Cubs Minor League News: Morel and Mervis mashing, Thompson filthy, Verdugo walk-off, more
Morel continues to rake for the I-Cubs

Cubs Minor League News: Morel and Mervis mashing, Thompson filthy, Verdugo walk-off, more
by - Senior Writer - Fri Apr 21 09:00:24 GMT-04:00 2023

After relying on their offenses to shoulder the load during the first two weeks of the minor league season, the pitching has set the tone lately. For the second consecutive night, the Cubs organizational pitching was outstanding, as all four affiliates combined to allow 12 across five games. Five of those runs came in one game, meaning the other four games saw their teams post an ERA of under 2.00.

Any time you can get pitching like that, you are going to win a lot of games which is what the Cubs system did on Thursday. Led by the Iowa Cubs doubleheader sweep of Buffalo, the Cubs Minor League system posted an impressive 4-1 showing and will head to the weekend riding a massive wave of momentum.

IOWA CUBS 10 - BUFFALO BISONS 2 (Game 1)

In what was going to be a busy night on the diamond for Iowa, the Cubs set the tone in game one in dominating fashion. Credit their relentless offense for that, but also Roenis Elias, who delivered Iowa's longest start of the season. The left lasted 6 1/3 allowing two runs on just one hit. He walked two and struck out two before handing things off to Rowan Wick to finish it off.

While Elias was doing his thing on the mound, the Cubs offense took care of the rest, especially the middle innings when they had eight of their nine runs. Mike Tauchmann put the Cubs in front 1-0 with a single in the first, but that was it offensively until the third. In the third, the Cubs decided to play long ball, with Christopher Morel belting his fourth to make things 2-0.

An RBI single from Darius Hill doubled the lead to 4-0.

One inning later and another homer with Matt Mervis going deep for his fourth as the Cubs extended the lead to 6-0.

Last year it was Alexander Canario and Mervis battling for the home run title, while this year, it looks like Mervis and Morel will go at it. The Cubs added four more runs in the fifth on the two-run shot from Tauchman and a two-run double from Sergio Alcantara as their lead grew to 10-0.

Buffalo pushed across both of their runs in the seventh, but more was needed to win this game. In his first game since returning to Iowa, Nelson Velazquez led the way going a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a walk. Hill and Tauchman added two hits, with Tauchman picking up three RBIs. Every player had at least one hit.

IOWA CUBS 3 - BUFFALO BISONS 2 (Game 2)

Looking to cap off the doubleheader sweep, the Cubs used some early offense and strong pitching to finish things off as they held off the Bisons 3-2. Looking for his first win of the season was Riley Thompson, and boy, was he impressive.

Thompson struck out nine batters in five innings to go with three walks, but he didn't allow a hit. His ERA is now 2.77 on the season, and he is starting to make some noise to reach the bigs.

Thompson was greeted by some offensive support early, with David Bote putting the Cubs in front good in the first with an RBI double 2-0.

A Miles Mastrobuoni walk in the second made things 3-0, but that would be it offensively as Yosver Zulueta settled in nicely to keep the Cubs offense in check. Not only did Thompson no hit the Bisons, but so did Vinny Nittoli, as the Bison picked up their first hit with two outs in the sixth, and it came off of Anthony Kay.

Their success against Kay continued into the seventh as Jordan Luplow made things 3-1 with a sacrifice fly. That forced Marty Peavy to go to the pen and call on Cam Sanders to close things out. Despite allowing an RBI groundout, Sanders did what he had to do and slammed the door for the doubleheader sweep.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 1 (F/10)

Pitching continued to dominate the night in AA, where the two teams combined for three runs in 10 innings. Fortunately, it was the Smokies coming away with two of those runs as they walked off the Lookouts in 10.

Jordan Wicks was back on the bump for the Smokies, and he delivered his best outing of the season. Wicks gave the Smokies five dominant innings, allowing one run on one hit with six punchouts. He gave way to Blake Whitney, Ben Hecht, and Cayne Ueckert, who, despite walking six hitters in five innings, also struck out eight and allowed one hit.

Their performances were crucial to giving the Smokies a chance to win, as they needed every one of their arms to complete this. The lone run off of Wicks was also the lone hit as Jacob Hurtubise took him deep in the first for the 1-0 lead. Apart from that, Wicks was lights out as the Lookouts picked up two hits.

That didn't matter in the early stages, as Connor Phillips had his way with the Smokies offense. Sure, he gave up one run on four hits through five innings, but he struck out 11 and was overpowering at times on the hill. His lone run allowed came in his final inning of work when Luis Verdugo picked up a sacrifice fly. Verdugo's night wasn't over as he also drove in the winning run with an RBI single in the 10th to lift the Smokies 2-1.

Miguel Amaya continues to play well, picking up two of the team's six hits. Verdugo, Zach Davis, Chase Strumpf, and Luis Vazquez added the other four hits in the win.

GREAT LAKES LOONS 5 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2

The only team to come away with a loss was, ironically, the only one to allow more than three runs in a game. Score aside, this game was much closer than the score shows, as the three-run fourth did the Cubs in at the end.

Luke Little started this one and gave South Bend three shutout innings with four strikeouts before handing things off to Tyler Santana. Sure, Santana was charged with four earned runs in less than three innings, but take away that big inning, and he was ok. However, when Ben Casparius gives the Loons five innings of two-run ball mixed with a pen that allows two hits in four innings, a win won't come easy, and the Cubs fell short.

Not only did Little get off to a hot start, but so did the Cubs offense, with Bradlee Beesley going deep in the first for an early 1-0 lead. That score would hold until Little's departure as the Loons went right to work against Santana in the fourth. Santana struggled with his command all inning long and walked in a run to tie things up. He then allowed the go-ahead and game-winning single to Yeiner Fernandez as the Loons took the 3-1 lead.

Looking to claw back into it, Liam Spence went deep for his first homer in the fifth, and South Bend was within a run 3-2. However, the Cubs offense was quiet from there, with the Loons tacking on a run in the sixth on the Dalton Rushing homer and the Fernandez sacrifice fly in the eighth to pick up the 5-2 victory.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 3 - AUGUSTA GREENJACKETS 2

It is nice to see the Pelicans starting to come around, as their pitching has been the catalyst why. Thursday was no different, as a trio of arms combined to allow two runs on eight hits with 13 strikeouts. Grant Kipp got the start and allowed both runs in four innings while striking out five.

He handed the ball to Marino Santy, who also threw four innings, but allowed zero runs while striking out five. Jack Aldrich was the Pelicans' final arm of the day and pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the save. Ironically, all the offense came in one inning, with both teams using the second inning to deliver.

Augusta struck first off Kipp, using RBI singles from Andrew Keck and Tyler Collins to grab the 2-0 lead. The Pelicans wasted no time battling back with the Miguel Fabrizio groundout getting the Pelicans on the board while the Pedro Ramirez RBI triple tied things up. Cristian Hernandez reached base on a costly error later in the frame to bring in the go-ahead run, which happened to be the game's final run. The Pelicans had five hits, with Reggie Preciado leading the way with two.

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