Down on Cubs Farm: Giambrone smacks 20th homer, Dewees's first save,SB wins again, more |
With plenty of exciting games to go around, the Cubs managed to go 5-3 on the evening in what was a busy day on the farm.
IOWA CUBS 5 – San Antonio Missions 4: Once again all eyes were on Iowa as recently demoted Addison Russell returned to AAA in hopes of rediscovering his 2016 form. Tyson Miller struggled yet again failing to make it out of the first inning in this one. However, a late-game rally for Iowa proved to be the difference as they improved to 57-46 with the 5-4 win. The Cubs found themselves down 2-0 in the first after a Mauricio Dubon homer and Tyrone Taylor walk, before the offense erupted for four unanswered runs during the middle innings. That all started in the top of the third when the red-hot Ian Happ continued to mash the ball with an RBI single to put the Cubs on the board. Trent Giambrone got in on the fun the very next inning with a double to tie things up 2-2. Iowa took the lead 4-2 in the sixth as Giambrone continued his excellent night at the dish by mashing his team-leading 20th homer to put the Cubs on top. After fizzling out on offense over the last four innings, San Antonio was able to draw even in the bottom of the sixth when Taylor left the yard for his seventh of the season ahead of a Dubon single to make things 4-4. With a battle of the bullpens the rest of the way, the Cubs were able to cash in during the top of the eighth inning when Dixon Machado picked up what was eventually the game-winning single as Donnie Dewees entered the game in relief to record the save and secure the win. Happ picked up two more hits to push his average to a season-high 242 as his amazing July continued. Jim Adduci joined Happ with a multi-hit effort along with Giambrone who led the way with 3 RBI’s. Mark Zagunis was held hitless as his average dropped to 286. Carl Edwards Jr had a rough night of relief allowing the tying runs in the sixth as his one inning was not what he wanted. Randy Rosario pitched two scoreless frames along with Dillon Maples who registered four more strikeouts. Outfielder Donnie Dewees gets his first career save! That's pretty neat, so he's your @EMCInsurance Player of the Game! pic.twitter.com/jhjoT6ZpRw Closer Donnie Dewees gets it done in the ninth and the I-Cubs win! pic.twitter.com/s75VCY0OPS TENNESSEE SMOKIES 3 – Montgomery Biscuits 4 (9 innings): With a doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday, the Smokies were looking for at the very worst a split with Biscuits. In game one, seven innings were not quite enough as the teams had to play a full-length nine-inning game before the Biscuits emerged victorious 4-3. It was in the second inning when most of the excitement happened as Montgomery plated three runs to take control 3-0. Not to be outdone, the Smokies responded with three runs of their own in that frame as doubles from Charcer Burks and Connor Myers mixed with a Gioskar Amaya sac-fly brought things to even 3-3. That score would hold up until the ninth inning when Wyatt Short yielded the eventual game-winning run on a Jim Haley single to give the Biscuits the game one 4-3 win. TENNESSEE SMOKIES 0 – Montgomery 3: As if losing in extras wasn’t bad enough, the Smokies suffered the doubleheader sweep as they were held to just three hits in the 3-0 loss. Once again, the Smokies elected to go with multiple arms as both Ben Hecht and Thomas Hatch were solid before Oscar De La Cruz took the loss in relief. Without much action throughout the game, all three of the Biscuits runs came in the sixth inning as Josh Lowe delivered the go-ahead and eventual run with a sacrifice fly before Brett Sullivan went deep for his seventh of the season to make things a 3-0 lead. That would be all the offense they would need as Tennessee couldn’t get much going, falling to 43-58 with the two losses. Time to bounce back for Game 2 of tonight's doubleheader. #GoSmokies pic.twitter.com/CBtvS1vDSz MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 – Frederick Keys 5 (10 Innings): Sticking with the extra-inning theme, the Pelicans were able to come out on top at Frederick, as they downed the Keys 6-5 in 10 to improve to 39-62 on the year. It was also their 20th win of the second half, surpassing their entire first-half total. The Pelicans wasted no time getting the offense going as Tyler Payne put them in front 1-0 in the first with an RBI forceout. After cruising along through three frames, Alexander Vargas got touched up big time in the fourth and fifth innings as he yielded five runs over those two frames on the strength of three extra-base hits to put the Pelicans in a big 5-1 hole. With just six outs to go and down four, Myrtle Beach needed to get things going in a hurry, and they did just that in the eighth inning. Once again it was Payne finding himself in the middle of the action as he reached base on a throwing error to bring home a run. A Tyler Durna single shortly after made things a 5-3 game before patience at the plate came into play. Down two with the bases loaded, both Kevonte Mitchell and Carlos Sepulveda earned walks as this game was now 5-5 with the teams headed to extras. Once again Myrtle Beach wasted no time in the extra frame pushing across a run immediately with the Mitchell single to take the lead back 6-5. Garrett Kelly took care of the rest on the mound as he retired the Keys in order in the 10th to pick up the win and give the Pelicans a nice comeback 6-5 victory. Both Mitchell and Durna played vital roles in the win as they both tallied a pair of hits to go with 3 RBI’s. Payne and Cam Balego recorded the other two hits in the win with Delvin Zinn going hitless despite scoring two runs. Miguel Amaya was given the day off yet again. Enrique De Los Rios kept his team in the game delivering three scoreless frames of relief to bring his ERA to 2.04. Last Night Recap: SOUTH BEND CUBS 8 – Lake County Captains 2: For the Cubs to make the playoffs, they need to take care of the teams they are chasing the rest of the way. Lake County happened to be one of those teams as the Cubs offense erupted for seven runs early before cruising to the 8-2 win. Five of those runs came in the second inning as their offense was feeling it early. It was the bottom of the order generating the power as Jonathan Sierra opened the scoring with a single to give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Looking to advance runners over, Rafael Narea dropped down a sacrifice bunt but with a throwing error on the same play two more runs came across to score to stretch the lead to 3-0. Yonthan Perlaza and D.J Artis capped off the scoring in that inning with a pair of RBI singles to push the lead to 5-0 after two. South Bend was just getting started as their offense was back at it again in the third with a Narea double to push the lead to 7-0. It wasn’t until the sixth inning when the Captains were able to break through as Bo Naylor put an end to the shutout bid with an RBI single to make things a 7-1 game. Lake County brought home another run in the eighth with a Ruben Cardenas groundout, but it was Marcus Mastrobuoni plating the games final run in the bottom of the eighth with a double to give the Cubs an 8-2 win. South Bend is now 52-47 on the season as they know this series is essential for their playoff push. Both Sierra and Artis were the table setters in this collecting two hits each to go with one RBI each. The bottom of the order is where the most damage came from as they combined for four of the teams eight RBI’s with two coming from Narea. Cole Roederer went 1-2 in the game but managed to reach base three times adding a pair of walks to his resume. CUBS WIN! pic.twitter.com/qcuE8ZyKzf
?? #BirdsWin in 10, 6-5
?? @_KevonteM singled in the go-ahead run
?? @gknumber28 earned the W with 2 scoreless
The three-game series against the Keys wraps up with a 12:00 PM first pitch today, @zachbigs has the call.#MBPelicans | #GoBirds pic.twitter.com/U89bvcrUrm
EUGENE EMERALDS 8 – Boise Hawks 3: The misery of two straight shutouts came to an end as the -Emeralds busted out the bats in an 8-3 win to improve to 17-23 for the season. Top pick Ryan Jensen continues to flash his potential by earning the start and tossing two scoreless frames with just 1BB and four more punchouts. He has been sensational in his last two outings as he lowered his ERA to 1.93.
It was only a matter of time before the Ems would break out of their slump and Chase Strumpf made sure to do that with an RBI double in the first to put the Ems on top for good 1-0. Eugene extended that lead in the third when Caleb Knight crushed his second homer of the season before Jake Slaughter built on his RBI lead with a triple to push the lead to 3-0.
Boise managed to make a game of things in the top of the fourth using a bases-loaded walk to get on the board ahead of the Daniel Cope grounder to close the gap to 3-2. Looking for the knockout blow, Eugene took those two runs right back with Knight delivering the game-winning RBI single ahead of a Darius Hill single for the 5-2 lead through four.
Now up 5-3 in the sixth, Hill picked up another RBI single to stretch the lead to 6-3 as the Emeralds scored another run on a wild pitch to go up 7-3. Edmond Americaan capped off the scoring in the eighth with a single as the Ems were in control throughout 8-3.
Hill made a case to stay in the leadoff role in this one, going 4-5 with two RBI’s in the win. Knight also had a strong game with two RBI’s himself to go with a pair of hits as Americaan joined him with another multi-hit effort. Both Slaughter and Strumpf collected one hit to go with an RBI each in the win.
DSL CUBS (1) 0 – DSL INDIANS 6: It was a quiet afternoon for DSL Cubs 1, as they managed just five hits in a 6-0 loss dropping to 22-23 on the year. Three of those five hits came from Yohendrick Pinango as the 17-year-old Venezuelan prospect is hitting a 348 this season.
On the mound, the Cubs found themselves down big early as Andricson Salvador, and Luis Marte yielded all six runs with five of them earned through five innings as the Cubs were in a huge hole. The one positive on the mound came from Francisco Fermin as his ERA fell to 1.34 with three more scoreless frames, collecting six K’s in the process.
DSL CUBS (2) 5 – DSL Phillies (white) 12: The DSL 2 Cubs didn’t have any better luck as they fell to 27-18 following a 12-5 beatdown to the Phillies (white). Most of the Phillies damage came in both the second and seventh innings as both of those frames provided four runs each which was plenty to prevail in the victory.
With just five hits in the game, the Cubs had to make them count as Felix Stevens picked up two more RBI’s with a double bringing his total to 19 so far. 16-year-old Lizardo Ruiz also added two RBI’s with a single while Jose Lopez picked up the team’s other RBI with a single.
Both Wilfri Figuereo and Yovanny Cabrera were strong on the mound tossing 4 2/3 innings of 1ER ball, but it was not nearly enough. Gregori Montano took the loss.
