Cubs Minor League News: Rookie League Action

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 14 hours ago

Now that the Arizona Complex League has started, it marks the beginning where there will be Minor League baseball played every day. While the full season leagues will still be off on Monday, the Rookie Leagues won't, as Mondays are now known as Rookie League Monday.

For the Cubs, they will get to enjoy a month where the ACL Cubs are the center of attention, leading up to the beginning of the Dominican Summer League, also known as the DSL. For those unfamiliar with the Arizona Complex League teams and how they work, it's a mix of prospects across the board, as many of these prospects are lesser-known prospects looking to jumpstart their professional career.

You also have the foreign-born players getting promoted from the DSL to the ACL and the players out on rehab, as they are trying to get back into baseball shape. There are plenty of talented players to keep tabs on this summer as the ACL Cubs are hoping to get back on track after several down seasons.

Two games into their season, and things haven't gone well as the Cubs dropped their opener on Saturday and then turned around and got doubled up by the ACL Brewers 12-6 on Monday to fall to 0-2 on the season. This was a game where the offense was king, but it was the Brewers taking it to the Cubs, scoring seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings, including five in the sixth to put the game away.

Anhuar Garcia got the start for the Cubs and had an interesting line in this one. Across his four innings, Garcia allowed four runs on six hits, with three of those six hits coming via the home run ball. That alone has to be a concern, but with one walk and seven strikeouts, there were some things to like about his start.

Garcia was backed by a first-inning single from Eli Lovich to give the Cubs the lead, but it was the first of three long balls that tied things up in the bottom of the first with Jose Anderson delivering the first blow. That was the first of two Anderson homers in the first three innings as Jadyn Fielder added the third homer in the third inning to put the Brewers up 3-1, and they would never look back.

Trailing 4-2 in the fourth, Alexis Hernandez, younger brother of Cristian Hernandez, kept things close as his RBI double had the Cubs within 4-3. The Cubs continued to battle back in the fifth with Lovich picking up his second RBI of the game on a fielder's choice to tie things up 4-4. Once the bottom of the fifth rolled around, it was all Brewers as they took the lead for good on the Luis Corobo double before tacking on another run on a wild pitch to make things 6-4.

This was the beginning of an offensive onslaught that saw the Brewers score seven runs in two innings, five of which came in the sixth. A pair of bases loaded walks and a wild pitch aided in three of those five runs, with Frederi Montero adding a two-RBI single to push the Brewers' lead to 11-4. Hernandez did his best to keep things close, adding another RBI double in the eighth before coming home on a sacrifice fly as the Cubs were within 11-6.

It was as close as they would get as the Brewers tacked on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to close out the scoring in a 12-6 win. Lovich and Hernandez were responsible for four RBIs combined for five hits. Lovich led the way with three hits, with Hernandez adding two. The Cubs also saw Ludwing Espinoza pick up two hits in what was a solid offensive game across the board.