Cubs Minor League News: Ballesteros homers, Escobar raking, Agrazal impressive, more |
It is that time again as rookie league Monday took center stage. While the Major League version of the Cubs looked terrible, there were some excellent games on the farm as both DSL teams came away with wins to post a 2-1 record.
Just when you thought the Cubs were starting to gain momentum, they suffered a setback in an ugly showing against the Angels. Not only did the Angels score three times in the second, but three more times in the fourth as those two innings did the trick. Of all the Cubs' pitchers, Roque was the best as he tossed two scoreless frames with four strikeouts. Jorge Ruiz gave the Angels the lead for good in the second with a two-run double before an error extended the lead to 3-0. The Cubs managed to get one of those runs back in the third with a Pedro Ramirez single, but homers by Christian Garcia and Gabriel Rodriguez the next two frames saw the Angels extend the lead to 5-1 and then 6-1. Trailing 8-1 in the sixth, Moises Ballesteros got back on track using a homer to make things 8-2. Add in a bases-loaded walk by Cristian Hernandez in the seventh and a Carlos Morfa homer in the eighth, and the Cubs were down 8-4, but fell 9-4. Six different players had hits in the game for the Cubs.
The DSL Yankees have had the Cubs number thus far this season, but DSL Red managed to take them down 9-7 on Monday. Led by a three-run first, the Cubs managed to overcome a shaky outing by Sean Rodriguez as the back end of their pen was outstanding. Not only did the Cubs come out swinging with Carlos Ramos putting them in front with an RBI single, but DSL Red built a comfortable lead with Yodel Diaz adding an RBI double to make things 3-0. That lead was short-lived, with the Yankees scoring in the following three innings to tie things up 3-3. Johan Ferreira, David Beckles, and Abrahan Ramirez were credited with the RBIs. Looking to grab the lead in the fifth, DSL Red benefitted from an error before the Carlos Ramos grounder made things 5-3. The Cubs extended their lead in the sixth using a Jose Escobar homer to make things 6-3, but the Yankees were not done battling back. Not only did the Ramirez triple in the sixth make things 6-4, but add in a passed ball, and it was a 6-5 game. Gabriel Bersing then delivered the first knockout punch for the Yankees as his homer gave them the lead for the first and only time, 7-6. Thankfully, the Cubs were not going to let that homer get them down, with Ramos tying things up with an RBI double in the seventh before the Escobar sacrifice fly put them on top 8-7. Escobar would add an RBI single in the ninth for a huge insurance run as the Cubs rallied back to win 9-7.
On a night where pitching wasn't the best, DSL Blue delivered a great outing in shutting out the Cardinals. With just four hits allowed, runs were tough to come by as Gabriel Agrazal was a tough customer allowing two hits in four innings with three strikeouts. His ERA remains 0.00 for the season. Following the solid outing from Agrazal, Jair Jimenez tossed three innings of one-hit ball before Wellington Quintero earned the two-inning save. While the Cubs pitching was strong from the start, so was the Cardinals, as Saladin allowed just one run in his four innings of work. That run came in the third with Raul Guzman delivering the game-winning hit to center field with the Cubs leading 1-0. That was the last of the runs until the seventh inning when Dilver Gomez picked up a single to double the lead 2-0. The next inning saw the Cubs finish things off with Geuri Lubo picking up a sacrifice fly to cap off the 3-0 win. ACL Angels 9 - ACL CUBS 4
DSL CUBS RED 9 - DSL YANKEES 7
DSL CUBS BLUE 3 - DSL CARDINALS 0
