Cubs Minor League News: Young raking, McGeary with 3 hits, Pelicans claim title, more
Bryon Houlgrave - USA Today Sports

Cubs Minor League News: Young raking, McGeary with 3 hits, Pelicans claim title, more
by - Senior Writer - Mon Jun 19 11:11:51 GMT-04:00 2023

Another day and another successful end of the week for the Cubs Minor League System. With the Rookie Leagues enjoying one of their two weekly off days, the focus shifted to the full-season leagues as they inch closer to the end of the first half.

As things sit right now, you have two teams still in the mix to claim the first-half title, while Myrtle Beach officially clinched the first-half title with a win on Sunday. That means postseason baseball will be in the Cubs system later this year. The other two teams in the mix took care of business on Sunday as the Cubs system posted a 3-1 record.

IOWA CUBS 12 - INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 11

The Indians certainly didn't make things easy on the Cubs this week, but they still managed to take the series to remain .5 games out of first. With Norfolk running away with the overall best record, Iowa must focus on finishing strong as the first half concludes on Sunday.

For the second straight start, Nick Niedert struggled as he allowed seven runs in three innings. He gave way to a plethora of relievers, but it was the offense that picked him and the rest of the pitching staff up. With Chris Owings opening the scoring with a first-inning homer for the Indians, Matt Mervis tied things up in the bottom of the first in what was his first AAA RBI since returning.

Indianapolis kept the pressure on in the top of the third with an Endy Rodriguez double to make things 3-1, but once again, the Cubs offense had the answer. Bryce Windham pushed across the Cubs second run with an RBI single, but the three-run shot by the scorching Hot Jared Young saw the Cubs take a 5-3 lead.

The back-and-forth affair continued into the fourth with a pair of bases-loaded walks tying things up at 5 while the Rodriguez double made things 7-5 in favor of Indianapolis.

After Mervis pulled the Cubs to within 7-6 with an RBI groundout in the fifth, the Indians offense had one last big inning in them to potentially put the game out of reach. Miguel Andujar started that inning with an RBI double before the Aaron Shackelford homer made things 11-6. That score held until the late innings when the Cubs relentless offense picked the perfect time to wake back up.

Trailing by five in the eighth, Windham and Young got the offense going as their RBI singles made things 11-9. David Bote followed that up with an RBI single of his own to tie things up, and just like that, it was a brand new ball game. The Cubs continued to use that momentum in the ninth when a trio of walks loaded the bases with one out and Yonathan Perlaza coming to the plate. Looking for a clutch hit, Perlaza didn't get a hit but did push across the game-winning run on a walk-off sacrifice fly to give the Cubs a 12-11 victory.

Young had a massive day at the plate, picking up a season-high four hits and leading the team with five RBIs. Bote and Windham added two hits and two RBIs, with Mervis adding two RBIs.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 5 - BIRMINGHAM BARONS 4 (F/10)

Like the Iowa series, Birmingham didn't think easy for the Smokies, who remain .5 games out of first with the first half closing down. DJ Herz continued to build off a solid last few starts and gave the Smokies five innings of one-run, five-strikeout baseball to lower his ERA to 3.16. Apart from him, you had a strong bullpen performance from Blake Whitney and Danis Correa, while Zac Leigh struggled.

Although five runs is a solid offensive performance, most came late, as Garrett Schoenie was tough on the mound. The left-hander gave the Barons 6 1/3 innings of two-run baseball while striking out seven. The game's lone run off of Herz came in the fourth when Luis Mieses delivered an RBI single to make things 1-0.

Given how good Schoenie was on the mound, that one run looked like it would hold up until the sixth inning when Luis Vazquez tied things up with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, the Smokies started to use their patience to their advantage, with Scott McKeon and Pete Crow-Armstrong taking bases-loaded walks to put the Smokies up 3-1. They extended the lead to 4-1 with a Haydn McGeary triple in the eighth and were on the verge of putting things away.

Leave it to the Barons and their offense to make sure that wouldn't happen as easily as anyone expected as the Barons rallied to tie things up at 4 with Moises Castillo delivering a solo shot which was followed by the Tyler Neslony two-run blast off of Leigh. With both teams being unable to score in the ninth, there was going to be extra baseball played, with the Smokies cashing in on a wild pitch in the top of the 10th to score the winning run in their 5-4 win.

McGeary led the offense with three of the team's six hits with his RBI as his breakout season continues. McKeon, Pablo Aliendo, and BJ Murray Jr added the remaining three hits for the Smokies.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 14 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2

The only team guaranteed not to be in the postseason after the first half is the South Bend Cubs, who are limping to the finish line. After dropping several heartbreakers earlier in the week before finally winning a game, the Cubs had no chance on Sunday, as this one was over almost as quickly as it started.

Connor Noland has been one of the Cubs most consistent pitchers this season, but this was a poor start for him. Noland couldn't even make it out of the fourth inning and was charged with seven runs, although only four were earned. His ERA is still 3.00 for the season, which shows how good he has been.

Noland fell behind 3-0 in the second as a pair of fielding errors by the Cubs allowed three runs to score. Two innings later, the Kernels broke out the long ball against Noland as Jose Salas and Andrew Cossetti took Noland deep to extend the lead to 7-0. Things only continued to get worse from there, with the Kernels adding five more runs in the fifth inning to build a 12-0 lead as the Cubs searched for answers.

It took seven innings for the Cubs to cash in, with Fabian Pertuz providing all the offense with his two-run shot to make things 12-2. Cedar Rapids added two more runs in the seventh to close out the scoring and rolled to the 14-2 win.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 8 - FREDERICKSBURG NATIONALS 2

Your 2023 Carolina League South Division Champions for the first half are your Myrtle Beach Pelicans, as playoff baseball is back on the beach. Led by a strong pitching performance and a massive five-run inning, the Pelicans got the job done as they continued to play outstanding baseball.

It was all about Brody McCullough on Sunday, who improved to 5-1 as a starter while lowering his ERA to 2.09. McCullough gave the Pelicans five innings of one-run ball while punching out eight in the win. The Pelicans needed him to be at his best as the second-inning double from Brandon Boissiere had the Nationals in front 1-0, as their pitching was holding the Pelicans scoreless.

Once the fourth inning rolled around, Cristian Hernandez tied things up with an RBI single, while Moises Ballesteros's single put the Birds in front 2-1 in the fifth. The sixth inning is when the Pelicans offense put the game away as the Felix Stevens homer put the Pelicans on top 3-1 and was the game-winning run.

A Rafael Morel double kept the line moving and made things 4-1, with a Reivaj Garcia triple pushing the lead to 6-1. The Pelicans capped off their five-run sixth with an RBI fielder's choice and were in complete control 7-1. Both teams scored a run in the eighth, with Morel picking up an RBI single for the Pelicans as they finished off the Nationals 8-2 to be crowned first-half champs.

ACL rehab:

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