Cubs Minor League News |
The ACL Cubs were the only team officially off on Saturday, but with a rainout between South Bend and Wisconsin, there wasn't a ton of action.
With Both DSL Teams facing off again, only four games counted towards a win-and-loss record as the Cubs limped to a 1-3 finish. Some of the losses were very well-played games, but you also had some that were ugly from the start.
One of those ugly games came in AAA, where the Mud Hens hammered the Cubs. Things didn't start that bad with Michael Rucker starting and giving the Cubs three scoreless innings before the bullpen came in and imploded for 19 runs in six innings. Jake Slaughter opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as he connected for his 18th homer and a 1-0 lead. Jake Slaughter's team-leading 18th home run of the year puts us in front! pic.twitter.com/xBPQOISCFe The next inning saw Jared Young come through with an RBI as the Cubs opened up a 3-0 lead. Jared Young grows our lead to 3-0 with this two-run double. pic.twitter.com/UDfQGFLCl2 That was the biggest lead they would have as Tyler Nevin pushed across the game's first run for Toledo in the fourth while a Corey Joyce single and a pair of bases-loaded walks gave the Mud Hens a 4-3 lead in the fifth. Immediately following the three-run fifth by Toledo, Edwin Rios put the Cubs back in front as he crushed a two-run shot to make things 5-4. Home runs were the theme for the next few innings as a pair of long balls from Michael Papierski and Parker Meadows gave the Mud Hens an 8-5 lead in the top of the sixth, with PJ Higgins homering to make things 8-7 in the bottom of the sixth. P.J. Higgins goes 412 feet to bring us back within a run! pic.twitter.com/wxwIidTvSu Toledo extended their lead in the top of the seventh as a pair of sacrifice flies brought home two runs with an RBI double, making things 12-7. Toledo would add seven more runs across the final two innings as they would pull away for the 19-8 win. Higgins led the offense with three hits and two RBIs, while Matt Mervis, Alexander Canario, and Rios had two-hit games. Re: Canario - When I first saw him this year in Beloit at the end of June, he did not look 100%. I could tell his timing was not 100% and the front foot plant was somewhat tentative. Fast forward to Iowa...He looks much more confident in planting that leg and driving the ball. pic.twitter.com/Ct6USXts89
The second of the ugly games was game one of a AA doubleheader, where the Lookouts jumped all over the Smokies. Manuel Espinoza lasted just one inning after allowing four runs as that set the tone for the rest of the way. Rece Hinds opened the scoring in the top of the first as he crushed a three-run shot to make things 3-0 in the first. Alex McGarry added a two-run single in the top of the second to extend the lead to 5-0 as the Smokies were searching for some early answers. Another Hinds homer extended the lead to 7-0 in the fourth before he added an additional RBI single in the fifth to help the Lookouts open up a 10-0 lead. It took five innings for the Smokies to get on the board as a Scott McKeon RBI forceout made things 10-1. The Lookouts added two more runs the next two frames before a Jordan Nwogu solo shot ended the scoring in the bottom of the seventh to make things 12-2.
Sparked by a massive four-run second inning, the Smokies opened up a big lead and returned the favor with a 7-4 win. Samuel Reyes started things off and allowed two runs in three innings while striking out five. Zac Leigh and Joe Nahas followed him up as they gave the Smokies two innings each. Trailing 1-0 after an error in the first inning, the Smokies tied things up in the bottom of the first on a double play ball from Haydn McGeary. One inning later saw their offense kick it into gear with Bradlee Beesley putting the Smokies in front for good, 3-1. A Levi Jordan single followed that up to make things 4-1 with a Cole Roederer sacrifice fly, making things 5-1. After Ivan Johnson made things 5-2 with an RBI single in the top half of the fourth, McGeary closed out the scoring for Tennessee in the bottom of the fourth as his two-run shot made things 7-2. The Lookouts would add a pair of runs in the seventh, with one coming off an error and another off the McGarry single, as they fell to the Smokies 7-4. Beesley, McGeary, and Jordan paced the offense with two hits and were responsible for five of the seven RBIs. Smokies split the twin bill with the Lookouts on a Saturday night. See you tomorrow for the series' finale! | @zips3mincarwash pic.twitter.com/1lDN79Ou1h
Due to the inclement weather, today's game has been postponed.
This has been a rough week for the Pelicans, and it got worse on Saturday as they dropped another one to the Wood Ducks 3-2. Drew Gray got the start and gave the Pelicans three strong innings on the mound striking out five and allowing two runs. Opposing him was Kohl Drake, who matched Gray pitch for pitch and allowed two runs in 4 2/3 with five strikeouts. Anthony Gutierrez opened the scoring in the second inning as his RBI single gave the Wood Ducks an early 1-0 lead. The Pelicans tied things up with a wild pitch in the top half of the third, only to have Down East retake the lead on a wild pitch from Gray. Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Ismael Mena came through with an RBI double as his recent stretch of hot play continued. Like in the third, when they tied up the game the first time, the Wood Ducks answered with a run of their own as Tommy Specht picked up the game-winning RBI double to lead the Wood Ducks to a 3-2 win. The Pelicans had five hits in the loss, with Mena and Miguel Pabon leading the way with two. Pedro Ramirez had the other hit. Series finale tomorrow.#MBPelicans | #NextStartsHere pic.twitter.com/nhAtPHfD1q
Don't look now, but the DSL Red squad is inching closer to .500 after struggling out of the gates this season. They continued their quest with a win over DSL Blue, using a five-run fifth inning to power past their friends. Diego Dugarte and Zhiorman Imbriano made the starts, each holding their counterparts scoreless. Once the fourth inning rolled around, the DSL Red offense broke through as a balk led to the game's first run. In the fifth inning, their offense went wild as Andres Bonolis doubled the lead at 2-0, with Elizaul Chalas tripling home a pair to extend the lead to 4-0. An error later in the inning pushed the lead to 5-0, with Andrws Cruz capping off the inning with a groundout to give the DSL Red squad a 6-0 lead. Chalas drove home the game's final run with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth as the DSL Red squad rolled past DSL Blue 7-0.TOLEDO MUD HENS 19 -IOWA CUBS 8
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) August 6, 2023
CHATANOOGA LOOKOUTS 12 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 7 - CHATANOOGA LOOKOUTS 4
SOUTH BEND CUBS vs. WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS (Postponed)
The #SBCubs and @TimberRattlers will play a 7-inning doubleheader Sunday. Gates open at Noon with 1st pitch at 1:05 PM. Game 2 will begin approximately 40 minutes after game 1 concludes. pic.twitter.com/RvKXMil3eJDOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS 3 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 2
DSL RED CUBS 7 - DSL BLUE CUBS 0