Cubs Minor League News: Strikeouts, shutouts and series wins |
Dustin Riese
· · 4 hours ago
They say pitching wins championships, and Sunday saw the Cubs' minor League system deliver championship-quality pitching across the board. Sure, it wasn't perfect with the Cubs going 2-1 on the afternoon, but when you get the pitching the Cubs had on Sunday, more wins are going to follow, which is all you can ask for this time of year.
The lone loss on the afternoon came in AAA, where the Saints found a way to get to Ethan Roberts and the Cubs pen to post a 3-2 win. That took away from what was otherwise a good start from left-hander Jordan Wicks, who allowed two runs (1ER) in 4 2/3 innings, striking out four in the process. He went pitch for pitch with Mick Abel, who, despite struggling with his command through 4 2/3 innings of his own, allowed just one run. This was a scoreless game until the fourth, when a wild pitch from Abel gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead. That lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth when Gabriel Gonzalez took Wicks deep to tie things up, only to have an Aaron Sabato push home a run on a sacrifice run to put the Saints on top 2-1. Iowa didn't waste any time battling back as a Jonathon Long solo shot brought things back to even 2-2. As was the case earlier in the game, the Saints had all the answers for the Cubs as they pushed home the game-winning run on a James Outman double in the bottom of the sixth, as that was the difference in the Cubs' 3-2 loss. Long led the way for the Cubs with three hits as his impressive season continues at the plate. Ben Cowles added two hits, as did the recently reacquired Nicky Lopez, as they accounted for seven of the Cubs' eight hits.
Sometimes all it takes to pick up a win is put together one big inning. That is what the Smokies did on Sunday as they battled back from an early 2-0 deficit by scoring three times in the fifth to post a 3-2 win. It was another strong performance from right-hander Tyler Schlaffer, who is starting to come into his own at AA. Schlaffer continues to give the Smokies terrific length by going six innings, walking one, and striking out six while allowing just two runs as his AA ERA is now an even 3.00. Both of the runs charged to Schlaffer came in the first inning when Blake Burke connected for another homer as the Shuckers took a quick 2-0 lead. Apart from that, things were tough to come by offensively, as the Smokies' pitching staff held the Shuckers scoreless the rest of the way, giving their offense a chance to battle back. That they did in the fifth inning as Knoxville was finally able to knock Brett Wichrowski around after he posted four scoreless frames to start the game. All it took for the Smokies offense to get rolling was an Andy Garriola single, making it a 2-1 game. From that point on, the Smokies put plenty of pressure on the Shuckers, loading the bases several times, resulting in a pair of hit by pitches to Jefferson Rojas and Brett Bateman to bring home the winning runs in what was a 3-2 win. Knoxville had six hits in the win with Jaylen Palmer and Reivaj Garcia leading the way with two.SAINT PAUL SAINTS 3 - IOWA CUBS 2
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 3 - BILOXI SHUCKERS 2
SOUTH BEND CUBS 4 - FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 2
Talk about another impressive series for the Cubs. As bad as things looked for them in the first half, they are an above .500 team in the second half and are only two games out of a playoff spot as we speak. Their most recent victory came on the heels of a three-run fifth inning as the Cubs doubled up the Tin Caps 4-2 to claim another series.
Strong starting pitching has led to the turnaround by the Cubs, and Yenrri Rojas was certainly on top of his game in this one. The right-hander gave the Cubs five innings of no-run, six-strikeout baseball, allowing just three hits as his ERA fell to 0.56 since his promotion to High-A.
Some instant offense backed Rojas as an Edgar Alvarez first-inning grounder brought home the game's first run and had the Cubs on top for good, 1-0. That score would hold until the fifth inning when the Cubs' offense started to put much better at-bats together, resulting in an RBI fielder's choice from Ariel Armas to close out a series to remember.
The big blow of the game came later in that inning when Cristian Hernandez connected for his second homer of the week and seventh of the season to push home the winning runs and put the Cubs in front 4-0. Both of the Tin Caps runs came in the seventh, and they came off of Caleb Kilian as Brendan Durfee took him deep to pull within 4-2.
For Kilian, this was a long-awaited return after injuring his shoulder earlier in the season as he continues to rehab his way back to health. Kenten Egbert took over from there to close things out for another Cubs win. Hernandez had the big game in this one, collecting three hits and delivering the game-winning blast. Christopher Paciolla added two hits as they were the only players with multiple hits for the Cubs.
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS vs FREDERICKSBURG NATIONALS (Canceled)
