Cubs Minor League News

Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Friday, May 30 2025

Given that three games were postponed the other night, the Cubs organization is still catching up from the games they lost, as six additional games were set to be played on Thursday. Once again, Mother Nature got in the way of another game, as the Myrtle Beach/Augusta game was postponed to Saturday due to inclement weather.

Still, that opened the door for five other games to take place, and with the Chicago Cubs having an off day, the focus shifted toward the Minor Leagues. Once again, the Cubs did a terrific job of battling throughout, which helped them post a 2-3 record for the night.

SYRACUSE METS 12 - IOWA CUBS 3

You want to talk about getting punched in the mouth and not being able to punch back. That is what the Mets did to the Cubs on Thursday, as they delivered the knockout blow early and often. Not only did the Mets score six times in the first, but they followed that up with five more runs in the second, as this was an 11-0 game before you could blink.

At this point, Kenta Maeda is throwing batting practice, as he served up nine earned runs in one inning, bringing his ERA to 24.30. Take him out of the mix, and the bullpen pitched well, especially Phil Bickford and Jack Neely, who combined to strike out seven across four innings of one-run ball.

Already down 1-0 after the Gilberto Celestino double, the Cubs continued to fall farther behind as Hayden Sengar, Luis De Los Santos, and Yonny Hernandez all tacked on RBI singles, leading to four first-inning runs. There was also the two-run triple off the bat of Luke Ritter as the Mets were up 6-0.

Syracuse continued to add to their lead in the second as there was a fight for the bat rack in this one. Donovan Walton and Ritter worked a pair of bases-loaded walks to keep the traffic moving while the bases-clearing double from Hernandez capped off another big inning with the Mets in front 11-0. Playing catch-up from that point on, the Cubs did manage to get a two-run single from Kevin Alcantara in the sixth to end the shutout, with Greg Allen following suit to make this an 11-3 game.

That was all the offense for the Cubs as the Mets added their final run of the night off an eighth-inning Ronny Mauricio homer as they took down the Cubs 12-3.

KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 1 - BIRMINGHAM BARONS 0 (Game 1)

Talk about a strange game to kick off a doubleheader. All it took was one hit for the Smokies to grab the win as Knoxville picked up a 1-0 victory with just one hit. That was a second-inning homer from BJ Murray Jr, as he provided all the offense the Smokies would need.

A big reason for that was watching Grant Kipp go out and twirl a gem as he was on the winning side of a tightly contested Smokies win. Kipp had plenty of traffic to deal with, walking four and striking out three across six innings. He also allowed six hits, but most importantly, no runs as he finished the night with a 2.83 ERA.

With Shane Murphy striking out five across five strong innings, the Smokies are fortunate to have that one-run hold up as Mitchell Tyranski took over in the seventh to notch his fourth save while lowering his ERA to 0.90.

BIRMINGHAM BARONS 2 - KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 0 (Game 2)

Talk about flipping the script in game two as it was the Barons returning the favor to the Smokies by blanking them 2-0. Once again, this was a game dominated by the pitching as Tyler Santana and a quartet of arms held their own against the Smokies.

That included Sam Thoresen, who battled through some command issues to toss a scoreless outing. Both runs were charged to Santana in the third, and they came off a Ryan Galanie single that put the Barons in front for good, 2-0. They wouldn't need any more offense as Dalton Roach and company held the Smokies to three hits in the win.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 8 - QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS 6

It hasn't happened often, but when the South Bend Cubs find a way to win a game, it does come as a shock. That is especially the case when they can beat a team as talented as the River Bandits, as the Cubs' offense put on a show in their 8-6 win.

This was one of those games where the offense struck early, which allowed Evan Aschenbeck to settle in and pick up his first High-A win of the season. Aschenbeck was dialed in from the start as the left-hander struck out eight across six innings, allowing just two earned runs. It didn't take the Cubs' offense long to get rolling as they pushed across three runs on a pair of RBI singles from Brian Kalmer and Rafael Morel in the second to open up a 3-0 lead.

Quad Cities tried to battle back, with Carter Frederick delivering an RBI single of his own to make this a 3-1 game, with Callan Moss following suit in the third to pull the River Bandits within 3-2. South Bend put the game out of reach three innings later, as their offense broke through for five more runs to make the score 8-2.

Ivan Brethowr started things off with a sacrifice fly while an RBI forceout pushed the Cubs' lead to 5-1. They were just getting started as Cristian Hernandez and Edgar Alvarez tacked on a pair of RBI singles to close out the scoring for the Cubs, as they were now in front 8-2. Quad Cities did make things interesting late as they scored four times in the ninth on a trio of bases-loaded walks paired with a sacrifice fly before falling to the Cubs 8-6.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS vs AUGUSTA GREENJACKETS (Postponed)

ACL GIANTS 8 - ACL CUBS 2

The beat goes on for the ACL Cubs, as they appear to struggle to win games all season. After being within striking distance most of the night, the Giants put the game away late as they struck for four runs in the sixth to pick up the 8-2 victory. Not only did Victor Bericoto open the scoring for the Giants with a first-inning single, but they tacked on two runs in the second off a Jesus Alexander single paired with a sacrifice fly to take a 3-0 lead.

Had they not scored the rest of the way, that would've been enough offense, as the Cubs have struggled to hit all season. Alexis Hernandez got the Cubs on the board with a third-inning single, only to have the Giants answer in the fifth with an Angel Guzman single to maintain a 4-1 lead.

Then came the sixth, where the Giants not only put the game away but scored four times to break the game open at 8-1. Dario Reynoso was responsible for two of those runs with an RBI single, while an error mixed with another sacrifice led to the other two. Cesar Lugo closed out the scoring for the Cubs with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly, but it wasn't going to be enough as the Cubs fell to the Giants 8-2.