Cubs Minor League News: Garriola crushes grand slam, Perez and Hill homer, Caple dazzles |
Dustin Riese
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- 8 hours ago
It was a horrific night on the diamond for the Cubs' Minor League system as they limped to a 0-5 record. That isn't a good way to start the week, but losses aside, all of the games were competitive. Apart from another blowout loss for the ACL Cubs, all four of the Cubs' full-season affiliates had their games decided by one run, which is all you can ask for.
Looking to kick off their road series against the Clippers with a bang, the Cubs found themselves locked in a pitchers' duel, which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, their offense wasn't strong enough to overcome the outing by Vince Velasquez as the Clippers took down the Cubs 3-2. Velasquez is working his way back to the majors, and after allowing two runs in six innings with six strikeouts, he may be getting close. Although the Cubs didn't have a lengthy outing from their starter, they did see another great outing from Keegan Thompson, who allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings, striking out four before handing things off to Michael Fulmer and company. Thompson was given some instant run support as Carlos Perez, fresh off his International League Player of the week honors, left the building in the first to put the Cubs in front 1-0. It was a lead the Cubs would hold until the fourth inning as Jake Anchia's double brought things back to even 1-1. One inning later, the Clippers grabbed the lead as they used a sacrifice fly to jump in front 2-1. It didn't take the Cubs long to respond as the Owen Caissie single tied things back up 202 in the sixth and had the Cubs looking for more. Instead, that was it for their offense as the Milan Tolentino single in the bottom of the sixth proved to be the difference in the 3-2 Clippers win. Christian Franklin added the other two hits to go with Caissie and Perez. Tonight's final pic.twitter.com/mlCffDJEFc
Despite another strong pitching performance from the Smokies squad, it was one rough inning that was the difference, as a three-run sixth inning is all the Shuckers needed to get the win. Sam Armstrong took the loss for the Smokies, giving Knoxville 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball. As strong of an outing as that was, Coleman Crow was even better as he got through six innings, allowing just two runs. Both of his runs allowed came in back-to-back innings as Darius Hill opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second, ahead of the Pedro Ramirez single in the third that put the Smokies on top 2-0. Darius Hill with an oppo home run! @Darius_Hill32 #KnoxvilleSmokies #WholeNewBallGame pic.twitter.com/YbBHGhmVZb At that time, two runs was looking to be enough as Armstrong held the Shuckers scoreless through five. Then came the sixth, where the long ball was an issue as Brock Wilken ended the shutout bid with a solo shot. That was only the beginning for Biloxi as Garrett Spain followed that up with a two-run shot later in the inning, and just like that, the Shuckers led 3-2. Spain was a big reason why the Shuckers were able to win this game as he added an eighth-inning RBI single to extend their lead to 4-2, which proved to be the game-winning hit. Knoxville did their best to keep things close with Hill adding an RBI single in the ninth, but that was as close as they got, falling by that 4-3 score. Brett Bateman joined Hill in leading the way with two hits.
This has been an extremely frustrating season for the Cubs, which is to be expected when you are 10-30. That trend continued on Tuesday as a six-run fifth inning saw the Cubs tie things up, only to lose that lead one inning later before rain ended the game early. Like his teammate Kenten Egbert, Tyler Schlaffer is having a rough go of things this season, and after allowing six runs in four innings, his ERA is now 8.88 for the season. Schlaffer allowed a first-inning sacrifice fly to put the Timber Rattlers in front 1-0 before Hedbert Perez tacked on a solo shot in the second to push the lead to 2-0. The fourth inning is when the Rattlers broke things wide open, pushing across four runs to open up a 6-0 lead. Jadher Areinamo started the massive inning with an RBI single, but the Eduardo Garcia three-run blast was the big hit as the Cubs found themselves in an enormous hole. Even with the wins being tough, the Cubs deserve some credit for their ability to fight back. That was again the case in this one as the Cubs scored all six of their runs in the fifth to pull even 6-6. Cristian Hernandez started things off with an RBI single, while Brian Kalmer's RBI single closed out the inning. Once again, the long ball played a massive role in this as Andy Garriola unloaded for a grand slam to pull the Cubs within 6-5 before Kalmer's single tied things up. GRAND SLAM!!! Unfortunately, the Cubs' momentum would be snatched from them instantly as Garcia delivered the game-winning single in the sixth to cap off the 7-6 Rattlers win. South Bend had only four hits in the loss, as Edgar Alvarez added the fourth hit to the other three. Due to inclement weather tonight's game is official.
When you talk about a pitcher's duel, these games come to mind as the Pelicans and Crawdads combined for three total runs. All three of those runs came in the final two innings as neither team could get much of anything going offensively. Brooks Caple continues to be the Pelicans' best pitcher in 2025, as he lowered his season ERA to 1.80 following seven shutout innings. Caple scattered two hits and struck out six as he continues to impress. The Pelicans needed that type of effort from him as Ismael Agreda matched him through five innings, striking out eight and walking one. With things deadlocked 0-0 entering the eighth, the Crawdads finally broke through as a wild pitch led to the game's first run. Myrtle Beach continued to shoot themselves in the foot as a bases-loaded walk added the second run and proved to be the difference. As was the case in the bottom of the eighth, the Crawdads didn't help themselves in the top of the ninth, allowing Owen Ayers to reach first on an error, which led to the Pelicans' only run in a 2-1 loss. Myrtle Beach had seven hits in the loss as Jose Escobar and Yahil Melendez led the way with two.
Once again, the big inning that did the Cubs in as a pair of four-run frames was all the offense the Royals would need. Joan Delgado and Eli Lovich provided the RBIs for the Cubs, with Delgado going deep in the fifth and Lovich picking up a sixth-inning RBI double.
COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 3 - IOWA CUBS 2
BILOXI SHUCKERS 4 - KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 3
WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 7 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 (F/7)
Andy Garriola goes yard for the first South Bend Cubs @hoosierlottery grand slam of the season!#SBCubs pic.twitter.com/gFg6WNglLz
Final | Timber Rattlers 7 | Cubs 6 in six inning
Back at it tomorrow! First pitch scheduled for 11:05 AM. pic.twitter.com/BpOFsrGT57HICKORY CRAWDADS 2 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 1
ACL ROYALS 8 - ACL CUBS 2
CHICAGO DOGS vs FARGO-MOORHEAD REDHAWKS (Postponed)
LAKE ERIE CRUSHERS 3 - WINDY CITY THUNDERBOLTS 2
