Cubs Minor League News: Canario with two homers and two doubles, Pels' walk-off, more

Cubs Minor League News: Canario with two homers and two doubles, Pels' walk-off, more
by - Senior Writer - Fri Aug 25 11:36:41 GMT-04:00 2023

Now that the Cubs Rookie League teams have seen their season come to an end, the focus shifts back to the full-season leagues as it was earlier in the year. This is an essential time of year for the full-season squads as they not only are gearing up for the postseason, but you have the September call-ups where many internal promotions will take place.

When it comes to the Cubs, they are going to have one team in the playoffs, if not two or three. The overall success of their minor league system this year has been outstanding, and that will continue into the near future. However, Thursday was not one of their better nights, as the pitching struggled, leading to a 1-3 record.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 10 - IOWA CUBS 9

The Cubs were dealt a painful loss for the second night in a row, although this one was a bit different. Once again, the bullpen let one get away late as Iowa rallied to tie things up in the ninth before getting walked off in the bottom of the ninth. Riley Thompson was back on the mound for the Cubs and gave the Cubs 2 2/3 innings of two-run ball.

Apart from him, the rest of the bullpen had its moments, but not Danis Correa, who surrendered six earned runs in one inning. Even with Thompson not going deep into the game, it was the Cubs offense that came out swinging again as guess who (Alexander Canario) left the building once again to put the Cubs in front 1-0.

Bryce Windham would add an RBI double later in the second inning as the Cubs opened up an early 3-0 lead.

That lead continued to grow in the third, with Canario going deep for the second time in as many at-bats to put the Cubs in control early, 4-0. Once the bottom of the third rolled around, things went south as the Indians tied things up and took the lead with a massive seven-run inning. Canaan Smith-Njigba opened things up with a solo shot, while the Jared Triolo single made things 4-3.

Another single from Mason Martin put the Indians in front 5-4 before Chris Owings ended the massive inning with a two-run double to give the Indians a 7-4 lead. Another homer from Smith-Njigba followed that in the fourth as the Indians dominated the Cubs pen, mostly Correa. Leave it to Canario to play hero as he single-handedly put the Cubs on his back, adding an RBI double in the sixth to pull Iowa within 8-6.

Trailing 9-6 in the seventh, Matt Mervis pulled them within 9-7 with an RBI groundout before another Canario double made things 9-8 in the eighth. That duo continued to do the damage in the ninth as Mervis picked the perfect time for his 17th homer and brought things back to even 9-9. Despite the excitement, the Cubs picked the worst possible way to lose this one as Cam Sanders hit Nick Gonzalez with the bases loaded to push home the winning run.

Canario paced the offense with four hits and drove in four as he is starting to look like the 2022 version of himself.

CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 18 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 0

There wasn't much to talk about in Tennessee last night as the Smokies fell behind early and were dominated the rest of the way. Brandon Birdsell battled but was hit hard as he surrendered four runs in 3 2/3 while striking out five. He wasn't the problem as Joe Nahas followed him up and allowed seven earned runs as this was just a horrid night all around.

The damage against Birdsell came in the second inning as two RBI doubles from Jose Torres and Ivan Johnson led to three runs with a balk, making things 4-0 after two. That was it for the scoring until the seventh inning, when the Lookouts offense went ballistic the next three innings. Seven runs came in the sixth, with seven more to follow as the Smokies sought answers.

Blake Dunn singled home the first run of that massive sixth inning, with Johnson adding a double to make things 7-0. Reece Hinds kept the line moving with a triple, with Alex McGarry using a single to extend the lead to 9-0. James Free capped off that massive frame with a two-run homer before the Lookouts pushed across seven more runs to win 18-0. The Smokies were held to three hits in the game as Andy Weber, Jordan Nwogu, and Nelson Maldonado had one hit each.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 14 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 8

Things are going rough for South Bend when they score the most runs they have in nearly two weeks and still lose by six. That is because their pitching did them little to no favors, as a six-run third inning paved the way for a rough night for the Cubs. Grant Kipp was the losing pitcher, as he surrendered seven runs in three innings for his worst start of the season.

The most frustrating part about his outing was seeing the Cubs give him an early 2-0 lead as Matt Shaw opened the scoring with a single in the bottom of the first, with Kevin Alcantara adding an RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0. An Andrew Cossetti homer pulled Cedar Rapids to within 2-1 in the second before they began to pull away in the third.

In that inning, the Kernels pushed across six runs and took a 7-2 lead. Homers from Noah Miller and Carson McCusker provided three runs, while a single and an error led to the other three busting the game open. Alcantara took it upon himself to try and keep things close as he homered in the bottom of the third to make things 7-3 before the Kernels tacked on two more runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 9-3.

They continued to build on that lead with two more runs in the sixth and held an 11-4 lead entering the seventh. This was when the Cubs started to rally as a bases-loaded triple from Alcantara pulled the Cubs within 11-7, with Moises Ballesteros making it an 11-8 game with an RBI groundout. That was the game's last run for the Cubs as the Kernels added three more runs to win 14-8. Parker Chavers and Alcantara led the way with three hits, but it was the five RBIs from Alcantara that led the offense. Brennen Davis went 1-5 in the loss but had four strikeouts.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 - KANNAPOLIS CANNONBALLERS 5 (F/10)

The lone team to win on Thursday was Myrtle Beach, and it didn't come without some drama. After letting the lead get away late, the Pelicans tied things back up in the ninth before walking things off for the second time this series.

Luis Rujiano got the start and continued to leave his mark despite only going four innings. Rujiano allowed just one run in his four innings and kept the Cannonballer's bats in check. An early Brian Kalmer homer backed Rujiano as the Pelicans struck first to lead 2-0 in the first.

They continued to hold that lead until the third, when Jhoneiker Betancourt delivered an RBI double to make things 2-1.

Those were the only runs of the game until the eighth inning when Ryan McCarthy used a massive RBI triple to tie the game and give the Cannonballers the lead late, 3-2. Still trailing by a run and down to their final outs, the battle-tested Cardiac Birds continued to deliver as the rookie Brett Bateman cashed in with an RBI single to tie things up 3-3 and helped force extras.

In the extra frame, the Cannonballers grabbed the quick lead as the Ryan Galanie single made things 4-3 before a costly wild pitch put the Pelicans in a 5-3 hole. That didn't seem to phase them as Cristian Hernandez took it upon himself to make things 5-4 with an RBI double in the bottom of the 10th and kept the offense in a position to do more damage.

That is precisely what happened as Pedro Ramirez laced an RBI double to bring home the winning runs as the Pelicans walked off the Cannonballers 6-5 in 10.

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