Cubs Minor League News: Rookie League |
Dustin Riese
· · 8 hours ago
Monday sparked the beginning of a new week of Minor League competition and, once again, another Rookie League Monday. For the most part, Rookie League Monday has been a struggle for the entire Cubs system as they have failed to string together the wins they have been hoping for.
That was once again the case on Monday as several players had strong showings go to waste, with the Cubs' Rookie League Affiliates posting another losing mark (0-3). It will be interesting to see what happens when the ACL concludes in just a few weeks and where some of these players are placed, as that will be something to watch.
The Fourth of July fireworks came early for the Cubs in Mesa as the Cubs and Athletics treated the fans to an offensive showdown in the desert. Unfortunately for the Cubs, it was the Athletics finding a way to get it done, scoring 10 times in the final three innings to rally for a 12-11 win. Ronny Lopez made the start for the Cubs and delivered by far his best outing of the season. The right-hander gave the Cubs six innings, allowing two runs and striking out six to give his team a chance. Early on, it looked as if the Cubs would take that chance and run with it, as their offense came out swinging in a big way. With neither team finding a way to score in the first three innings, the Cubs went extra base crazy in the fourth to score five runs and open up a 5-0 lead. Ronny Cruz started that with an RBI triple, while doubles from Ismael Mena and Ludwing Espinoza pushed the lead to 3-0. Jan Luis Reyes extended the lead with a fielder's choice, with Alexis Hernandez capping off the big inning with a single. The lone blemish for Lopez came in the fifth as the Max Durrington double ended the shutout bid and pulled the Athletics to within 5-2. Then came the seventh, where Ramon Landaeta connected for a three-run shot to make this a 5-5 game. Not to be outdone, Cruz added to an already big game with his second RBI triple of the game as the Cubs were back in front 7-5. That would be their final lead of the night as the Athletics rallied for seven runs over the next two innings, including a five-run eighth to take the lead for good 10-7. With German Ortiz and Jesus Superlano tacking on a pair of RBI singles in the ninth, the Cubs found themselves facing a 12-8 deficit and only three outs to work with. To their credit, the Cubs made the most of those three outs as the Mena sacrifice fly made this a 12-9 game. The big hit for the Cubs came from Albert Gutierrez, whose two-run shot pulled the Cubs within 12-11 before falling by that score. Cruz paced the Cubs offense with four hits and three RBIs as he is now hitting .270 for the season.
Despite the Cubs getting off to a fast start and picking up three early runs, it was the Giants who managed to grab the win as they scored four times in the fourth to grab the lead before closing things out 6-3. It was Luis Ghisays making another start for the Cubs, and once again, he had moments of success, but also moments of struggle. The success was evident in his two walks and six strikeouts through 3 2/3 innings while also maintaining a strong 3.68 ERA. The struggles were evident in the four runs allowed in his start, as the Cubs' offense was unable to recover. Ghisays was backed by plenty of early offense, with the Cubs striking first on a first-inning throwing error while Luis Maldonado in the third pushed the Cubs' lead to 3-0. That was it for the Cubs and their offense, as it was going to come down to their pitching to get the job done. After keeping the Giants offense in check through three innings, things came undone in a hurry for Ghisays in the fourth as he was touched up for four runs in that inning to put the Giants in front 4-3. Carlos Concepion opened the scoring with an RBI single, but it was the massive Miguel Caraballo three-run homer that put the Giants on top for good 4-3. The Giants tacked on two more runs in the seventh, with Conception picking up an RBI triple before coming home to score on a wild pitch to close out the scoring. The Cubs were held to two hits in the loss, with Luis Leon joining Maldonado with the hits.
Talk about an ugly game on Monday; this was one of those days where nothing went right for the Cubs, and it was over just as quickly as it began. After racing out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first, the Blue Jays responded with 12 runs in their first two innings, including an eighth-run first to put the game away as part of their 14-2 rout. Jose Urena (7ER) and Fleury Soriano (5ER) were the victims of those massive innings as they combined to allow 12 runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work. Apart from that, the Cubs' pitching was strong the rest of the way, including a three-inning outing from Jeremy Guzman, who allowed one run and struck out four. When it comes to the offense, DSL Blue wasted no time grabbing the lead as a first-inning Juan Monso RBI grounder gave DSL Blue a quick 1-0 lead. That was about the only bright spot of the day for the Cubs as the Blue Jays offense responded with an eight-run bottom of the first to officially put the game away. Franklin Rojas tied things up with a sacrifice fly before a series of wild pitches, and a bases-loaded walk led to a handful of those runs. There were also RBI singles mixed in from Juarlin Soto, Daniel Dominguez, and Rafael Flores, contributing to three more runs as the Blue Jays' offense was off and running early, 8-1. It only got worse from there for the Cubs as the Blue Jays got right back to work in the second inning to push across four additional runs to open up a 12-1 lead. Unlike the first, where it was a merry-go-round of players coming to bat, all four runs came on one swing, with JT Bain unloading for the Grand Slam to extend the lead to 12-1. Juan Acosta did his best to try and brighten the mood with an RBI double in the fourth for the Cubs, but that was it for their offense until late as Carlos Garcia and Franklin Rojas delivered a pair of late-game RBI knocks for the Jays. Despite trailing by 12 in the final inning, the Cubs offense wasn't going to go down without a fight as they managed to push home a pair of runs on singles from Juan Tomas and Breyner Figuero as part of a 14-4 loss.ACL ATHLETICS 12 - ACL CUBS 11
DSL GIANTS 6 - DSL CUBS RED 3
DSL BLUE JAYS 14 - DSL CUBS BLUE 4
