Cubs Minor League News: Bote bomb, Stevens crushes 440-foot homer, Brown impressive, more |
What looked to be a lopsided win turned into a game late, but it was the Cubs surviving. After two terrible starts, Ben Brown got back on track and gave the Cubs five solid innings of two-run six strikeout baseball. Solid bounce-back outing for Ben Brown, who finished on a high note. 5 IP, 2 ER on 4 hits, a BB, a HR, and 6 Ks. pic.twitter.com/w7FOv4WQrs Brown was relieved by Bailey Horn and his two scoreless frames before Cam Sanders and Manny Rodriguez finished things off. With Angel Zerpa making his second start of the week against the Cubs, Iowa made sure he didn't last long and chased him in the fifth after allowing four runs. With one swing, the Cubs took the lead for good and never looked back, with David Bote going deep in the second for the 2-0 lead. David Bote goes opposite field with the boom stick! I-Cubs strike first with a two-run blast! 💪 pic.twitter.com/sWbP4CIlS2 An Adeiny Hechavarria single pulled Omaha within 2-1 in the bottom of the first before the Cubs offense took over. A fourth-inning double from Miles Mastrobuoni gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead, only to see Taylor Gentry answer with a solo shot in the bottom half of the fourth. Holding that 4-2 lead in the seventh, the Cubs started to pull away, with Matt Mervis picking up an RBI groundout to extend the lead to 5-2 in the seventh. The next inning saw Edwin Rios unload for a solo shot while Luis Vazquez picked up a sacrifice fly to make things 7-2. Edwin Ríos gives us an insurance run with this solo shot! pic.twitter.com/9d98iRBjG1 Trailing 7-3 in the ninth, Omaha made things interesting as the bases-loaded double from John Rave pulled the Storm Chasers within 7-6 as they would fall by that score. Yonathan Perlaza, Rios, and Mastrobuoni led the way with two hits, with Mastrobuoni also driving in two. Bringing the winning ways back home! pic.twitter.com/xCoR23aylD
After the completion of Sunday's game that saw the Smokies outslug Chattanooga 15-10, Tennessee looked to make it a clean sweep on Monday. Instead, they ran into a buzzsaw Joe Boyle who struck out nine Smokies in five innings. He allowed two runs, but when that is all the Smokies offense could get, things are tough. Chris Kachmar has gradually been moved into the starting rotation this season and delivered an excellent outing. He gave the Smokies four innings of one unearned run baseball before Luke Little, and the Tennessee pen imploded. With both teams being held scoreless through three, the Smokies played long ball to get on the board in the fourth. Owen Caissie double off the wall, just below the Coke bottle. pic.twitter.com/UKMLe06CKO First, it was Pablo Aliendo going deep for No. 10, with Jordan Nwogu following suit for No. 8 and giving the Smokies a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, that was it for the Smokies offense, as they struggled to get anything going after that. Quincy McAfee closed the gap to 2-1 with a double in the fourth before their offense went back to work in the fifth. With a wild pitch tying things up 2-2, Francisco Urbaez delivered the would-be game-winning hit as his single put the Lookouts up 4-2. Chattanooga would add a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly as they took care of the Smokies 5-2. Levi Jordan led the Smokies with two hits, with four other players picking up one.
The Cubs have been finding new ways to lose a lot this season which has been frustrating. That continued into Monday as the Cubs battled back to take the lead in the ninth, only to have the Sky Carp score twice in the bottom half to walk off the Cubs 7-6. Making his South Bend debut was Brody McCullough, who had mixed results in his first start. McCullough gave the Cubs three strikeouts and no walks in five innings, but he also allowed four runs on seven hits. He managed to keep pace with Kade Gibson, which is all you can ask for in your first start. McCullough got off to a shaky start, allowing a pair of runs in the first two innings, which put the Cubs in a 2-0 hole. Leave it to Alexander Canario to change that in the third, as his RBI single pushed across two and brought things back to even. The final runs off of McCullough came in the bottom half of that third inning, with Joe Mack delivering a two-run single to make things 4-2. McCullough bounced back nicely and got through the next two innings without further damage to give his team a chance. The Cubs made the most of that chance in the fourth, with Fabian Pertuz pulling the Cubs within a run with a single while a double play ball tied things up 4-4. Trailing 5-4 after Jake Thompson hit the go-ahead homer in the sixth, the Cubs were down to their final three outs and looking for some late-game magic. A one-out single from Moises Ballesteros certainly helped, but the Felix Stevens big fly had the Cubs in front 6-5. Felix Stevens deposits a pitch 440 ft for a go ahead HR in the top of the 9th inning. pic.twitter.com/aV33vE1tve Pertuz extended the inning with a hit-by-pitch followed by a Kevin Made single, only to have the Cubs come up empty. Hoping to pitch his team into extras, Frank Scalzo Jr retired the first two hitters he faced in the ninth before a pair of walks had Beloit in business. A Zach Zubia single loaded the bases and prompted Lance Rymel to go with Adam Laskey out of the pen. Thrown into a tough spot, Laskey made one mistake, and it cost him as Davis Bradshaw delivered an RBI single to give the Sky Carp a 7-6 walk-off win. Ballesteros and Stevens led the way with two hits. Tough one. Pics from South Bend at Beloit 1/3 Pics of South Bend at Beloit 2/3 Pics of South Bend at Beloit 2/3
Monday was a long night for the Pelicans and their offense, as they were held to two hits in the loss. Credit Yoniel Curet for that, as he allowed one hit in four scoreless frames with six strikeouts. That was enough to win as Luis Rugiano allowed two runs in 3 2/3 before Scott Kobos and company allowed the rest. It took three innings for the Riverdogs to break through, with the scorching hot Ryan Spikes coming through again with an RBI double to give the Riverdogs a 2-0 lead. This was the first of three two-run innings, with the next one coming in the eighth on the Odalys Peguero double to push the lead to 4-0. Charleston capped off their scoring in the ninth as Julio Meza delivered a solo shot followed by a sacrifice fly from Cooper Kinney in the Riverdogs 6-0 win. The Pelicans had two hits, with Cristian Hernandez and Miguel Pabon grabbing those hits. Birds drop the final game of the series.
Led by a pair of multi-run innings, the Cubs were able to hold off the Mariners for their first win of the week. Mason McGwire got the start, but after walking four and allowing two runs in under an inning was lifted from the game. McGwire continues to struggle in his first professional season as he needs to turn it around sooner rather than later. Christian Franklin has been the hottest hitter in the ACL since joining the Cubs and was at it again. Granted, he only had one hit, but he made that hit count as he delivered an RBI triple to finish with a team-high three RBIs. Alexis Hernandez, Jefferson Encarnacion, and Jose Escobar also added RBIs for the Cubs. Ludwing Espinoza paced the offense with three hits in the Cubs victory.
The Rookie League teams weren't the focus on Monday, but at least DSL Blue started the week with a nice win. Juan Archibold responded from a tough start last time to give the Cubs four shutout innings on the mound. He set the tone while the offense did more than enough to win. Abel De Leon led the offense with two RBIs and was joined by Derniche Valdez and Edward Vargas, each with one RBI. Brayan Altuve, Erbin Jaque, and Alexy Lumpuy all had two hits in the win for DSL Blue.
Despite the Cubs offense putting up a five-run inning, their pitching struggled as they fell to the Red Sox 11-6. Alfredo Romero was the tough-luck pitcher in this one, allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings. However, only one of those runs was earned, as his ERA is 1.47. Offensively, it was the Angel Cepeda show as he led the offense with four hits and two RBIs. Ludwing Espinoza was the only other player with multiple hits, with only two players failing to grab a hit. Joan Delgado joined Cepada with two RBIs as the Cubs dropped their first game of the week. IOWA CUBS 7 - OMAHA STORM CHASERS 6
CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 5 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2
BELOIT SKY CARP 7 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6
See you all at @FourWindsField tomorrow 👋 pic.twitter.com/0vxwWUdbXM
Brody McCullough X 3, Moises Ballesteros pic.twitter.com/9kD0DOV8PQ
Felix Stevens, McCullough X 2, Stevens again pic.twitter.com/AIkqk5nqKv
Triantos, Pinango, D'Angelo Jimenez pic.twitter.com/oo7bXkfjpBCHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 6 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0
A great Red, White, and Blue Weekend at the ballpark. Thanks for havin’ fun with us, Myrtle Beach!#MBPelicans | #NextStartsHere pic.twitter.com/oSFpkWt88HACL CUBS 7 - ACL MARINERS 6
DSL BLUE CUBS 8 - DSL RED SOX 7
DSL RED SOX 11 - DSL CUBS RED 6
