Cubs Minor League News: Amaya and Hernandez hitless, Escobar homers, more |
Rookie League Monday became Rookie League Tuesday as the fourth of July holiday saw Minor League baseball move the schedule around. While it was nice to have three minor league games to pay attention to, the results were still not great as the Cubs posted another losing record.
It was a classic pitching battle through six innings, with all the runs coming after the sixth inning. For the Cubs, Michael Arias started and lasted just 2/3 as his four walks piled up his pitch count. Didier Vargas took over for the next 3 2/3, allowing just one hit and striking out six, with Eilan Almanzar having a scoreless outing before the back end of the pitchers struggled. It is not too often when you have a pitcher give you five innings in the Arizona Complex league, but Alonzo Richardson did just that, giving the Guardians five scoreless frames as the offense was tough to come by. With the score tied 0-0 and heading to the seventh, the Guardians not only took the lead for good, but scored all their runs in that inning. Juan Benjamin picked up the go-ahead single that put the Guardians on top for good, but it was the Manuel Mejias single that proved to be the game-winning hit as an error by Moises Ballesteros led to an additional run-scoring with the Guardians up 3-0. Trailing by that score in the eighth, it was up to the Cubs to rally, and Pedro Ramirez did what he could by picking up an RBI single to make things 3-1. One inning later, it was Rafael Morel adding an RBI groundout, but that would be it as the Cubs fell 3-2. Ballesteros, Cristian Hernandez and Miguel Amaya had hitless nights.
Not only are the Cubs playing the Brewers on the major league front, but both of their DSL teams played each other on Tuesday. While the results were not great, seeing a pair of competitive games was nice. Kevin Valdez was the tough-luck loser in this one allowing four unearned runs in three-plus innings as the defense did him zero favors. However, things got off to an excellent start for the Cubs as they ripped off three early runs to take a 3-0 lead. The first two runs came without a hit as a missed strike three in the first and a double play in the second gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead. The Cubs extended their lead to 3-0 in the third, with Yodel Diaz picking up an RBI single. In the fourth inning, all four of the Brewers run came across, and none of them were earned. With a costly error extending the inning, an RBI ground out and put the Brewers on the board before the Mendy Ferreira double made things 3-2. Singles from Demetrio Nadal and Donis Rodriguez tied things up and gave the Brewers the 4-3 lead as they won by that score.
Despite another competitive showing, the Cubs still can't buy a win and fell to the Brewers by two. While most of the offense came later in the game, a pair of early runs were the difference in the loss. Jhonny Severino put the Brewers in front 1-0 in the first before a wild pitch in the second extended the lead to 2-0. That score held until the sixth inning when Arny Rodriguez picked up an RBI single ahead of the Richard Rojas double that made things 4-0. Down, but not out, Jose Escobar put the Cubs on the board with a two-run shot in the sixth to make things 4-2. That would be as close as the Cubs would get as each team exchanged runs in the seventh inning as the Brewers won 5-3. ACL GUARDIANS 3 - ACL CUBS 2
DSL BREWERS (2) 4 - DSL CUBS RED 3
DSL BREWERS (1) 5 - DSL CUBS BLUE 3
