Down on the Farm: 1-3 record, Hoerner with 3 hits, Cedeno roughed up, more

Down on the Farm: 1-3 record, Hoerner with 3 hits, Cedeno roughed up, more
by - Senior Writer - Fri Apr 19 12:07:17 GMT-04:00 2019

It was all about the offense on the farm Thursday night as the pitching was definitely not on point. Despite the Cubs putting up 28 runs in their four minor league games, the pitching yielded 36 runs of their own to finish with a 1-3 record for the night.

IOWA CUBS 5 – New Orleans Baby Cakes 8: Fresh off of a doubleheader split, the Cubs were back in action looking to take control of their series. Although the offense was more than up to the task, it was a pair of rough innings from the Iowa pitching staff that did them in as they fell 8-5.

It was the Baby Cakes breaking through first as they got the scoring started in the second inning. With Jon Berti standing on third, Bryan Holaday lofted a lazy fly ball to the right for the sacrifice fly and 1-0 advantage. Zach Borenstein tied things up in the top of the fourth with his first homer of the season, but the bottom half of that frame is where everything began to unravel.

It was the same of Berti and Holaday that found themselves right in the thick of the scoring once again as they put the Baby Cakes in front for good. The two of them each smacked two-run homers in that inning to give New Orleans the 5-1 lead.

Looking to climb back in the ball game, the Cubs showed some fight in the seventh. Wynton Bernard got things started with a leadoff double before Donnie Dewees worked the walk putting two runners on with no outs. Five pitches later it was Dixon Machado getting involved in the home run fun as his three-run shot made things a 5-4 game.

Unfortunately, Iowa wasn’t able to get any closer as the Baby Cakes capitalize on a wild pitch before a two-RBI single from Matt Snyder in the bottom half of the seventh pushed things back to 8-4. Dewees capped off the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Iowa falls 8-5. The Cubs now sit at 8-6 as they are starting to cool off a little. Borenstein and Jim Adduci each picked up a pair of hits with five others grabbing one. Ian Happ went 0 -5 with three punchouts.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 8 – Jackson Generals 16: The Smokies have dropped a pair of tough contests over the past two nights as the defending champs are making things very frustrating. With the offense putting up eight runs on Thursday, usually, that would be plenty for a pitching staff that has been solid all season. Jackson was just that much better on the night, doubling the Smokies output for the 16-8 win.

Zach Hedges got the start in this one lasting just 4 1/3 inning while giving up four runs. Although not the greatest of outings, the offense did bail him out as they were on fire early. Facing a 2-0 deficit after a Jazz Chisholm first-inning homer, the Smokies got on the board in the second courtesy of a Roberto Caro sacrifice fly that scored Jhonny Pareda.

With that score still intact, the Generals received a pair of doubles from Galli Cribbs Jr, and Jeffrey Baez in the top of the fifth to chase Hedges from the mound taking a 4-1 lead. Down, but not out, the Smokies offense went to work in the bottom of the fifth and looked like they were about to hit their stride for the remainder of the game.

Caro continued his hot night at the dish doubling home Connor Myers for the 4-2 deficit. Jesse Hodges got in on the fun with a double of his own before the Jared Young fielders choice tied things up 4-4. With Nico Hoerner now standing on third, the Smokies were able to grab the lead no a wild pitch 5-4 capping off the four-run frame.

That lead was short lived as the Smokies bullpen got lit up over the next three innings allowing 12 runs to put themselves in a 16-5 hole with just six outs to go. Tennessee continued to show some fight in the bottom of the eighth refusing to go down quietly. With the bases loaded, a Christian Donahue fielders’ choice and Clayton Daniel single made it a 16-7 ball game. Hoerner added a single a few batters later to cut things to 16-8, but that was all she wrote in the contest as the Smokies fall to 7-6 dropping their third straight to the Generals.

Xavier Cedeno made his season debut, and it was anything but good. Cedeno lasted 1/3 of an inning and was tagged with four earned runs on two hits showing his rust on the mound. Hoerner had a monster day at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI as he is now hitting .333 after a slow start.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 9 – Lynchburg Hillcats 0: The Pelicans were able to end their skid last time out as they shifted gears to a new series. Maybe that was the medicine Myrtle Beach needed to get back on track as a stellar offensive performance mixed with a strong pitching performance led to a 9-0 beatdown for their second straight win and fourth of the season.

Making his first start of the year was Oscar De La Cruz, and it couldn’t have gone much better. Not only did he last five innings throwing shutout baseball, but the Pelicans offense gave him plenty of support early on making it easy for him to settle in. The bullpen took care of the rest from the sixth inning on.

After catching fire in his previous game, Cam Balego stayed hot as he opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly following the Miguel Amaya double and Carlos Sepulveda single. With a fielding error from the Hillcats to make it 2-0, Kevonte Mitchell delivered the knockout blow with a three-run homer to put the Pelicans up 5-0 in the first. Sepulveda added an RBI single in the second to stretch things to 6-0.

With the scoring briefly stalled, the Pelicans looked to make some noise in the middle stages of the game. Look no further than the fifth inning when Tyler Payne connected for his first homer of the season and 7-0 lead. Balego got in on the home run party with his first of the season in the seventh, before Sepulveda capped off the scoring with another RBI single in the eighth for the 9-0 win.

The win moves Myrtle Beach to 4-11 on the year as they managed to win multiple games in a row for the first time in 2019. Leading the way was Sepulveda as he collected three hits with his two RBI’s raising his average t0 .286. Amaya was 1-4 with three strikeouts, while Mitchell and Payne combined for four hits and four RBI’s on the night.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 – Lake County Captains 12: The high scoring affairs continued in A level ball as the Cubs and Captains combined for 18 runs. If it wasn’t for Will Benson, the Cubs might have one this game, but his four-home run, eight RBI night was the difference in the 12-6 defeat.

Eury Ramos got the start and was chased after just 2 2/3 innings after allowing seven earned runs. That put a ton of pressure on the bullpen to keep things close as the Cubs were already playing catchup. The long ball was the name of the game early as Benson and Hosea Nelson each connected for two-run homers in the first two innings to give the Captains a 4-0 lead.

After a third-inning error got the Cubs on the board, Benson took that run right back with his second homer of the night before the Jesse Berardi single pushed the Captains lead to 7-1 after three innings of play. That lead continued to grow to an insurmountable amount as Benson connected for a grand slam in the fifth followed by a solo shot in the sixth for his fourth homer of the night and just like that it was 12-1 after six.

Facing their most significant deficit of the season, South Bend began to chip away in the seventh as they looked to crawl back. With Christopher Morel on base, Levi Jordan put an end to the eight unanswered runs with a double scoring morel and putting himself in scoring position. An Eric Gonzalez walk put two runners on base before D.J. Artis cleared the bases with a double bringing things to 12-4.

The sudden burst of offense continued into the eighth inning when Jonathan Sierra led things off with a double. Two batters later it was Morel leaving the yard for the first time on the season as South Bend battled back to within 12-6. Morel was the last batter to reach base for the Cubs as the Captains retired the final five hitters for the 12-6 win.

The .500 season continues for South Bend as they fall to 7-7 with the loss. Moreland Sierra each collected two hits, with Artis leading the way with three RBI’s and Morel with two.

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