needed in the win. DSL CUBS (1) 6 – DSL Indians/Brewers 5: DSL Cubs 1 crept closer to the .500 mark as they improved to 21-22 following a 6-5 walk-off win. Most of the damage came early on as the Cubs picked up five runs in the first three innings before scoring late. Already down 3-0 in the bottom of the second, DSL Cubs evened things up as a Nestor Heredia sacrifice fly and Brailin Pena single capped off a three-run frame with the score now 3-3. The Cubs took the lead just one inning later when Jeinser Brete ripped a single of his own to score two more and seize the 5-3 advantage. That lead was short-lived as the Co-op team of Indians and Brewers responded in the top of the fifth with an Isaac Curbata single and just like that, we had a 5-5 game. Down to their final at-bats in the ninth and still tied 5-5 the Cubs managed to get the last laugh when Yohendrick Pinango came through with a clutch single to walk off the Indians/Brewers for the 6-5 win. Pinango had the hot hand in this going 3-5 in the game and delivering the game-winning blow. Brett, Cristian More, and Pena all added multi-hit games with Pena and Brete adding four RBI’s. Luis Valenzuela dropped his ERA to 1.29 after two scoreless frames. AZL CUBS (1) 7 – AZL Royals 3: AZL Cubs 1 are now 15-13 on the season as they picked up a 7-3 win on Monday. With Misael Garcia and Raidel Orta combining for seven strong innings, it was Orta picking up the win as his ERA is now an even 1.00 in the Arizona League. After a scoreless first two frames, the Cubs bats came to life in the third with Ervis Marchan picking up the RBI single for the 1-0 lead. That lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth when both Pedro Martinez and Fabian Pertuz added RBI’s before the Royals closed the gap to 3-2 on a Paul Mondesi single and Edickson Soto sacrifice fly. The Cubs put the game away in the next three innings pushing across four more runs to take the 6-2 lead. Ezequiel Pagan and Oswaldo Pena picked up RBI’s in the fifth inning without recording a hit before Ethan Hearn added an RBI groundout in the sixth. Mondesi made things a 6-3 game with an error in the sixth before AZL Cubs capped off the scoring in the seventh on an error to win 7-3. Pagan, Martinez and Yovanny Cuevas all had multi-hit nights as the Cubs recorded 11 hits in the game. Hearn was the lone batter without a hit in the game. Shane Combs tossed two scoreless frames to end the game dropping his ERA to a 1.69. AZL CUBS (2) 7 – AZL Giants (Black) 3: The AZL 2 Cubs moved to 13-15 on the season as they matched AZL Cubs 1 with a 7-3 win in the rain shortened victory. After Luis Verdugo gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first off, a double, the Giants responded with a pair of runs in the fifth to take the lead 2-1. The Cubs evened things up 2-2 on an Alexander Guerra sacrifice fly before the bats busted things open in the sixth. Looking to take control, the Cubs stormed in front with a five-run sixth inning to take what was a tie game and flip it to a blowout. In that inning, the Cubs received production from all over the line up with Richard Nunez putting the Cubs on top for good with his first homer of the season. A Bryce Windham double proved to be the game-winning RBI as Josue Huma, and Verdugo added RBI hits to make things 6-2. An error later that inning allowed Guerra to reach capping off the sixth in front 7-2. The Giants managed to get one of those runs back in the seventh on a Carter Aldrete single, but that was it as lightning ended things early with the Cubs prevailing 7-3. Verdugo played a huge role in the win, collecting a pair of hits to go with two RBI’s. Luis Ramos was impressive through 4 2/3 innings despite battling with command issues throughout. He allowed just 2 R with none of those runs earned in an ND effort as Alex Moore picked up his first win of the season in relief.
