Down on the Cubs Farm: Maples impressive, Garcia homers, South Bend blasted, more
Maples had a solid outing Sunday (Jennifer Stewart - USA Today Sports)

Down on the Cubs Farm: Maples impressive, Garcia homers, South Bend blasted, more
by - Senior Writer - Mon Jun 10 12:04:54 GMT-04:00 2019

It has not been a good couple of days for the Cubs farm system as they have gone winless the last two of the previous three nights on the diamond.

Although only five total runs were scored yesterday, the Smokies managed to grab the Cubs lone win of the weekend capping off a 1-2 Sunday on the diamond.

IOWA CUBS 4 – Albuquerque Isotopes 10: The Cubs slide continues as the Isotopes manhandled them 10-4 for their season-long sixth straight defeat. Looking to put an end to the skid, it was Matt Swarmer on the mound who was knocked around severely. In just three innings of work, Swarmer allowed 8ER putting the Cubs in a huge hole they couldn’t recover from. The Cubs bullpen did reasonably well from that point on allowing just 2ER in 6 innings of work.

Already up 3-0 in the second following the first inning home run from Roberto Ramos, the Isotopes began to pour it on in the second inning as a wild pitch from Swarmer gave them a 4-0 lead. Garrett Hampson added to that lead with a double, and would then later score on a Pat Valaika single to make it 6-0 heading to the bottom of the second.

Looking for a shot in the arm, the Cubs found instant offense as they looked to fight their way back. Robel Garcia got Iowa on the board with his ninth homer of the season to make it a 6-1 game. Later that inning it was time for Francisco Arica to get in on the fun as his single brought home Jim Adduci for a 6-2 game after two.

The Isotopes continued to pile on the runs as they brought home two more in the third. This time it was Yonathan Daza ripping a two-run single to push the lead back to six at 8-2. Daza was at it again in the fifth inning as he doubled off Duane Underwood to drive across two more runs for the 10-2 Isotopes lead.

Down by eight runs in the sixth, the Cubs needed offense in any way possible or this game would be over sooner rather than later. With a man on base, Phillip Evans continued to see the baseball well picking up his 12th double to make it a 10-3 game. A few batters later it was Garcia coming through again, this time with a double as the Cubs were now down 10-4, but that is as close as they would get as the Isotopes are one win away from a series sweep.

Iowa continues to struggle as of late falling to 34-30 on the season. Evans and Garcia each picked up a pair of hits on the day as they accounted for four of the eight Iowa hits. Wynton Bernard, Adduci, Arcia and Dillon Maples added the other four hits in the loss. Maples also went on to toss a scoreless 1 1/3 inning of relief joining Tony Barnette, Tim Collins and Xavier Cedeno in the scoreless outings.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 1 – Chattanooga Lookouts 2: Unlike Iowa, the Smokies were able to put an end to their losing streak behind a fantastic pitching performance on the mound. It was Scott Effross making his first start of the season going five scoreless innings and allowing just four hits. He teamed up with Michael Rucker who pitched the final four innings of the game to earn the save as the Smokies despite only three hits managed to plate the games lone run for the 1-0 win.

It took the Smokies four innings to get their first baserunner which was an Eddy Martinez walk, but it wasn’t until the fifth when they recorded their first hit. That hit came from Charcer Burks as he led off the inning with a solid single. Burks would then move to second on a Jesse Hodges grounder, but with two outs he was in danger of not scoring. Gioskar Amaya wouldn’t let that happen as he lined a single to left to break the shutout tie for the 1-0 Tennessee lead.

The Smokies last hit came in the sixth on a P.J. Higgins double as the pitching duo of Effross and Rucker was able to pitch in and out of trouble a few times to keep the shutout intact and hold on for the 1-0 win ending the five-game losing streak. Tennessee is now 29-33 with the win.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS: Cancelled (Wet Grounds) For the third straight day on the weekend, the Pelicans saw their game with the Winston-Salem Dash washed out. However, this time it was not from rain during the game, but from all the rain from the previous two days forcing the game to be canceled due to wet grounds.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 0 – Great Lakes Loons 10 (seven innings): South Bend cannot wait to get out of Great Lakes as they were dealt another lopsided defeat 10-0 to be outscored 20-1 over the last two games and 28-4 four in the series.

With their playoff hopes starting to dwindle in terms of the first half, the Cubs turned to Cam Sanders hoping to right ship on a rough series. Sanders, who has been pitching well as of late, didn’t have it on this day, lasting five innings and allowing seven runs, 6 of those were earned in the 10-0 shortened loss.

There weren’t many highlights from the Cubs on this day as they were held to just one hit with Brennan Davis recording it. Add in the fact that the Loons had a 4-0 lead through two innings and you could already get the sense that it was going to be a long day on Sunday. Already up 4-0 in the fifth, James Outman delivered the knockout blow with his fourth homer of the season to push the lead to 7-0.

The Loons would later add a pair of runs in the sixth off of a hit by a pitch and a Chris Roller single and then added their 10th and final run in the bottom of the seventh from Jair Camargo who picked up an RBI single to send the Cubs to 33-28 and hand them their third straight loss.

EUGENE EMERALDS: Although their season doesn’t start until Friday, the Emeralds have been busy putting together their opening day roster as it has been released. We do not see many of the Cubs 2019 draft picks on that list as most of them will be heading to rookie ball in Arizona to start, but that could change once the season is underway.

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