Cubs Minor League News: Assad sharp, Armas raking, Triantos delivers

Photo courtesy: Iowa Cubs

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 5 hours ago

Although it was a lighter night on the diamond with only three games being played, the Cubs still took care of business. With several offensive explosions stemming from massive innings, it was the Cubs putting together a 2-1 night as they continue to play much more inspired baseball.

IOWA CUBS 7 - SAINT PAUL SAINTS 4

Although they only scored in two innings, that would be all they would need as the Cubs used a six-run seventh inning to take the lead and never looked back. Making his second rehab start since returning to the Iowa rotation was right-hander Javier Assad, and once again, he was solid.

Assad gave the Cubs four innings of one-run baseball, walking two and striking out four, and you have to wonder how long the Cubs are going to wait to call him up. A third-inning single from Kyler Fedko put the Saints on top 1-0, but it was also the only run Assad would allow as the Cubs had to work hard in this one.

A big reason for that was watching right-hander Taj Bradley carve them up through six innings, allowing just a fifth-inning Chase Strumpf homer that tied things up 1-1. Bradley wound up going six innings, allowing one run and striking out four, as his ERA is 0.69 in AAA. With things tied 1-1 in the seventh, the Iowa offense took it upon themselves to break things open as they used a six-run seventh to make this a 7-1 game.

Darius Hill started the inning with a go-ahead RBI single, while a bases-loaded walk to Parker Chavers made this a 3-1 game. James Triantos came up with the big hit of the inning as his two-run double not only pushed the lead to 5-1, but proved to be the game-winning hit for the Cubs. Caleb Knight capped off what was a six-run inning for Iowa with a two-run single, and suddenly this was a 7-1 Cubs lead.

Saint Paul did their best to make things interesting late as Noah Cardenas connected for a three-run shot off Keegan Thompson in the ninth to make this a 7-4 game before Ethan Roberts closed things out. Triantos paced the Cubs with three hits and two RBIs.

BILOXI SHUCKERS 8 - KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 4

Like the Iowa Cubs, Biloxi didn't many innings to score there runs as they also only scored in two innings. Once again, it was a massive inning that did the damage as the Shuckers used a six-run eighth to break the game open and picked up an 8-4 win.

When you dive deeper into this game, you notice how tightly played this game was, as nine of the 12 runs came from the eighth inning on. Credit the starting pitching for that, as Grant Kipp and Jaron DeBerry have been excellent on the mound. For Kipp, he allowed a pair of first-inning runs on a Blake Burke double before going 4 1/3 innings, allowing just those two runs and striking out six.

DeBerry, on the other hand, managed to get through six innings, allowing just a first-inning run on an RBI forceout, as this was a 2-1 game entering the eighth. It was in that inning when the Shuckers offense came to life as they erupted for six runs to open up a commanding 8-1 lead. Garrett Spain got things started with a two-run double, only to have a pair of fielders' choices push the lead to 6-1.

Luis Lara capped off what was a massive inning with a two-run single, and suddenly it was all Shuckers 8-1. To the Smokies' credit, they refused to go down without a fight, and with a pair of ninth-inning singles from Casey Opitz and Brett Bateman, the Smokies were within 8-4 only to fall by that score.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 8 - FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 2

The Cubs' late-season push for a playoff spot continued on Wednesday as they have now taken the first two games of the series. This one was all about the big inning as a pair of big innings led to seven of the eight runs as part of the Cubs' 8-2 win.

Erian Rodriguez has emerged as the new ace of the Cubs staff as he improved to 5-4 on the season. Rodriguez walked two and struck out five across six innings, allowing two runs to lower his ERA to 3.05. The first of those runs came on a first-inning sacrifice fly, only to have Drew Bowser tie things up with an RBI single in the second.

Fort Wayne continued to take their best shot at the Cubs in the early innings with Victor Duarte coming through with a fourth-inning RBI single to put the Tin Caps back in front 2-1. Little did they know, but those would be the final runs of the game for the Tin Caps as the Cubs' pitching shut them down the rest of the way.

With Fort Wayne still holding a 2-1 lead in the fifth, it was the Cubs finding a way to take the lead for good as the Cameron Sisneros bases-loaded walk set up what was the game-winning Ariel Armas double as the Cubs scored three times to take a 4-2 lead. Then came the seventh when the Cubs put the game away, scoring four more times and pushing their lead to 8-2.

Armas added another RBI double to bring home a pair, as he has eight RBIs in the first two games of this series. Bowser would add a bases-loaded walk later in the inning with Rafael Morel closing out the scoring with a sacrifice fly in what was an 8-2 Cubs win. Armas paced the Cubs with three hits and four RBIs as he has single-handedly outscored the entire Tin Caps lineup this week.