Cubs Minor League News: Madrigal homers, 10 players get a hit for SB, Kipp with gem, more

Cubs Minor League News: Madrigal homers, 10 players get a hit for SB, Kipp with gem, more
by - Senior Writer - Wed May 31 10:00:32 GMT-04:00 2023

Tuesday was not your typical Minor League day, as only three of the four teams were in action. That was because Tennessee had a rare game against Chattanooga on Monday and chose Tuesday as their off day. Of the three teams in action, only two of the games went final as Iowa saw their game with Columbus suspended in the fourth and will be continued on Wednesday.

With only two completed games, the action was much easier to follow as one game was dominated by pitching and the other by hitting. That alone saw the organization post a 1-1 record on Tuesday, as the rest of this week should be back to normal, weather permitting.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 2 - IOWA CUBS 1 (suspended in the fourth)

After news broke that Hayden Wesneski was getting promoted back to the bigs, Iowa was left with a hole in their rotation and had to figure out what to do for Tuesday. The answer was going back to Riley Thompson, who made his first start in three weeks. Thompson was far from perfect, but through three innings, he allowed two runs on two hits to keep his team in it.

The big issue for him, and the Cubs for that matter, was they were facing off against an MLB arm in Triston McKenzie, who is continuing his rehab assignment with Columbus. McKenzie also got through three innings and allowed one run on one hit with three punchouts. The lone run off of McKenzie came in the first when Nick Madrigal took him deep for his first homer since 2021.

Yes, you heard that right Madrigal hit a homer, as the everyday playing time is doing him well right now.

That score held until the third, when the Clippers brought home both runs against Thompson. Those runs came in on the Daniel Schneemann single, which is where things will sit when the action resumes.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 11 - FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 8

Last week was miserable for South Bend, and the Cubs are hoping for better this week. Despite their pitching not doing well on Tuesday, the offense finally came to life as they pushed across double-digit runs in the win. A lot of their offense came late, which goes to show you how good the pitching was early on.

Manuel Espinoza was on the mound for the start and gave South Bend three innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts. Tyler Santana took over from there and gave South Bend four solid innings, but the back end of the pen struggled. Like Espinoza, Jairo Iriarte got off to a strong start and allowed just two runs in five innings. He struggled with his command but managed to limit the damage, which kept things close.

South Bend got off to a quick start with James Triantos delivering an RBI single in the first, followed by an RBI groundout from Christian Franklin to make things 2-0. Brandon Valenzuela pulled Fort Wayne to within 2-1 with an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the first before the Tin Caps took the lead in the fourth. Justin Farmer tied things up in that fourth with a sacrifice fly while the Joshua Mears homer gave the Tin Caps a 3-2 lead.

Trailing by one in the sixth, the South Bend offense started to come to life, with Jacob Wetzel putting the Cubs in front 4-3 with an RBI double. Yohendrick Pinango added to that lead with an RBI single in the seventh to make things 5-3, but their six-run eighth inning busted the game open.

A bases-loaded walk to Triantos and a wild pitch led to the first of those six runs, but the offense was not done. Bryce Ball and Franklin added RBI doubles to make things 10-3, while Luis Verdugo cashed in with his first double with South Bend to make things 11-3. The Cubs needed every one of those runs in the eighth because Fort Wayne started to make a ton of noise off of Adam Laskey in the ninth.

Following a Jackson Merrill single that made things 11-4, the Tin Caps pushed across four more runs on three RBI doubles to make things 11-8. Fortunately, Sheldon Reed was able to stop the bleeding there as the Cubs held off the Tin Caps 11-8.

With 12 hits, everyone in the lineup had at least one hit, with Ball and Kevin Made picking up two. Wetzel, Franklin, Triantos, and Ball had two RBIs to lead the way for the Cubs and their offense.

SALEM RED SOX 3 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 2 (F/11)

Coming off their best week of the season and six-game sweep, the Pelicans hoped to stay hot when they returned home to face Salem. Despite an overall strong pitching performance that is starting to become the norm, the offense struggled as the Red Sox took game one 3-2.

Grant Kipp has quietly emerged as the ace of this staff and continued to put together a strong run of starts. Kipp gave the Pelicans six innings and allowed just one run on four hits as his ERA fell to 3.22. Kipp struck out eight with no walks, as this was arguably his best start of the season.

Opposing him was Noah Dean, who was slightly better in his five innings. Dean struck out seven while allowing three hits and left with a 1-0 lead. The lone run off of Kipp came in the fourth inning when Luis Ravelo used an RBI double to make things 1-0. That score would hold until the seventh inning when Felix Stevens tied things up with an RBI single. That would be all the runs in regulation, as this game was ticketed for extra innings.

After Salem picked up a run in the top half of the 10th to take a 2-1 lead, Cristian Hernandez made sure things would not end there as his RBI single in the bottom of the 10th brought things back to even 2-2. That would be the last of the runs for the Birds as the Allan Castro double in the top of the 11th was the difference in the 3-2 Red Sox win.

Stevens and Andy Gariola led the way for the Pelicans offense with two hits, as they had eight hits in the game.

Rehab update:

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