Down on the Farm: Fly the W with 5-1 record, Giambrone with six dingers, highlights, more |
It was an incredibly busy day on the diamond as all four teams were in action playing a total of seven games. With one doubleheader nightcap getting postponed the other six games were highly successful as the Cubs minor leaguers dominated for a 5-1 record.
IOWA CUBS 11 – Oklahoma City Dodgers 1: The Cubs offense is starting to catch fire as they continued to wallop the Dodgers pitching staff. A day after putting up ten runs, the Cubs followed that up with 11 more en route to the 11-1 win. The combination of starter Trevor Clifton mixed with relievers Ryan Williams, Rowan Wick and James Norwood were dominant striking out 12 and allowing just four hits in the game. Williams did allow the lone run, but he was the man who qualified for the victory. From an offensive standpoint, Johnny Field remained hot connecting on a first-inning homer for his second homer in as many days and the 1-0 lead. Trent Giambrone got back into the homer brigade with a three-run shot in the fourth before Dixon Machado plated a pair with a double pushing the lead to 6-0 after four. That one was #crushed ?? Trent Giambrone clubs his 6th homer of the season! Now 7-0 in the sixth, Field picked up his second RBI of the day with a groundout before Ian Happ added an RBI single to make it 9-0. Field added another RBI single later in the game before the Cubs scored on their second wild pitch of the night in the eighth. The lone run for the Dodgers came in the sixth off a Connor Joe RBI grounder, but it was nowhere near enough in the 11-1 loss. The Cubs are now 10-6 and appear to be getting back to the winning ways. Field, Giambrone, and Machado led the way offensively collecting eight RBI’s off just four hits. Happ added the final RBI as he went 1-5. Some @IowaCubs notes -- TENNESSEE SMOKIES 6 – Chattanooga Lookouts 2: What was scheduled to be a doubleheader, turned into just one game as the second game of the night was yet again rained out. On the Brightside, it allowed the Smokies to get back on the winning track picking up the 6-2 win. Playing from behind early after Tyler Stephenson collected a sacrifice fly in the first, Connor Myers evened things up with a double in the second to plate P.J. Higgins and tie things up 1-1. It was in the fourth inning when the Tennessee offense took command of the game and never looked back. Myers was in the middle of the action yet again as he was standing in scoring position. Jhonny Pereda gave the Smokies the lead for good with his single before Jared Young drove him in with a single of his own and 3-1 lead. Robel Garcia stayed red hot and delivered the knockout punch as his double scored both Nico Hoerner and Young putting Tennessee in front 5-1. A fifth-inning single from Jose Siri and sixth inning single RBI single from Higgins capped off the scoring as the Smokies get back to winning baseball 6-2 and improve to 8-6. On the mound, it was a collective effort between starter Tyson Miller and reliever Jordan Minch who picked up his third win of the season. The rest of the bullpen saw three innings of action with Xavier Cedeno struggling in his second consecutive appearance. The Smokies collected seven hits with Higgins the only one grabbing multiple hits with two. Garcia, Young, Hoerner, Myers, and Pereda rounded out the offensive attack for Tennessee each picking up hits and driving in all the runs. SmokiesCenter 4/20 vs Chattanooga: Rain didn't damper the night for the Smokies in their series opener against the Lookouts pic.twitter.com/gZNOakqKmm MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4 - Lynchburg Hillcats 2: The Pelicans are officially on a winning streak as they picked up the 4-2 win in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader with the Hillcats. Paul Richan was stellar on the mound going five innings and allowing just one run on four hits. After a scoreless tie through three innings, Jimmy Herron broke through first with a solo shot in the fourth for his first of the season and 1-0 lead. Cam Balego stayed red hot and added a single later that inning to give the Pelicans the 2-0 lead. Myrtle Beach continued to be efficient in the fifth as they added another run courtesy of Herron and his sacrifice fly pushing the lead to 3-0. That would be the winning run in the end. Tyler Friis got the Hillcats on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a ground-rule double before Miguel Amaya cleared the fence for the third time this season in the sixth to take that run right back for the 4-1 lead. A Nolan Jones single in the seventh capped off the scoring in the 4-2 Hillcats loss. MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4 – Lynchburg Hillcats 1: Game two on the night was very similar to game one as the Pelicans rolled to the sweep on the day following the 4-1 win. The combination of Javier Assad and Erling Moreno took care of things on the mound making it easy for the offense to seize control. Once again it was an early strike to put the Pelicans in front as Tyler Payne doubled home the games first run in the first for the 1-0 lead. The Hillcats drew even in the bottom half of the second Sicnarf Loopstok grounded in a run, but that was all the Lynchburg offense on the night as the Pelicans pitching staff was dominant. With the score still tied 1-1 heading into the fifth, Myrtle Beach was looking for the decisive blow that would swing the game in their favor. Balego picked up his second RBI hit of the doubleheader to plate a pair as the Pelicans surged in front 3-1. A Zach Davis RBI single in the seventh capped off the scoring in the seventh as the Pelicans have now won five straight to improve to 6-11 for the year. BALLGAME!!!! SOUTH BEND CUBS 1 – Lake County Captains 0: In game one of another doubleheader, runs were at a premium as both Riley Thompson and Alex Royalty combined to allow just one run on seven hits in their starting efforts, but it was the Cubs coming out on top with the win. That lone run came in the fifth inning as both starting pitchers made things difficult for the offensive attacks. With Delvin Zinn and Eric Gonzalez on base, this was the best scoring opportunity of the day for the Cubs. D.J. Artis capitalized with a bunt single to score Zinn and give the Cubs the 1-0 lead. That would be all South Bend needed as Ethan Roberts locked things down with a two-inning save for his fourth of the year. SOUTH BEND CUBS 1 – Lake County Captains 3: Game two was another pitchers dual as Faustino Carrera opposed Luis Oviedo on the hill. Despite a strong showing from Carrera, it was three early runs in the first three innings that proved to be enough for the Captains as they picked up the 3-1 victory. The Cubs found themselves playing catchup immediately in the first as a throwing error from Carrera on a double steal attempt gave the Captains the 1-0 lead. Lake County added to that lead in the second inning when Angel Lopez delivered the eventual winning run with a solo shot and 2-0 advantage. Not to be discouraged, the Cubs were on the attack in the third inning. A two-out single from Cole Roederer set the stage for Andy Weber who reached base on an error by the center fielder allowing Roederer to score and just like that it was a 2-1 game. Tyler Freeman finished the scoring for both teams on the afternoon as his solo home run gave the Captains the 3-1 advantage which proved to be the final score. The Cubs fall to 8-8 with the loss as their .500 trend continues.
T4 | IOW 4, OKC 0 pic.twitter.com/ACxIUhn3FT
1. First time with back-to-back 10+ run games since 2017.
2. Outscored @okc_dodgers 21-5 first 2 games of this series.
3. More wins in OKC this year (2-0) than last year (1-7).
4. Quickest to 10 wins since 2014.
5. @JohnnyField1: 2 HR, 7 RBI last 2 games.
Birds have won four in a row as Erling Moreno slams the door shut with three scoreless innings in relief!! pic.twitter.com/76cde9QSkk
