Down on the Cubs Farm: 1-2 record, Iowa in first place, full recaps, more |
Monday did not bring the offensive fireworks that Sunday had, but the Cubs farmhands played three competitive games on the evening. With the pitching showing strong efforts throughout, it was up to the offense to duplicate that in hopes of picking up some wins. Unfortunately, only the Smokies emerged victorious as the Cubs went 1-2 on the Farm Monday night.
IOWA CUBS 3 – San Antonio Missions 4: After their historic offensive day on Sunday, the Cubs were back on the diamond Monday looking to cool down a red-hot Missions team. Despite a strong pitching effort from Matt Swarmer (6 innings, 3 ER, 1BB and 9K) he was outdueled by Adrian Houser as the Cubs fell 4-3 on the evening. It was the Cubs who cracked the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second jumping out to the early lead. With Cristhian Adames in scoring position, Johnny Field reached on the Keston Hiura fielding error that allowed Adames to score for the 1-0 Iowa lead. The Missions tied things up in the top half of the third when Houser went deep for the first time this season, but Donnie Dewees singled home Ian Happ in the bottom of the third to retake the lead 2-1. A Tyler Saladino double in the fourth brought things back to even at 2-2 before the Missions offense took charge in the later third of the game. A Go-ahead Tyrone Taylor double in the sixth put San Antonio on top for good as that run chased Swarmer following the inning. With Carl Edwards Jr. on the hill in the seventh, Lucas Erceg delivered the game-winning run with his fifth homer of the year and 4-2 Missions lead. Down to their final outs, the Iowa bats looked to stage one last rally. A leadoff double from Adames was a great start as he was immediately in scoring position. With one out and a man on third, Francisco Arcia manufactured a run with a groundout cutting things to 4-3 with two outs. A Trent Giambrone single and Dixon Machado walk extended the inning as the Cubs were still threatening. San Antonio was able to hold on as Happ grounded out to end the game with the Cubs falling 4-3. Iowa remains in first place at 14-10 one game ahead of second place Memphis. Dewees led the way with two hits and an RBI, while Arcia picked up the other RBI. Happ was 1-5 on the evening with Addison Russell going 0-3 with a walk. Edwards allowed one run in his inning of work, while Tom Collins and Dakota Mekkes each pitched a scoreless frame. Matt Swarmer matched a career high with 9 Ks and is your @EMCInsurance Player of the Game! pic.twitter.com/SuPnuGyRBS TENNESSEE SMOKIES 4 – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 1: Looking to avoid the sweep, the Smokies turned to Zach Hedges who was looking for his first win of the season. It was mission accomplished for Hedges as his season ERA lowered to 2.75 following a 6 1/3 inning outing of (1 ER, four hits, 1 BB and 6 k) performance that lifted the Smokies to the 4-1 win to avoid the sweep. The Smokies have been accustomed to playing from behind lately, but after a scoreless first three frames, Tennessee finally got the bats going. With Robel Garcia hitting a ground rule double to lead off the game before P.J. Higgins advanced him to third, it was an errant pickoff attempt at third that allowed Garcia to trot home for the 1-0 Smokies lead. Vimael Machin walk put another runner on base before Luis Vazquez singled home the games second run for the 2-0 Tennessee lead. Looking to add on in the fifth, the Smokies had plenty of traffic on the bases as Jacksonville was on the ropes. A Charcer Burks leadoff single followed by his stolen base moved him to second before advancing to third via groundout. A Garcia walk put runners on the corners, as Higgins gave himself up to push across another run for the 3-0 lead. Another walk to Machin gave the Smokies two runners on base yet again, as that was followed up with the Christian Donahue single to extend the lead to 4-0. That would be all Tennessee would need offensively as their pitching took care of the rest. The lone blemish for Hedges on the evening came in the bottom of the fifth inning as he lost his shutout bid. With John Silviano standing in scoring position, Anfernee Seymour delivered a single up the middle to score a run cutting the deficit down to 4-1. With a pair of golden opportunities in both the seventh and eighth innings to tie things up, the Jumbo Shrimp were unable to push across any more runs as the Smokies put an end to their skid 4-1. The Smokies now sit at 11-12 as their four-game losing streak came to an end. Six Smokies recorded one hit in the game with Higgins, Donahue, and Vazquez picking up RBI’s. Machin picked up three of the teams six walks while the combination of Xavier Cedeno (2/3 innings 1 H and 1K), Michael Rucker (1 inning, 2 H and 1K) and Wyatt Short (1 inning, 0 H, 0K) combined for 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to preserve the win. MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0 – Down East Wood Ducks 3: As if their last series wasn’t hard enough, the Pelicans faced off with the first place Wood Ducks on Monday, a team that swept them a couple of weeks ago. Looking for a strong outing on the mound, it was Bryan Hudson getting the call as lasted just three innings allowing 2 ER with a pair of strikeouts. Ryan Kellogg followed him up with four innings of one-run ball, but an offense that mustered only three hits was silent on the night falling 3-0. The Wood Ducks wasted no time scoring picking up a pair of runs in the first two innings. With a pair of runners on base, Diosbel Arias gave Down East the lead as his single to the center is considered the winning run with the Wood Ducks taking the 1-0 lead. Ryan Dorow was thrown out on the same play. One inning later it was Tyreque Reed going deep for the third time this season as the Wood Ducks led 2-0 after two. With Kellogg on the mound neutralizing the Down East bats, it was still anyone’s game as the middle innings approached. Looking for some insurance runs, Julio Pablo Martinez provided one in the sixth with his first homer of the season and 3-0 Wood Ducks lead. That would be all the offense they needed as the Pelicans, despite taking six walks only managed three hits as they fell 3-0. The Pelicans never really had many scoring chances, but they did threaten in the first, fourth and ninth innings as a pair of runners were on base in each of those frames. Miguel Amaya was 0-3 with a 1 BB and 2 K’s in the loss while Cam Balego, Jimmy Herron and Grant Fennell were responsible for the three hits. The Pelicans are now 7-18 this season. Oh yeah. @CBalego95 and @anthonytpayne facial hair game on ?? billion pic.twitter.com/7gjwF700P1 SOUTH BEND CUBS: OFF-DAY
