Cubs Minor League News: Mervis smacks homer, Hicks raking,Thompson impressive, more |
With South Bend and Myrtle Beach on a travel day, Wednesday was a much quieter night on the diamond as only two teams were in action. Despite that, the Cubs had great results across the board as they posted a 2-0 record, with one game revolving around pitching and the other around hitting.
The Iowa offense came to play Wednesday as they doubled up the Redbirds 10-5 for the win. Most of the damage done came across two innings where they scored seven total runs, but they also added on when they needed to. Matt Swarmer got the start, and it had it not been for a high pitch count, he would have gotten the win. Swarmer allowed two runs, one earned in four innings of work with five strikeouts, as his 83 pitches forced him out of the game earlier than he would have liked. Not only did Swarmer fall behind in the first after the Juan Yepez RBI double, but add in the Austin Allen homer in the second, and Iowa was trailing 2-0 early. Outside of that, Swarmer was very good, and the Cubs rewarded him with a big second inning to get him off the hook. Trent Giambrone got Iowa on the board with an RBI groundout, but the Scott McKeon single put Iowa in front 3-2 and capped off a three-run frame. The Cubs extended their lead to 4-2 with an Esteban Quiroz homer in the fourth, only to have Memphis pull within 4-3 in the next inning. Holding a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth, the Cubs offense picked a great time to erupt as they used a four-run inning to bust the game open. A bases-loaded double from John Hicks brought home three of those runs, while the Brennen Davis single made things 8-3. John Hicks clears the bases with this double down the line to grow our lead! pic.twitter.com/hvuD52quIV Mervis added another homer in the sixth and is now just two home runs off the minor league lead as the Cubs took care of business 10-5. Matt Mervis clubs his third home run in his last four games! ?? pic.twitter.com/GDHxwSLG1T Davis was one of five players to record multiple hits joining McKeon, Darius Hill, Levi Jordan, and Mervis. Cam Sanders had a great outing out of the pen as he tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames and continues to evolve since moving to the pen. A Wednesday win for the I-Cubs! pic.twitter.com/cipB0rTQmz
If the Smokies want to gain momentum heading into the playoffs, now would be the time to do so. With Riley Thompson doing his thing on the mound again and an offense that came through with timely hits, the Smokies evened things up in the series. Thompson went five innings allowing just one hit and five strikeouts, as he has now gone three games (15 consecutive) innings without allowing a run. That is excellent news with the playoffs around the corner, but when Harrison Wenson spots you with two runs in the second, it does make life easier. Tennessee would add a fourth-inning run on a double play before going four innings without scoring. With Bailey Horn doing his thing and striking out five out of a possible six batters, the Smokies offense came up huge when it mattered. Yonathan Perlaza extended the lead to 4-0 with an RBI single before the Nelson Maldonado sacrifice fly gave the Smokies a 5-0 lead. The Lookouts did manage to score twice over their final two at-bats, but still fell 5-2. Perlaza led the offense with two hits. Riley Thompson goes 5IP, with 1H, 5K, 0ER as the Smokies beat the Lookouts 5-2! pic.twitter.com/g11l1LF9jLIOWA CUBS 10 - MEMPHIS RED BIRDS 5
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 5 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 2
