Cubs Minor League News: Rookie League Monday

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 5 hours ago

As is the case every Monday across Minor League Baseball, Monday is dedicated to the Rookie Leagues, as it is designated as Rookie League Monday. Currently, only one of the three Cubs Rookie League affiliates is in action as both DSL Red and DSL Blue will begin their season later.

Until that point, it's all about the ACL Cubs, who are struggling and have gotten off to one of the worst possible starts you can imagine. One week into their season, and the Cubs are not only struggling in every facet, but have yet to get a win.

That continued on Monday against the ACL Angels as the Cubs fell to the Angels 5-1 and are now 0-7 for the season.

Unlike most of their previous games, where the Cubs fell behind by a ton of runs early, this was a game dominated by the pitching most of the night, including a great start from Cubs right-hander Anhuar Garcia.

Garcia has been one of the lone bright spots among all of the Cubs pitchers as he gave the Cubs five innings of work. He allowed two runs on two hits, with five strikeouts, and that all without walking a batter. Both of the hits Garcia went on to allow came via the long ball, with Athanael Duarte touching him up in the second to give the Angels a 1-0 lead, while Joswa Lugo drove home the game-winning run in the fourth with his solo shot.

Had the Angels not scored the rest of the way, it would've been good enough to win as their pitching was dialed in start to finish. That included a strong start from Dylan Jordan, who lasted four innings, scattering two hits and striking out two. He didn't allow a run before yielding to the bullpen.

Following the great start from Garcia, Jhon Rosario took over and with his two scoreless innings to keep things close, it gave the Cubs offense a chance to make things happen late. They attempted to do that in the later innings with an error leading to their only run in the seventh, pulling within 2-1.

That was as close as things would get as the Angels tacked on three runs in the final two innings with Duarte connecting for his second RBI of the day with a double in the eighth, followed by a two-run shot from Victor Rodriguez in the ninth to close out the scoring. The Cubs were held to four hits in the loss, with Jan Luis Reyes leading the way with two. Eli Lovich and Jairo Diaz had the other two.

CHICAGO DOGS 3 - SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS 2

One day after securing their first win of 2025, the Dogs were at it again as they made it two straight wins to move back to .500. This one came against the Sioux City Explorers as they opened their four-game set with an impressive 3-2 victory.

John Baker got the call for the Dogs and delivered a strong first start of the season to pick up the win. The right-hander allowed one run on six hits across five innings, walking two and striking out four before giving way to the pen. It took a bit for either offense to settle in as the Dogs struck first on an Alex McGarry single in the third to open up a 1-0 lead.

They continued to build on that lead in the fourth as Jacob Teter unloaded for his first homer of the season and pushed the Dogs' lead to 3-0. Little did anyone know, his home run would go down as the game-winning hit, as the pitching was on point for most of the night. It took the Explorers five innings to push across their first run, with Kurtis Byrne picking up a sacrifice fly to pull Sioux City within 3-1.

The Explorers continued to inch back in the seventh with a Luis Turibio single bringing home another run to make this a 3-2 game. That was the final run of the day for either side as the Dogs move back to .500 with the win.