Cubs Minor League News: Cubs goes 2-1 in Rookie League action

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Tue Aug 02 07:37:09 GMT-05:00 2022

Take a good look at these Minor League rosters because, in roughly 10 hours, things could look drastically different. Whether it be through trades with new pieces coming into play, or players moving through the system due to trades, one thing is certain. There will be a lot of changes to the Cubs roster by the time Tuesday evening rolls around.

That will affect the Rookie Leagues as much as the full-season leagues, and we have seen that in recent weeks. Most recently, fast-rising catching prospect Moises Ballesteros is no longer with the ACL Cubs as he has been promoted to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Cristian Hernandez will surely follow at some point which will be an exciting time for Cubs fans.

ACL CUBS 14 - ACL BREWERS 0

Whoever this Cubs team has been since the All-Star break, please don't go away as they have been a completely different-looking group. When it comes to their performance against the Brewers, they left no doubt who was going to win this game as the Cubs jumped on them early and often.

Four pitchers combined to allow two hits while walking and striking out four in seven innings of work. From an offensive side, a lot of the damage came in the second inning when the Cubs scored six times to take a 7-0 lead. The first two runs came on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Rafael Morel before Esteban Quiroz took a bases-loaded walk.

Two-run doubles from Miguel Fabrizio and Pedro Ramirez followed that up as the Cubs were up big early. Moving to the fifth, you had Hernandez and Raino Coran picking up RBI singles with a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 10-0 before adding four more runs in the sixth. Anderson Suriel and Christian Olivo picked up RBI singles, with Morel adding a bases-loaded walk and Hernandez picking up a sacrifice fly.

DSL KC 7 - DSL CUBS RED 0

While things were smooth sailing for the ACL Cubs, DSL Red had a rough go of things as they were held to just seven hits in a 7-0 loss. Command was an issue all day for Cubs pitchers as they walked 12 batters compared to 10 strikeouts. That is what makes this loss sting more as they only allowed six hits and didn't make life easy for themselves.

KC took the lead for good in the first, pushing across three runs to make things 3-0. Jairo Mendez had the big hit in that inning, delivering a two-run single. After Keine Urdaneta added a sacrifice fly in the second to push the lead to 4-0, it was the KC offense going to work again in the fifth as they busted things wide open.

Granted, two of those runs came without a hit; Yosmi Fernandez picked up an RBI hit as KC made quick work of the Cubs 7-0. Adan Sanchez had a great day at the plate as he went 3-3 and added a walk to reach all four times.

DSL CUBS BLUE 7 - DSL METS 3

Led by a complete team effort, the Cubs managed to go 2-1 on Monday with DSL Blue topping the Mets. Yafrerlyn Vasquez set the tone on the mound as he gave the Cubs four scoreless innings before the pen took over. Jose Escobar not only backed him with some first-inning run support with an RBI triple, but was part of a three-run third inning using a two-run double to make things 3-0. Geuri Lubo brought home Escobar later in that inning on a single as the Cubs were up 4-0 early.

Still holding that lead in the fifth, it was Jostyn Almonte cutting the deficit in half as his RBI single made things 4-2. With both teams exchanging runs in the sixth and seventh innings to keep things 5-3, the Cubs pulled away in the ninth with Jefferson Rojas grabbing an RBI single mixed with the Lubo RBI forceout to take the 7-3 win. Escobar got out of the gates hot, picking up two hits and three RBIs in his first two at-bats to lead the way. Rojas joined him with two hits, while Lubo added two RBIs for the offense.