Down on the Farm: 1-3 record, Ian Happ update, Dewees' big game, highlights, more
Ian Happ had two K's (Jake Roth - USA Today Sports)

Down on the Farm: 1-3 record, Ian Happ update, Dewees' big game, highlights, more


by - Senior Writer -

Last night in Minor League action, things did not go as smoothly as they did opening night as the farm system limped to a 1-3 record on the evening. Add that into the Cubs sixth straight loss 13-10 against Milwaukee and things were not pretty in the Cubs organization last night. Here are some recaps and highlights from the farm hands last night.

IOWA CUBS 2 Nashville Sounds 8: Looking to make it two straight to start the season, Iowa turned to Duane Underwood in game two. It was certainly not the outing he nor the team was hoping for as Underwood didn’t make it through the fourth putting Iowa in a huge hole they never could recover from by falling 8-2.

Things were not so bad early as Iowa only trailed 1-0 after two innings of play. It was in the third when the Iowa offense showed their first signs of life and looked to break through for the lead. Donnie Dewees made things easy leading off with a triple before an Ian Happ strikeout gave the Cubs their first out. Jim Adduci cashed in the Cubs first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to tie things up 1-1.

The remainder of the game was anything but fun for Iowa as Nashville plated seven unanswered runs in the next four innings to jump in front 8-1. The Cubs scored the final run of the contest in the top half of the seventh as Dewees was right in the middle of it again cranking a solo home run for his first of the season as Iowa falls to 1-1 following the 8-2 defeat.

Dewees had a massive game at the dish going 3-3 with a triple and a homer to lead the Cubs offensively. Trent Giambrone was 0-4 on the night while Happ leading off for the first time this season went 0-4 with two more strikeouts. Johnny Field and Zach Short also added three hits between the two of them.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 3 – Mississippi Braves 4: Another closely contested hard-fought game needed more than nine innings to decide a winner as the Braves outlasted the Smokies 4-3 in 11 innings. Cory Abbott gave the Smokies five strong innings on the bump before turning things over to Ian Clarkin, Manuel Rondon and Bailey Clark for the latter stages of the game.

Unlike the rest of their minor league counterparts, it took Tennessee a little while to get going as they fell behind 1-0 in the second courtesy of a Jonathan Morales sac fly. It wasn’t until the fifth inning when the Smokies offense came to life grabbing their first and only lead of the game.

Nico Hoerner responded from his hitless debut and proved he belongs in AA by picking his first RBI up of the season with a double in the fifth. Hoerner went 2-4 on the evening with a walk. Jared Young put the Smokies in front 2-1 giving himself up with an RBI grounder as the bullpen then took over.

That lead was short lived with Andy Wilkins hammering a tying homer in the sixth as the game remained knotted 2-2 heading to extras. Alejandro Salazar delivered for the Braves in the tenth, but it wasn’t all him as an error by P.J. Higgins put Mississippi back in front 3-2. Not to be out down, Tennessee came roaring back in the bottom of the 10th with Charcer Burks works the bases loaded walk to plate Connor Myers sending the game to the 11th tied 3-3.

That was as close as things would get for the Smokies, however, as the Braves continued to come through in the clutch. Luis Valenzuela manufactured another run with a sac-fly putting the Braves on top for good 4-3. Tennessee would be retired in order in their half of the 11th to fall 4-3 and 1-1 on the season.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 3 – Lynchburg Hillcats 6: Although a much more competitive showing in their second game of the season, the Pelicans remained winless dropping their contest 6-3 to fall to 0-2 on the young season. After holding a 3-2 lead most of the game, it was the final three innings that did them in with the bullpen allowing four runs to seal their fate.

Bryan Hudson did more than enough to earn the win, tossing five strong innings of two-run ball striking out six and walking only one batter for the game. The Pelicans offense did their part offensively to help Hudson out especially early on as they got off to a great start.

Trailing by one in the bottom of the first, Miguel Amaya continued his hot start to 2019 ripping a single to left to score D.J. Wilson and tying things up 1-1. Mike Rivera put the Hillcats back in front in the second with a solo home run, but the Pelicans offense was back at it again in the second.

For the second consecutive inning, Myrtle Beach had plenty of traffic on the bases keeping the pressure on the Hillcats pitching. Yeiler Peguero delivered with a single to send home Jhonny Bethencourt and tied it at 2-2. One inning later it was Amaya’s turn to come through yet again, crushing his first homer of the season to give the Pelicans their only lead at 3-2.

That score would hold up until Jodd Carter, and Jonathan Laureano added late game RBI hits to propel Lynchburg 6-3.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 1 – West Michigan Whitecaps 0: South Bend was the only team able to come away with a victory last night and boy was it a hard-fought pitcher's duel. Cam Sanders toed the rubber for the first time in 2019 and delivered a strong performance of five shutout innings of three-hit ball before Jeffrey Passantino, and Riley McCauley finished things off with four innings of one-hit ball out of the pen punching out seven White Caps in the process.

Even with South Bend limited to just five hits on their own, they managed to break through in one of their only chances on the evening which happened in the second inning. Consecutive singles from Tyler Durna and Nelson Velazquez to lead off the inning had runners on the corners with no outs. Two batters later Rafelin Lorenzo grounded out to shortstop to score the lone run as the South Bend pitching took care of the rest to preserve the 1-0 win.

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