Cubs Minor League News: Alcanta blasts two homers, Caissie homers, Murray clutch, more |
Dustin Riese
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- 7 hours ago
For the second day in a row, wins were tough to come by as the Cubs have gotten off to a slow start this week. As nice as it would be for the wins to start happening, as long as the players continue to develop and perform well, that should be all that matters. Still, the Cubs did manage to go 2-3 on the day, which is a significant improvement from Tuesday.
When Connor Noland is on, he is one of the better starters in the Cubs organization, but when he is off, he is off. Wednesday was one of those days when Noland didn't have it on the mound as the right-hander was charged with seven runs (5ER) in 2 2/3 innings in a 14-5 Cubs loss. Most of the Columbus damage came in the third when the Clippers pushed across 10 combined runs against Noland and Frank Scalzo Jr. That came after Kevin Alcantara hit the first of his two homers to put the Cubs in front 1-0. The Jaguar off the scoreboard! pic.twitter.com/K0IYlU7dO3 Homers played a role in both teams' offenses as all 10 of the Clippers' runs in the bottom of the third came off five homers. Milan Tolentino got the home run barrage started with a two-run shot while CJ Kayfus answered with one of his own. Columbus added three additional two-run homers as Petey Halpin, Yordys Valdes, and Lane Thomas all got in on the action to open up a 10-1 Clippers lead. Just like the Clippers, the Cubs relied on the long-ball for their early offense with Owen Caissie answering with a two-run shot of his own in the top of the fourth to make this a 10-3 game. Two-run shot for Owen Caissie! pic.twitter.com/boqh1oIzn6 That was as close as the Cubs would get the rest of the way as Columbus tacked on three more runs in the fifth off a Thomas single and another two-run shot from Brayan Rocchio, while a seventh-inning sacrifice fly provided their final run. Alcantara added another two-run shot before that sacrifice fly as part of his three-RBI day as the Cubs fell 14-5. THE JAGUAR'S SECOND HOMER OF THE GAME
Nothing is coming easy for this Smokies squad, but a win is a win, and they will gladly take it. Trailing by three runs early on, the Smokies found a way to score five times in the sixth inning to take the lead, only to give it right back. What looked like a heartbreaking loss turned into jubilation as the Smokies scored three times in the eighth to pick up an 8-6 win. Making his second career AA start was the hard-throwing right-hander Jaxon Wiggins. Although he gave up three runs in four innings, there was still a lot to love as he walked two and struck out nine, which is something the Smokies haven't had a ton of this season. Two of the three runs charged to Wiggins came on a first-inning Brock Wilken double before the Mike Boeve homer in the third put the Smokies in a 3-0 hole. Things would stay that way until the sixth inning when Knoxville finally started to solve the Shuckers staff. All it took was getting Alexander Cornielle out of the game as he allowed just one run in 5 1/3 innings, and it came as part of the game-tying Case Opitz homer that pulled the Smokies even 3-3. After that, it was all downhill for the Shuckers as Pedro Ramirez and Corey Joyce tacked on a pair of RBI singles as part of their five-run inning to put them in front 5-3. It was a lead that didn't last long as the Shuckers responded for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead 6-5. A bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly led to two of the runs, with an error leading to the other. Still trailing by that score in the eighth, Joyce came through again as his RBI double made this a 6-6 ball game. That was only the beginning for the Smokies as BJ Murray Jr followed that double with the game-winning homer as the Smokies took a late 8-6 lead and would win by that score. Murray Jr was one of four players to record multiple hits, joining Joyce, Ramirez, and Jordan Nwogu. You also saw Brad Deppermann continue his scoreless streak as he has thrown 14 innings without allowing a run. BJ Murray delivers in the 8th inning with a 2-run blast to put the Smokies on top! | @ZipsCarWash
One night after both offenses shouldered the load, Wednesday was all about the pitching as the Cubs and Rattlers combined for four runs. Unfortunately for South Bend, they were on the losing end once again as they fell to Wisconsin 3-1. Evan Aschenbeck was once again the tough-luck loser as the left-hander can't buy a win. The 2024 13th rounder gave the Cubs six strong innings, allowing two runs (1ER) and five strikeouts as he did more than enough to win this game. Both of those runs came in his final inning when Marco Dinges broke the scoreless tie with a two-run shot to put Wisconsin in front 2-0. Typically, when you get a start like that from Aschenbeck, it would be good enough to get the win, but this is how the Cubs' season has gone, as wins are tough to come by. Edgar Alvarez did his best to keep things close and used a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Cubs within 2-1. Heads up PC!! ☄️ That was the only run of the day for the Cubs as Wisconsin closed out the game with a seventh inning Eduardo Garcia single to lift Wisconsin 3-1.
What a difference 12 hours makes. After falling to the Crawdads 2-1 on Tuesday, the Pelicans came out with a much better offensive approach on Wednesday and used that to pick up a 10-7 victory in 10 innings. Angel Cepeda and Jose Escobar played a role in that as they combined for four hits and seven RBIs from the top two spots in the lineup. You got a sense of how things would go early on, as Hayden Frank and Kamdyn Perry had a tough time keeping their opposition off the board. It all started with an RBI double from Pablo Guerrero in the first that gave the Crawdads a 1-0 lead, only to have the Pelicans respond in a big way in the third. Angel Cepeda played a role in that, delivering the go-ahead two-run single that gave the Pelicans the lead before he came into score on an error. Leonel Espinoza added an RBI single in that inning as the Pelicans were now on top 4-1. Not to be outdone, the Crawdads answered the Pelicans' four-run third with three runs of their own as Maxton Martin pulled the Crawdads within one on a two-run shot before Guerrero left the building to tie things up. Hickory continued to keep the pressure on in the fourth as they regained the lead on a sacrifice fly before the Hector Osorio single put the Crawdads in front 6-4. That score would hold until the later innings, as it was the Pelicans' turn to battle back. All it took was an Owen Ayers homer to awaken the offense again as Myrtle Beach was back within a run. Then came the Cepeda single that brought things back to even 6-6 and helped get things into extras. In the extra frame, it was all Pelicans, who scored early and often to break things open. With one swing of the bat, it was the Pelicans back in front for good as Escobar connected for the massive grand slam to give Myrtle Beach the 10-6 advantage. Jose Escobar 🤝 10th inning GRAND SLAMS! pic.twitter.com/Q51SUVtcKo Hickory did manage to get one of those runs back off an error in the bottom of the 10th, but it wouldn't be enough as the Pelicans picked up a 10-7 extra-inning win.
Do we need to say anything more at this point, as the ACL Cubs aren't a very good team? Even when they get a good enough pitching performance to win the game, the offense went quiet as they were held to five hits in the loss. Ironically, they out-hit the Giants, who only had four hits, but the Giants made the most of those hits as Angel Guzman had the lone hit that led to a run in the fifth, using an RBI single to put the Giants up 2-0. That came after they grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, as they would add a second sacrifice fly later in the game as part of their 4-0 win. Neither Geovanny Vasquez nor Alexander Fuentes was able to earn the decision, but it's who came in after them that did. For the Giants, that was Jose Bello, who lasted 2 2/3 innings, allowing no hits and striking out six. Chris Clarke was saddled with the loss for the Cubs as he allowed one run in three innings of work, striking out three. Adan Sanchez paced the Cubs offense with two hits.COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 14 - IOWA CUBS 5
13-5 Columbus pic.twitter.com/gWbqPJxO5FKNOXVILLE SMOKIES 8 - BILOXI SHUCKERS 6
Box Score: https://t.co/S9f3sbmidt pic.twitter.com/p3GJMgOh5iWISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 3 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 1
Edgar Alvarez hits a long one over for a @hoosierlottery home run!#SBCubs pic.twitter.com/kKdgHrl78JMYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 10 - HICKORY CRAWDADS 7 (F/10)
ACL GIANTS 4 - ACL CUBS 0
