Cubs Minor League News: Ballesteros raking, Altuve with 2 RBIs, Agrazal impressive, more |
Although none of the minor league games were televised on Monday, three games still went on as it was Rookie League Monday. The results were not what the Cubs wanted to see, with the organization going 1-2, but several great performances could be seen on the diamond.
Although the wins haven't been as frequent as the Cubs would like, their offense is starting to kick it into gear. However, Cristian Hernandez is not one of them at the moment, as he went 0-5 with an ugly four strikeouts in the loss. The Cubs managed to grab an early lead with an RBI groundout in the second before a Luis Castillo double in the third gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead. The Cubs responded in the bottom of the fourth when Rafael Mora tied things up with a sacrifice fly, followed by the Brayan Altuve double that saw the Cubs grab a 4-2 lead. Castillo continued to have the hot hand for the Brewers, adding another RBI hit in the fifth before the Diego Larez homer saw the Brewers grab the 5-4 lead. Alejandro Rivero tied things up with a solo shot of his own before another Brewer homer saw the Cubs trailing 6-5. The Cubs managed to pull even off a Morel fielder's choice as the game was ticketed for extra innings. In that extra frame, it was all Brewers as they pushed across three runs in that 10th inning to bust the game open as they won 9-7. Moises Ballesteros continues to hit the ball well, leading the way with two hits. Altuve picked up three RBIs in the loss.
Things did not go well for the DSL Red squad as they were dominated 13-5, with all their runs coming after the sixth inning. Not only did the Mets grab the lead with a two-run second inning, but they added a pair of four-run frames to seize complete command. Trailing 9-0 in the seventh, Offerman Hernandez ended the shutout bid with an RBI single. That 9-1 game became 13-1 as Dyron Campos cranked a grand slam. Despite the score being heavily in the Mets favor, the Cubs did make some late-game noise and scored four times in the ninth. Andrews Cruz started that rally with an RBI single before a Carlos Altuve single brought home two more runs. Add in a passed ball, and the Cubs were starting to make noise, but it wasn't enough as the Cubs fell 13-5. Darlyn De Leon and Carlos Ramos led the offense with two hits, while Altuve added two RBIs.
The lone team to come away with a win on Monday was the DSL blue squad, as they used a four-run inning to take control. Gabriel Agrazal had a great outing on the mound giving the Cubs four innings of one-run ball, although the run was unearned. He walked two and struck out three as he helped set the tone. It took four innings for someone to score, with the Yankees grabbing a 1-0 lead on the Luis Suarez single. Once things turned over to the fifth, the Cubs offense had the momentum as they scored four times to take a 4-1 lead. Daniel Ferreira started that inning off with an RBI triple and then came home to score on the Jairo Diaz single. An Albert Belliard single pushed the lead to 3-1 before a passed ball made things 4-1. Even with a comfortable lead, no lead was safe on this day as the Juan Rosa single pulled the Yankees within 4-2 while the Fidel Montero homer closed the gap to 4-3. Add in a wild pitch in the top half of the eighth, and the Yankees were back to even at 4-4. Fortunately for the Cubs, they would have the last laugh as a double steal allowed Josefrailin Alcantara to swipe third and come home to score on a throwing error to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. That run proved to be the winning run as the Cubs would win by that score. Geuri Lubo and Belliard led the offense with two hits as the Cubs only were credited with two RBIs in the win. ACL BREWERS 9 - ACL CUBS 7 (10 innings)
DSL METS 13 - DSL CUBS RED 5
DSL CUBS BLUE 5 - DSL YANKEES 4
