Cubs Minor League News: Rookie Cubs squads swept on All-Star Break Monday

Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 8 hours ago

Now that the All-Star break is in full swing, both the full-season Minor League teams and the MLB teams have taken a back seat as they have the next four days off from competition. The lone bright side with that is that all the focus trickles down to the lower-level Minor Leagues, as they will be the focus for most of the week.

So, instead of Rookie League Monday, we'd call this Rookie League break, as the Cubs Rookie League squads are going to get plenty of attention. Monday didn't start the way the Cubs had hoped, as their pitching took a beating for most of the night, resulting in an overall 0-3 record.

ACL ANGELS 10 - ACL CUBS 3

It was another long night for the ACL Cubs as they fell to the Angels 10-3. This was one of those games that was over almost as quickly as it began, as the Angels pushed across four runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Ronny Lopez was the victim of that big inning as he made the start and only lasted one frame. Looking to continue his rehab was Brandon Drury, who opened the scoring with an RBI double. That was followed by the Athanael Duarte single to make things 2-0, with Luis Rodriguez doubling the lead with another single to put the Angels in front 4-0.

Had they not scored the rest of the way, it would've been enough to win this game, but with Edgardo De Leon pushing across a run in the top of the second on a groundout, the Cubs were on the board 4-1. Duarte tacked on another RBI single in the bottom of the second to make this a 5-1 game, only to have the Cubs start to claw back.

That all started with Ronny Cruz, who doubled home a run in the third, while Fernando Cruz's homer pulled the Cubs within 5-3 in the fifth. That would be it for their offense as the Angels ended the game with five unanswered runs to pick up the 10-3 win.

Rodriguez added an RBI double along with the Bryce Teodosio single as part of the Angels' two-run fifth, with Teodosio adding another single in the seventh to close out the scoring in a 10-3 Angels win.

DSL ARIZONA 9 - DSL CUBS BLUE 6 (F/7)

What was supposed to be a regular nine-inning game was abruptly ended at the seven-inning mark as Mother Nature had other plans. That was the end of what was a rough overall day as a sixth-run second inning gave Arizona a massive lead before holding on 9-6.

After both offenses picked up a run in the first, it was the Arizona offense that came to life in the second and used a six-run frame to open up a 7-1 lead. An error led to the first run in that inning, while Erick De La Cruz's double pushed the lead to 3-1. Throw in a pair of singles from Juan Brima and Alfredo Benzan paired with a sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice, and it was all Arizona at this point, 7-1.

The Cubs did their best to battle back, with Juan Tomas picking up a single in the third ahead of a fifth-inning bases-loaded walk, but with Feliz Genao adding an RBI single in the top of the fifth, it was still an 8-3 Arizona lead. Trailing 9-3 after De La Cruz homered in the sixth, the Cubs mounted a late-game rally to keep things interesting, pulling within 9-6 in the sixth.

Ezequiel Pena played a role in that three-run inning with an RBI single, but it was the Josias Ramirez two-run homer that capped off the scoring in the 9-6 Arizona win.

DSL PIRATES 17 - DSL CUBS RED 11

Talk about a game where the offense was king; look no further than this game, where a total of nearly 30 runs were scored. This was a game all about the big inning, as there were three separate innings where each side scored at least six runs in an inning. Unfortunately for the Cubs, the Pirates had two of those innings, as 13 of their 17 runs came in those innings.

If you want to talk about getting off to a fast start, look no further than the first inning, as the Cubs used a seven-spot to open up a massive lead. Wilfri De La Cruz opened the scoring in the massive first inning with an RBI double before coming home on Ivan Cespedes' single to put the Cubs in front 2-0.

Following a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded hit by pitch that brought home two more runs, Luis Leon had the biggest hit in the inning as his bases-clearing double broke the game wide open 7-0. To the Pirates' credit, they did a great job of keeping things close early as the Antonio Pimental double mixed with a Yadier Crespo single led to three runs and had the Pirates within 7-3.

The Cubs would go on to add runs in both the second and third innings on another Cespedes single paired with a balk to extend their lead to 9-3, only to have the offense go quiet the rest of the way. Still trailing by that score in the fourth, the Pirates put together their first of two massive innings and pushed across seven runs to take a 10-9 lead.

Edgar Walker drove home the first runs of the inning with a double before a bases-loaded walk had the Pirates within 9-6. That was followed by a series of Cubs miscues as a pair of errors led to four additional runs that put the Pirates on top for the first time, 10-9.

Already with one RBI double to his name, Leon tied things up in the fifth with another double, while the Luis Maldonado single put the Cubs back in front 11-10 entering the eighth.

It was in that inning when the Pirates put the game away as they erupted for seven runs in their half of the eighth to retake the lead for good, 17-11. Four singles led to most of those runs, with Johan De Los Santos, Adbiel Feliz, Pimentel, and Walker all coming through with RBI singles as part of the huge inning for the Pirates. They would go on to win by that score as the Cubs went down quietly in the ninth.