Cubs Minor League News: Murray and Ballesteros homer, Stevens crushes grand slam, more |
Although this was a short weekend for the full-season squads, it was a very successful weekend nonetheless. The Cubs closed out their week of competition with a 3-1 record. They look to build on that, as several of the draft picks have officially signed their contracts and will soon be moving their way through the system.
It was a day of firsts for Connor Noland as the right-hander made his first career AAA start on Sunday. Not only that, but he delivered in a big way and then some as he tossed five shutout innings of three-hit baseball, walking one and striking out two to earn his first career AAA win. He also lowered his ERA to 2.37 for the season, as he has been on quite a roll lately. Connor "No Runs" Noland! Quite the Triple-A debut for our guy this afternoon. @cnoland_13 has now thrown 14 straight scoreless innings between Double-A Tennessee and Iowa! pic.twitter.com/7kltosYMvG Facing off against Victor Santos, who was roughed up in his four innings, the Cubs needed just two big hits to get the job done, with the first one coming off the bat of BJ Murray Jr, who clubbed a three-run shot in the first to put the Cubs in front 3-0. BJ MURRAY JR.! THREE-RUN JACK IN THE FIRST! pic.twitter.com/uhcE2R57sp They would never trail as the next big hit came from Moises Ballesteros, who left the yard for the second time this weekend in the third inning to put the Cubs in front 4-0. Moises Ballesteros (@Cubs) flexes on his second opposite-field homer of the weekend 💪 That would be all the offense they would need as Noland was locked in for his first AAA start and gave the Cubs five shutout frames before handing things off to the pen. They did their best to give the game away, with former Cub Jared Young ripping an RBI double in the eighth to make things 4-1 before he came in to score on a Nick Dunn double. One inning later, the Redbirds pulled within 4-3 on the Ivan Herrera single, but that was as close as they would get with the Cubs holding on 4-3. Six different players had one hit for the Cubs in the win. Along with Noland, Trey Supak continued to pitch well as he notched two more scoreless innings of relief. Sunday W, series W! Back home on Tuesday night. pic.twitter.com/vtyFBLQSLk
After picking up a dramatic 7-6 win in their completed game from Saturday, the Smokies used a four-run third inning to break things wide open as they cruised to another win and opened up a two-game lead in the standings. This was a bullpen game for Smokies, with Blake Whitney getting the start and lasting two innings before Joe Nahas took over for three scoreless, striking out four in the process. The lone run of the game for Rocket City came on a Tucker Flint homer as the Trash Pandas took the quick 1-0 lead. That would be all they would be able to do offensively as the Smokies offense put a ton of pressure on Sam Bachman, who didn't even make it out of the third inning. After tying the game on a bases-loaded walk from Haydn McGeary in the second, the Felix Stevens grand slam in the third broke the game open and put Tennessee on top for good, 5-1. A GRAND SLAM FROM FELIX STEVENS TO TAKE THE LEAD! #LastYearBestYear #NextStopWrigley pic.twitter.com/UxMY26gN47 Tennessee would add two more runs in the sixth, with the first one coming off an error and the last one coming off the Christian Franklin single as they capped off the de-facto doubleheader sweep 7-1. Franklin and McGeary led the way with two hits and combined for two RBIs, while Tennessee had seven hits in the win. Recently promoted Jonathon Long also reached base three times as he took two walks and picked up a hit. Nothing better than 2 wins in one day! | @zips3mincarwash
What looked to be a promising start to the game turned sour quickly, as the six-run third inning did the Cubs in during a 12-2 loss. Grant Kipp was the victim of that massive inning, as he was touched up for seven runs in just 2 2/3 innings. The bullpen wasn't much better, as they allowed five runs, but three of them came off of errors, so their final line isn't that bad. Regardless, Ethan Bosacker was locked in as he got through five innings, allowing two runs and striking out six. Anytime you score first in a game, your chances of winning significantly increase as an Ethan Hearn double in the first put the Cubs in front 1-0. Ethan Hearn smacks a 2-out RBI double, 1-0 Cubs in the 1st! pic.twitter.com/lB9gVEIJ0Y Quad Cities tied things up in the second on a sacrifice fly only to have the Jordan Nwogu homer put South Bend back in front 2-1 entering the third. That's a go-ahead @hoosierlottery 💣 from Jordan Nwogu! pic.twitter.com/ZcruYnWtVG Little did they know that those would be the only runs they would score while the Quad Cities offense was set to erupt for a massive six-run inning to open up the 7-2 lead. Jared Dickey started that inning with a game-tying solo shot before the Spencer Nivens single put the River Bandits on top for good, 3-2. Quad Cities added a pair of two-run doubles from Justin Johnson and Kyle Hayes as the Cubs were down 7-2. Things only got worse from there for South Bend as a costly fielding error led to three runs in the sixth inning, while the Deivis Nadal homer capped off the scoring in the seventh as Quad Cities rolled 12-2. South Bend had seven hits in the game, and all seven came from three players, with Pedro Ramirez leading the way with three. Hearn and Nwogu added the remaining four hits for the Cubs. Final Score:
If you are a fan of pitching, then this was the game for you as the Fireflies avoided the sweep with a 1-0 win. This was one of those games where you wanted to score early, as Mother Nature forced this game to end after five innings, halting any attempt at a comeback. JP Wheat got the start and, despite some command issues, managed to keep the Fireflies off the board before handing things off to Sam Thoreson and the rest of the Pelicans' pen. The lone run of the game came in the fourth inning off a Kenyi Perez wild pitch, which was all Mauricio Velez needed, as he struck out two in his four shutout innings. Tonight’s game has been called in the fifth inning.IOWA CUBS 4 - MEMPHIS REDBIRDS 3
MLB's No. 59 prospect is batting .305 with an .876 OPS for the Triple-A @IowaCubs. pic.twitter.com/RhPntNOaZd
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 7 - ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 1
Box Score: https://t.co/SmnSbwMwsr pic.twitter.com/ST15ipzDAFQUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS 12 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2
Cubs - 2
River Bandits - 12 pic.twitter.com/nL5lnXZr5tCOLUMBIA FIREFLIES 1 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0 (F/5)
We’re back at home Tuesday against the Augusta GreenJackets.#MBPelicans pic.twitter.com/FqCfJ2aEBj
