Cubs Minor League News: Cowes and Alcantara raking, Ballesteros still hitting, more |
Dustin Riese
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- Sunday, May 04 2025
Saturday marked the first day of the Arizona Complex League, as five affiliates are officially seeing time on the diamond. It will stay this way for the next month until the DSL kicks off, as the Cubs will see every one of their prospects in action soon.
As has been the case over the last few weeks, wins have been tough to come by as the Cubs struggled to pick up victories on Saturday. Even with one game rained out, the Cubs went just 1-3 as they head into Sunday looking for momentum.
After a few days of struggles earlier in the week, the Iowa Cubs have bounced back and are starting to look like the team everyone hoped they would become. Backed by another great outing from Connor Noland and a relentless offense that scored early and often, Iowa was the lone affiliate to grab a win on Saturday. A lot of talk has been put into Cade Horton and when he will get promoted, but we also need to talk about Noland at some point. The right-hander improved to 3-1 on the season after going five innings, allowing one run and striking out two to lower his ERA to 3.64. Had it not been for the Joey Loperfido double in the first that put Buffalo up 1-0, Noland would've had a scoreless outing, as that was his lone run allowed. Even with the Cubs trailing by one early on, it was a lead that didn't last long as Iowa jumped all over Jake Bloss for three runs in the bottom of the first. Jonathon Long opened the scoring with a two-run single to put the Cubs in front for good, while Christian Franklin added a second RBI single to make this a 3-1 game. Long gives us the RBI single! Christian Franklin extends the lead for Iowa! Iowa continued to do damage in the early innings, with Ben Cowles picking up an RBI double in the third before Moises Ballesteros' RBI single in the fourth, pushing his hitting streak to 19 games and putting the Cubs in front 5-1. Cowles with the RBI-double BALLY HIT STREAK EXTENDS TO 19 Ballesteros would come around to score later in the inning off a Kevin Alcantara double, as it was all Iowa, 6-1. The Jaguar extends the lead 6-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/OqXJF4TYLC In the sixth, the Cubs put the game away as Alcantara delivered his second RBI double of the night to make things 7-1. Alcantara with an RBI-Double! That was followed up by the big swing of the night as Cowles connected for the three-run shot to make this a 10-1 game. COWLES RIPS A 3-RUN HOMER Will Wagner added a solo shot for Buffalo in the eighth to close out the scoring in a 10-2 Cubs win. Cowles had a monster game as he led the Cubs with three hits and four RBIs. He was joined by Long and Alcantara, who added three hits and two RBIs each, with Ballesteros picking up two hits. Saturdays are for wins too pic.twitter.com/ZpiynA5Mni
Tonight's game has been cancelled due to weather conditions. pic.twitter.com/PjVD3gXhE6
We are only one month into the Minor League season, but it has become clear that this season will be a struggle for the Cubs. Following another loss on the road, the Cubs are officially in May and have come away with just two road wins on the season. With Ryan Gallagher giving up a pair of RBI singles to Gabriel Gonzalez and Kyle DeBarge in the first two innings, the Cubs were playing catch-up again and were down 2-0 after two. South Bend tried to battle back after scoring a run on a wild pitch in the third, but once the fourth inning rolled around, it was the Kernels putting the game away as they scored five times in the next two innings to take a 7-1 lead. Three runs came in the fourth with Gonzalez tacking on his second RBI single of the day ahead of the Danny De Andrade double as the Cubs had no answers for the Kernels early. Then came the fifth, where Gonzalez continued to pile on, adding another RBI single to push across two runs and extend the lead to 7-1 at this point. Despite trailing by six, South Bend wouldn't go down without a fight, and an RBI double from Andy Garriola in the sixth was evidence of that. Garriola scored on a Brian Kalmer single later in the inning as the Cubs were within 7-3. That was as close as things would get as the Kernels closed out the scoring on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to give the Kernels the 8-3 win. The cubs fall to the Kernels in game 5. They will conclude the series tomorrow. First pitch 2:05PM pic.twitter.com/HfADaukxbk
The only other team that came close to winning was the Pelicans, clinging to a one-run lead. That was until their third ninth-inning meltdown of the week showed up, leading to two Carolina runs and handing the Mudcats a 4-3 walkoff win. Getting the ball for the Birds was JP Wheat, who picked the perfect time to have his best start of the season. Not only did Wheat go five innings, allowing just one run on four hits, but his command was as good as it has been all season, with one walk and six strikeouts. Wheat was backed by a first-inning Cameron Sisneros RBI single, while the Mudcats' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first was the lone run Wheat would allow in the game. Still tied 1-1 in the fourth, Carolina called on John Holobetz in relief as the Pelicans greeted him rudely. With one swing of the bat from Alexey Lumpuy, it was the Pelicans back in front as he connected for a two-run shot to make this a 3-1 game. Alexey Lumpuy gives the Birds the lead with a two-run homer! pic.twitter.com/6snW6ssKad That was it for the Pelicans' offense, but with a 3-2 lead entering the ninth, it looked like three runs would be enough. That was until another late-game rally off the Pelicans' pen flipped this game around as the Mudcats cashed in on a pair of RBI singles from Reece Walling and Luis Lameda to deliver the walk-off 4-3 win. Jose Escobar led the Birds with two hits while Lumpuy had two RBIs.
The Cubs kicked off their 2025 ACL season with a loss, falling to the Diamondbacks 9-5. After Jostin Florentino got the start and struck out four in four scoreless innings, the Diamondbacks' offense came to life in the fifth, scoring all nine runs over the next three innings. That came after Ronny Cruz gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly as the Diamondbacks responded with a JD Dix sacrifice fly to tie things up before a wild pitch put them in front for good, 2-1. Then came the long ball as Pedro Catuy connected for a three-run shot in the sixth to give the Diamondbacks a 5-1 lead, while the Tytus Cissell two-run shot extended their lead to 7-1 in the seventh. The Diamondbacks would add two more runs in the seventh off a sacrifice fly and a Catuy double as they were in control 9-1. It took the Cubs eight innings to get going as they started to mount a late-game comeback. Joan Delgado began to things with a two-run double before the Yahil Melendez grounder made this a 9-4 game. Cruz also got in on the action later in the inning to deliver another RBI double to make this a 9-5 game before the game went final by that score.IOWA CUBS 10 - BUFFALO BISON 2
2-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/ROaYAISK8J
3-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/0TwvxGA7AP
4-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/1v98WpXIqk
Ties James Adduci with at least one hit in 19 straight games since 2019!
Oh and 5-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/utc5xQOHSm
7-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/Sb3NhRQqoq
10-1 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/tuGscurccj
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES vs ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS (Canceled): Rain, Rain, Go Away.
CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 8 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 3
CAROLINA MUDCATS 4 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 3
ACL DIAMONDBACKS 9 - ACL CUBS 5
