Cubs Minor League News

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 7 hours ago

Friday may have been dominated by the Cubs' offense, but Saturday was more about the pitching as the Cubs' offense endured a much quieter night. The end result was 2-3, showing across the board as both DSL teams faced off against each other to cancel that game out.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 4 - IOWA CUBS

One day after putting up 15 runs, the Cubs' offense was held in check as the Clippers doubled up the Cubs 4-2. As rough as things were for Kenta Maeda when he first arrived in Iowa, the right-hander is figuring things out and putting forth his third consecutive strong start.

Maeda may have taken the loss, but with six strikeouts across six innings and three earned runs, it was still a strong start. All of the runs he allowed came in the first two innings as the Clippers took an early 3-0 lead. All those runs came on the long ball with Chase DeLauter opening the scoring with a solo shot in the first before Yordys Valdez tacked on a two-run shot in the second.

That would be all the offense the Clippers would need as Doug Nikhazy struck out seven across 6 2/3 dominant innings. His lone run came home in the seventh off a wild pitch as the Cubs pulled within 3-1. Kevin Alcantara tacked on a ninth-inning homer, but with Moises Ballesteros allowing another run to score in the eighth on a passed ball, the deficit was too much.

KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 5 - BIRMINGHAM BARONS 1

It hasn't always been perfect, but with a 5-3 record to start the second half, the Smokies are leading their division. Today, it was all about the pitching for the Smokies as Chris Kachmar was dialed in from the start. The right-hander not only tossed six innings, allowing just one unearned run, but did so with nine punchouts as he is starting to find his groove.

Had it not been for a first-inning error, Kachmar wouldn't have allowed a run, as the Barons' lone run came on a first-inning sacrifice fly. That lead didn't last long, however, as it was the Smokies' offense that came to life in the third, scoring three times to take the lead for good. BJ Murray Jr tied things up with a sacrifice fly of his own, with Pablo Aliendo tacking on the game-winning single to put the Smokies on top for good, 3-1.

That score would hold until the fifth, with Murray Jr tacking on an RBI double to push the lead to 4-1. Brett Bateman closed out the scoring with a sixth-inning single as the Smokies took care of business 5-1.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 5 - CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 4

You have to give the Cubs a ton of credit for how they have handled this season. Any time you get off to a start as bad as they did, no one would blame them had they punted on the season and just used it as a rebuild year. That isn't in their DNA, as they have become one of the hottest teams in the Midwest League and continue to play well to start the second half.

Once again, it was the Cubs' offense setting the tone early while also riding the arm of Ryan Gallagher to pick up the win. The fast-rising prospect wasn't perfect, allowing four runs in six innings. However, with one walk and six strikeouts, his ERA remains at 3.34 as he improves to 4-4 on the season.

Brian Kalmer opened the scoring for the Cubs with an RBI single in the second, with Andy Garriola tacking on another single in the third to make this a 3-0 Cubs lead. That score would hold until the fifth as the Kernels did all of their damage over the next two innings to take a 4-3 lead.

Poncho Ruiz and Kyle DeBarge picked up a pair of RBI singles in the fifth to pull the Kernels within 3-2, while Kyle Hess' double gave Cedar Rapids a 4-3 lead in the sixth. As has been the case lately, no lead is safe against this Cubs team, and immediately after letting the lead slip away, Cameron Sisneros came through, delivering the game-winning two run shot in the sixth to give the Cubs a 5-4 win.

COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 3 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0

Once again, the Pelicans relied on a strong pitching performance to set the tone, but it was their offense that went quiet in a shutout loss. Nazier Mule continues to battle back from his early-season injury as he came out and delivered his best start yet.

Mule gave the Pelicans five innings for the second time this season, allowing one unearned run with four strikeouts. He turned things over to Kevin Valdez, who took care of the last three innings, striking out one. The lone run charged to Mule wasn't even an earned run as Milo Rushford delivered a fourth-inning sacrifice fly to put the Fireflies on top 1-0.

Had they not scored the rest of the way, it would've been enough to win, but a seventh inning error mixed with an eighth inning fielder's choice led to the Fireflies tacking on two more runs to cap off a 3-0 win.