Cubs Minor League News: PCA and Caissie homer, Strumpf raking, I-Cubs postponed, more |
Mother nature was not very kind to the Cubs on Wednesday as their contest with Baltimore was rained out were two minor league games. That means Thursday will be a jam-packed night as both Iowa and Myrtle Beach will have double headers to play.
Even with half of the Cubs teams sitting out due to mother nature, there were still four teams in action on Wednesday as both DSL teams played with AA Tennessee and High A South Bend, all-seeing the field. From a results side, it wasn't pretty as the Cubs system went 1-3. Regardless, you have to like what you see from many of these prospects, as the Cubs will need help sooner rather than later.
It was a back and forth affair between Biloxi and Tennessee on Wednesday, only to have the Shuckers walk things off in the ninth. Dalton Stambaugh continued to build off his strong outing last time out, giving the Smokies four innings of three-run ball to go with six strikeouts. Take him out of the equation, and you had a bullpen that was near untouchable for five innings. Brandon Knarr opposed Stambaugh on the mound and made life difficult for the Smokies, holding them to one run on five hits through six innings. Chase Strumpf provided that run off of Knarr in the second as he connected for his team-leading 11th homer for the 1-0 lead. Biloxi answered in the bottom of the second off the Cam Devanney double to bring things back to even 1-1. Two innings later, the Shuckers took a 3-1 lead with Joey Wiemer going deep to make things 2-1 ahead of the Tristen Lutz double, which put the Smokies down by a pair. That score held until the seventh inning when Bradlee Beesley doubled home a run to make things 3-2 before the Yonathan Perlaza grounded tied things up 3-3. With the game on the line and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Felix Valerio came through with a sacrifice fly to lift the Shuckers to the 4-3 walk-off win. Strumpf continued his recent hot streak leading the offense with three hits, with Perlaza adding two for another multi-hit game. Chase Strumpf goes 3-4 with a home run, but Biloxi gets the best of the Smokies on a Wednesday evening. pic.twitter.com/UIg1tE82BL
Things continued to be a rough go as of late for South Bend as they were drubbed 12-5 on Wednesday. Most of that damage came in the first two innings as the Kernels scored six times to push through for the win. Not only was Manuel Espinoza having a rough go of things, but Walker Powell and Hunter Bigge all gave up three earned runs or more. The Kernels wasted very little time jumping on South Bend as the solo shot by Christian Encarnacion put the Kernels up 1-0 before Seth Gray added another homer to make things 3-0. One inning later saw the long ball continue to play a significant role for the Kernels as the Dylan Neuse solo shot extended the lead to 4-0 while another two-run shot from Encarnacion made things 6-0. Looking to claw back into the game, the Cubs used a second inning Fabian Pertuz single and a third-inning Pete Crow-Armstrong homer to pull within 6-2, but it was the four-run fifth that busted things wide open. Wander Javier opened the scoring with an RBI single ahead of the Charles Mack three-run shot to make things 10-2. Jefferson Morales capped off the Kernels side of scoring with a two-run homer in the seventh as the long ball was pivotal for them. Although down big on the scoreboard, the Cubs did finish the game positively, with Pablo Aliendo picking up a two-run single in the seventh and Owen Caissie adding a solo shot in the ninth. Big time @Cubs Prospects x2! Caissie continues to hit the ball well, leading the way with three hits. Pertuz, Jonathan Sierra, Yeison Santana, and Crow-Armstrong added multi-hit efforts in the loss. See you tomorrow night at 7:05. pic.twitter.com/7RbWRsq9bk
Sparked by a three-run fifth and a four-run seventh, the Pirates managed to hand DSL Blue their first loss of the summer. David Bracho gave the Cubs an abbreviated two-inning outing, but was very good in those two innings while the rest of the staff was not. All of the Cubs damage came in the first inning as their offense was ready to roll. Silver Gomez pushed across the first run with an RBI single before a double steal later in the inning resulted in a 2-0 lead. Albert Belliard added an RBI single later in the inning to make things 3-0, but that was it for the Cubs. Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, singles by Isaias Dipre and Samuel Escudero tied things up 3-3, while a wild pitch put the Pirates up 4-3. Two innings later, the Pirates put the game away for good, using four runs to pick up the 8-3 win. Sandy Sanchez led the way with two hits.
All it took was two innings, but in those two innings, the Cubs scored five times and topped the Guardians 5-2. Kevin Valdez and Luis Reyes set the tone on the mound, allowing two runs on six hits through five innings while also striking out eight. Yohan Crispin went the final two innings to secure the save. Down 1-0 in the third, the Cubs took the lead for good as Jose Escobar tripled home the tying run and then scored on the Adan Sanchez single. That lead didn't last long, with David Leon tying things up with an RBI single in the fourth. Needing some runs late, Erbin Jaque provided the winning hit with a two-run shot to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Yodel Diaz added a sacrifice fly later in that inning as the Cubs won 5-2. BILOXI SHUCKERS 4 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 3
CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 12 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 5
Both Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie went deep tonight at @FourWindsField. These @hoosierlottery home runs were each long drives ?? pic.twitter.com/n2Wd5xv9kI
DSL PIRATES 8 - DSL CUBS BLUE 3
DSL CUBS RED 5 - DSL GUARDIANS 2
