Cubs Minor League News |
Dustin Riese
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- 4 hours ago
Wednesday was a tough night top to bottom for the Cubs organization, as wins were tough to come by. Not only did the Cubs waste a chance to clinch their series against the Pirates with Paul Skenes lurking, but the Minor League system went out and posted a 1-3 record as their overall struggles continued.
In what was a busy afternoon for the Iowa Cubs, a game still needed to be played as the Cubs and Bison squared off for some afternoon baseball. The day started with Chris Flexen being promoted to the minors, followed by some Cade Horton talk about him possibly not being too far behind. You then had the ongoing story of Moises Ballesteros, who not only extended his hitting streak to 16 games but did so with a pair of homers as he continues to hit north of .400 for the season. Despite that, the Cubs' pitching struggled to contain the Bison offense, falling 10-8. Making his Iowa debut was right-hander Peter Soloman, who, despite allowing five runs in 1 1/3, wasn't as bad as his line would indicate. That is because a series of errors led to three unearned runs, as he deserved better fate. All the damage off Soloman came in the second as the Bison used a six-run inning to take an early 6-0 lead. Former Cub Christian Bethancourt opened the scoring with a three-run shot as the Bison were in front 3-0. Add in the Joey Loperfido two-run single and a Davis Schneider triple, and it was all Buffalo early as the Cubs were down 6-0. Leave it to the Cubs offense to start battling back as another Matthew Shaw single opened the scoring for the Cubs and pulled them within 6-1. Later in the inning, the hottest hitter on the planet came through as Ballesteros extended his hitting streak to 16 games and connected for his first of two homers to pull Iowa within 6-3. After Josh Rivera added an RBI double in the fifth to make things 8-4, the long ball brought the Cubs back, with Ballesteros going deep again to make things 8-5. Later in the inning, it was time for Jonathon Long to leave the building as his two-run blast pulled the Cubs within 8-7, and this was a brand new ball game. That was a LONG homer However, this was as close as the Cubs would get, with Bethancourt picking up a sacrifice fly in the seventh ahead of an eighth-inning double from Schneider as the Cubs found themselves down 10-7 late. Iowa did their best to battle back in the late innings, with Long adding another RBI single to make this a 10-8 game before falling by that score. Long led the offense with four hits and three RBIs, and he is now hitting .345 for the season. Ballesteros added two more hits and three RBIs to keep his average at .402 as he is starting to play his way toward a big-league call-up.
In what has become the norm when these teams meet, expect nothing less than a great game. With things shaping up to be a pitchers' duel with the Trash Pandas leading 2-1 in the seventh, it turned into an offensive shootout late as the Smokies pushed across four runs in the seventh to take the lead before holding on 5-4. It was more of the same for Chris Kachmar as the right came out and turned in another strong outing to lower his ERA to 3.04. Kachmar gave the Smokies six innings of one-run baseball, walking two and striking out four. Knoxville needed that type of effort from him, as Walbert Urena was equally as good, if not better, allowing one run in his six innings to go with eight punchouts. Both starters allowed their lone run in the third, with Nelson Rada bringing home the game's first run off an RBI double, while a Pedro Ramirez single tied things up 1-1. Those were the game's only runs until the seventh, when a Josh Crouch double off of Cayne Ueckert put the Trash Pandas back in front 2-1. Their lead wouldn't last long as the Smokies rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the inning and broke the game open with a four-run frame. Hayden Cantrelle started the party with a game-tying RBI single, only to have a wild pitch put the Smokies on top for good, 3-2. Brett Bateman delivered an RBI fielder's choice later in the inning with a balk, pushing home the eventual game-winning run that had the Smokies in front 5-2. Rocket City did manage to make things interesting late, as a bases-loaded hit by a pitch and a force led to a pair of ninth-inning runs, but that was it as the Smokies held on for the 5-4 win.
Another day and another road loss for the South Bend Cubs as their struggles away from home continue. Once again, the Cubs gave it their all from start to finish, only to come away short in the end. After dominating in Low-A to start the season, Evan Aschenbeck made his High-A debut on Wednesday, and from all accounts, there were plenty of positive takeaways. Although his final line doesn't look great, allowing three runs in four innings, it's still nice to see a promotion this early in the season on the pitching front. Knowing that he was making his High-A debut, the Cubs offense took it upon themselves to give him some early support as Jefferson Rojas celebrated his birthday with a first-inning RBI single while an Andy Garriola fielder's choice gave the Cubs a quick 2-0 lead. Those were the only runs Kernels starter Chase Chaney would allow as the right-hander overcame some shaky command to give the Kernels six strong innings. Over the next two innings, the Cedar Rapids offense began to battle back and it all started with Nate Baez double that made this a 2-1 game in the second. Then came the third when Brandon Winokour took Aschenbeck deep for his first homer of the season and put the Kernels in front 3-2. That was it for the offense for most of the night, but it was in the eighth when the Cubs looked like they would finally catch a break as a Carter Trice long ball brought things back to even 3-3. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Cedar Rapids would get the last laugh as they answered the Trice homer with one of their own from Kyle DeBarge as he took Johzan Oqendo deep for the game-winning hit in the 4-3 Kernels win.
When it's not going your way, it isn't going your way, as the Pelicans are stuck in a massive rut. After a well-pitched game that saw things head to extras, the offense picked up late as the Mudcats scored four times in the 11th to deliver a 7-6 walk-off win. Despite his command issues, walking four in 4 2/3, Will Frisch put forth one of his better starts. Frisch struck out five and allowed just one run while touching 98 MPH on the gun. That run came on the Braylon Payne single in the third as the Mudcats took a 1-0 lead. At the time, one run was looking to be enough as Bryce Meccage was dominant through four innings, scattering just two hits and striking out seven. Then came the fifth inning when Angel Cepeda connected for his second homer in as many days to put the Pelicans in front 2-1. When you look at the score of this game, you would've never guessed that this was a 2-1 game late, but that was the case as an eighth-inning balk led to the tying run and pushed this game into extras. With Eriandys Ramon and Filippo Di Turi adding RBI singles in the 10th, things remained deadlocked 3-3 as another inning of baseball was on the way. After Alexey Lumpuy put the Birds back in front with a bases-loaded walk, the Christian Olivo double broke the game open as Myrtle Beach was now in front 6-3. Down to their final three outs, the Mudcats were looking to keep things interesting, and following a Reece Walling single, this was a 6-4 game with traffic still on the bases. The Walling single was not only followed up by a Luis Lemada single that tied things up, only to have Jesus Made come through with a game-winning single shortly after to lift the Mudcats to the 7-6 walk-off win. https://x.com/IowaCubs/status/1917659628915016111 https://x.com/IowaCubs/status/1917659340221436129 https://x.com/MLBPipeline/status/1917650899041718533 https://x.com/IowaCubs/status/1917649288676434344 https://x.com/smokiesbaseball/status/1917748376604487928 https://x.com/smokiesbaseball/status/1917747438728643062 https://x.com/SBCubs/status/1917753161093181775 https://x.com/SBCubs/status/1917727511942750671 https://x.com/Pelicanbaseball/status/1917643990083555615 https://x.com/Pelicanbaseball/status/1917636904243122625 https://x.com/Pelicanbaseball/status/1917614506852626636BUFFALO BISONS 10 - IOWA CUBS 8
8-7 Buffalo pic.twitter.com/VpQYCs5omwKNOXVILLE SMOKIES 5 - ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 4
CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 4 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 3
CAROLINA MUDCATS 7 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 (F/11)
