Cubs Minor League Daily: ACL team rolls, DSL squads suffer ugly losses

Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 10 hours ago

With the All-Star break come and gone, Minor League baseball can continue as normal. That means the Rookie Leagues will no longer be the center of attention, as they were last week, unless, of course, it's a Monday, as Rookie League Monday presses on.

For the Cubs, it was an ugly start to the week, as a lack of both hitting and pitching paved the way for what was a rough day. In total, the Cubs had three games taking place, with the overall results being (1-2).

ACL CUBS 8 vs ACL GUARDIANS 1

The lone Rookie League team to come away with a win was down in the desert as the Cubs took care of the Guardians 8-1. Despite his command issues with six walks and four strikeouts in four innings, Edwardo Melendrez set the tone as he allowed no runs on two hits.

That made things much easier for the offense as the Cubs took the lead on a Fernando Cruz second-inning RBI single and never looked back. Still leading by that score in the fourth, the Cubs' offense showed up in a massive way, breaking things wide open by scoring four times. Fernando Cruz got things started with his second RBI single of the game as Ludwing Espinoza also tacked on a single.

Albert Gutierrez and Ismael Mena were part of that inning as they added an RBI fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly, as the Cubs were now on top 5-0. They continued to build on their lead in the fifth as a pair of RBI singles from Edgardo De Leon and Fernando Cruz stretched their lead to 7-0, with Ronny Cruz making things 8-0 with his single in the sixth.

The lone run of the night for the Guardians came in the eighth inning on the Luis De La Cruz homer, but that wasn't going to be enough as the Cubs cruised to the 8-1 win. Edgardo De Leon had a massive night at the plate, leading the Cubs with four hits while Fernando Cruz added three hits and three RBIs.

DSL ATHLETICS 9 - DSL CUBS RED 2

When you look at the final score of this game, the Cubs were dominated in every facet. While that is partially true, the game remained close until the Athletics pushed across five eighth-inning runs to break it open.

Luis Ghisays may have been the most consistent starter on DSL Red, but lately he has been getting roughed up. That continued on Monday, as he gave up four runs in just 3 1/3 innings, his ERA rising to 4.60. The first of those runs came on a first-inning Breyson Guedez Triple while a third-inning three-run shot from Edgar Montero put the Athletics in front 4-0.

That would be more than enough offense for them to win as Jose Parra was dialed in through five innings, allowing just one run and striking out seven. His lone run allowed came in the bottom of the fourth when Ivan Cespedes went deep again to make this a 4-1 game. Those would be the games only runs until the eighth when the Athletics pushed across five more runs to open up a commanding 9-1 lead.

While a wild pitch and the Sebastian Rojas single started things off and were responsible for the first two runs, it was Montero coming through again as he added his second three-run shot of the game to make this a 9-1 lead. The Cubs would get one of those runs back on a wild pitch later in the inning, but that was all in what was an otherwise quiet day.

DSL BREWERS 18 - DSL CUBS BLUE 3

As if watching the Brewers get hot to move into a first-place tie with the Chicago Cubs wasn't bad enough, try watching their rookie league team put on a beating as they downed the Cubs 19-3. This was a game that was largely defined by the big inning, as the Brewers had four crooked innings that accounted for all 18 of their runs. As a result, the game was over just as quickly as it started.

Ironically, it was the Cubs who opened the scoring as an RBI double from Breyner Figuereo gave the Cubs a brief, albeit lead nonetheless, 1-0, in the second. Almost as quickly as the Cubs grabbed the lead, it was gone as the Brewers responded for four runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead.

Matthew Moses tied things up with an RBI single, only to have Cristian Montilla's RBI forceout put the Brewers on top for good, 2-1. The Cubs also uncorked two wild pitches later in the inning, leading to two more runs, as they weren't helping themselves too much. Then came the third inning, where the Brewers' offense not only rolled but broke things wide open, pushing across seven more runs to make this an 11-1 game.

Isais Chavez and Kenny Fenelon had homers in that inning, but both were solo shots and didn't do most of the damage. What damaged the Brewers was the overall hitting binge they went on, as they added RBI singles from Alexander Frias and Eryks Rivero, along with an RBI double from Juan Martinez, which scored two runs. Another wild pitch was mixed in, as the Cubs had no answers for the Brewers' offense.

Even with the Cubs tacking on two runs with a fourth inning Daniel Campos homer and a fifth inning Enyel Rosario single, they had no shot at coming back as they continued to trail 11-3 and saw those be the final two runs of the game for the Cubs offense. The Brewers, on the other hand, were far from finished and brought home three more runs on a pair of sixth-inning RBI singles from Rivero and Montilla to push their lead to 14-3.

Then came the eighth, where they delivered an even bigger knockout punch, tacking on four more runs to make this an 18-3 game. The big blow came from Roniel Paulino, who touched them all with a grand slam.