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Down on the Farm: 3-3 record, historic 15 run inning, Happ and Russell hot, more
Matt Kartozian - USA Today Sports

Down on the Farm: 3-3 record, historic 15 run inning, Happ and Russell hot, more


by - Senior Writer -

It was a busy day down on the farm, as all four teams were in action compiling six games on the afternoon. There was plenty of fireworks throughout the day, as the Cubs managed a respectable 3-3 record.

IOWA CUBS 3 – Nashville Sounds 7: After their rainout on Saturday, the Iowa Cubs were set to play a doubleheader with Nashville on Saturday. In game one, Mike Montgomery continued his rehab tour as Iowa was his next stop. With another strong showing of two-run ball through four innings, Montgomery appears ready to rejoin the club. His strong outing went by the wayside taking the loss as Alec Mills was hammered in his two innings preventing any comeback effort.

The pair of runs Monty yielded came in the third inning. With a scoreless tie, Eli White broke the deadlock with a double before Jose Trevino added a double of his own for the 2-0 lead. Trevino was getting started as he plated a pair in the fifth with another double before Carlos Tocci singled home the fifth run in the sixth for the 5-0 Nashville lead.

The Iowa offense got right back into the game in the sixth inning when Ian Happ went deep for the third time on the season to cut the lead to 5-3 through six innings of play. The Sounds added a pair in the seventh inning as White and Matt Davidson each connected for solo shots to lift the Sounds to the 7-3 win.

IOWA CUBS 19 – Nashville Sounds 5: Not only was game two a blowout in Iowa’s favor, but the Cubs made history in the process giving Duane Underwood his first win of the season. Although better, but still not incredibly sharp allowing three runs in five innings, Underwood was gifted with plenty of run support as the Cubs set a record by scoring 15 times in the first inning before cruising 19-5.

Nashville grabbed an early lead in the first inning as Davidson was at it again. With White on base, Davidson connected for his second homer of the day and eighth of the season to put Nashville up 2-0. That lead was short-lived as the Cubs bats began the first inning beatdown shortly after.

With a pair of walks and a hit by a pitch loading the bases, Phillip Evans cleared the bases with one swing as his grand slam made it 4-2 Iowa. Now with two outs, a Trent Giambrone double extended the inning in which Iowa scored 11 runs with two outs. Singles from Ian Rice, Dixon Machado, and Happ, pushed the lead to 7-2 with the bases still packed.

An Addison Russell double pushed the lead to 9-2 before two more walks loaded the bases. A Jim Adduci double brought home a pair of runs to make it 11-2 setting the stage for Johnny Field. With the bases loaded yet again, Field went deep for the second grand slam of the inning putting Iowa up 15-2.

The Cubs continued to extend the lead over the next two innings as the solo homer from Rice and bases loaded Evans walk gave Iowa the 17-2 lead through three innings. At this stage of the game, Nashville was looking for some sort of positive to take from this deficit. Look no further than Jett Bandy who doubled home a run in the third to make it 19-3. Bandy would later homer in the sixth to cap off the scoring, as Field and Russell each added RBI’s late in the Cubs 19-5 win.

Iowa now sits at 14-9 following the split as they continue to occupy first place. Russell picked up his first homer in game two and is hitting .294 in his tune-up. Happ saw his average rise to .233 with his one homer four-RBI afternoon, while Evans and Field each collected five RBI’s in game two.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 3 – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4: The slide continued or the Smokies as they fell to 0-4 without Nico Hoerner following a 4-3 loss. On the mound was Cory Abbott who took his first loss of the season allowing four runs in six innings. Even with that loss, Abbott is sporting a 2.86 ERA and did not walk a hitter in his effort.

With J.C. Milan giving the Jumbo Shrimp the early first inning lead with a double, I wasn’t until the fifth when Jacksonville took complete control of the game. A John Silviano homer got things started before a Corey Bird triple gave the Jumbo Shrimp the 4-0 lead.

Looking for any offense, Christian Donahue provided a brief spark with a single in the seventh to get the Smokies on the board. Tennessee would then go on to make things interesting in the ninth as the two out Robel Garcia home run cut the deficit to one at 4-3. Unfortunately, the Smokies were unable to rally after that dropping their fourth straight contest 4-3.

With the loss, Tennessee now sits at 10-12 as they search for answers. Garcia picked up a pair of hits to go with his fifth homer of the season while Roberto Caro and P.J. Higgins joined him with multi-hit efforts.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 7 – Salem Red Sox 15: It was all about offense on Sunday as both the Pelicans and Red Sox combined for 22 runs on the afternoon. Unfortunately, it was the Red Sox providing the bigger punch blowing past Myrtle Beach 15-7.

If there was any hope the Pelicans had a chance to win, Alex Lange quickly erased that hope as he was lit up for seven earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning. Salem not only hit the ball hard but did so with many different contributors as seven various Red Sox collected RBI’s for the early 7-0 lead. Facing a large deficit, the Pelicans knew they had work to do, but it was still early.

With that mindset in place, Aramis Ademan brought things a little bit closer as his double brought home a pair to make it a 7-2 game. With the score still 7-2 in the sixth, the Pelicans bats came to life as they began to make things a whole lot more interesting.

A Miguel Amaya leadoff walk was just the beginning with Tyler Payne picking up a single to put a pair on base. With runners on the corners and one out, Grant Fennell brought home Amaya making it a 7-3 game. Now with two outs, it was Ademan again going deep to right field for his second of the season to bring the Pelicans within one at 7-6. Kevonte Mitchell was able to get into scoring position after that but was stranded their keeping things at 7-6.

After Jarren Duran earned bases-loaded walk in the seventh to stretch things back to 8-6, the Red Sox put things to bed in the eighth with their second seven running of the afternoon. Duran and Victor Acosta each picked up a pair of RBI’s in that inning with three others adding one to push the lead to 15-6. Jimmy Herron picked up an RBI double in the ninth, but it was nowhere near enough in the 15-7 loss.

The Pelicans remain in last place with a 7-17 record as they are in one of their toughest stretches of the season. Fennell had the hot hand with three hits, while Ademan picked up a career-high five RBI’s on his two hits. Mitchell also added a pair of hits in the loss.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 – Fort Wayne Tin Caps 1: After their rainout on Saturday, South Bend had a busy day of baseball with two games on Sunday. Game one was a good start for the Cubs as it was a complete game effort in the 6-1 win.

Bailyn Marquez was back on the hill and had mixed results in his start. Despite allowing just one run in 3 2/3 innings, Marquez walked a career-high seven hitters to go along with eight strikeouts. With Nelson Velazquez giving South Bend the 1-0 lead in the first, the lone blemish on Marquez came in the as he uncorked a wild pitch to give the Tin Caps their lone run.

With the score still tied 1-1 heading into the fifth, South Bend got the bats going late to take control of the game. A Rafelin Lorenzo homer proved to be the winning run before an Andy Weber triple made it a 3-1 game through five. Bases loaded walks from Rafael Narea, and Levi Jordan pushed the lead to 5-1 as Cole Roederer capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly and 6-1 win. Jeffry Passantino picked up the win with 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with six strikeouts.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 11 – Fort Wayne Tin Caps 2: For the second game of the day, but the hitting and offense was on point as the Cubs rolled 11-2 for the doubleheader sweep. It was Riley Thompson getting the call as went 4 1/3 innings of two-run baseball for the no-decision. His ERA now sits at 1.42 for the year.

The Cubs got the offense rolling in the second as they took the early lead off the Tyler Durna double. Eric Gonzalez would later reach on a fielder’s choice for the 2-0 cubs lead. The Tin Caps drew even in the top half of the third off bases loaded Agustin Ruiz single bringing things to 2-2. That would be all the Tin Caps could muster as the Cubs were suffocating on both sides of the ball.

The Cubs took the lead for good in the bottom of the third with a Jordan single for the 3-2 lead. Gonzalez then came through with the big blow clearing the bases with a double as the lead ballooned to 6-2 through three. The South Bend offense was just getting warmed up as Jordan had a substantial next couple of at-bats.

With Durna picking up his second double of the game in the fourth, Jordan followed that up with bases loaded single as the score was now 9-2 South Bend. A fifth-inning homer from Velazquez with a Jordan sixth inning homer capped off the scoring with South Bend leading 11-2. That homer was the first of the year for Jordan as he continues his hot hitting in the 11-2 game two win.

With the doubleheader sweep, the Cubs are a season-high three games above .500 and sit at 13-10 for the season. Jordan led the way with three hits and four RBI’s with Gonzalez adding four of his own on two hits. Weber picked up three hits of his own, with Durna adding a pair of hits and RBI’s in the game two victory.

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