Cubs Minor League News: Ayers leads offensive surge in 11-10 win |
Dustin Riese
· · 4 hours ago
SURPRISE - Sometimes, all it takes is one game to get an offense rolling, and that appears to be what has happened to the Mesa Solar Sox. After a week-long struggle in which runs were challenging to come by, the Solar Sox started to show signs of life earlier this week, and that has carried over into the weekend, resulting in far more victories than earlier in the season.
Take Saturday against the Surprise Saguaros, for example, as Mesa used a massive six-run first inning to set the tone, only to have the Saguaros battle back to tie things up late and force extras. It was in the extra frame when the Solar Sox took care of business as they secured an 11-10 extra-inning win for their sixth win of the season. As has been the case since the start of the year, Owen Ayers continues to be the focal point of the Solar Sox offense, and had he done this during the Cubs Minor League system, he may have landed on the top-30 prospect list come the end of the season. Even when Ayers isn't hitting, he continues to wreak havoc, going 1-3 at the plate with an RBI, bringing his season total to nine RBIs. While he may not have hit the ball as well as he has in the past, Ayers still managed to walk three times and score three runs. As tough as this is to believe, he was the only Cubs offensive prospect to see time at the plate in this game. Had Cole Mathis gotten some reps, you have to think the Mesa offense would've put up more runs, as those two have been the driving force of the Solar Sox's success more often than not. Even with the Cubs only seeing one of their hitting prospects at the plate, there was another prospect who saw action in this one. JP Wheat was making his third appearance of the Fall. Of all the Cubs prospects, Wheat is the one who has struggled the most, and for the Cubs' sake, they would love for him to turn things around sooner rather than later, or this will go down as a lost season for him. Once again, the command issues came full circle for Wheat, who walked three more hitters than he struck out in his inning of work, and now has 10 walks and four strikeouts for the season. However, unlike his previous outings, where it seemed like the floodgates were opening after those walks, Wheat did a great job to limit the damage, as only one run came across to score in his inning of work. This was his best outing of the Fall, and if anything, that is a step in the right direction as he needs to figure things out in a hurry. Mesa will look to close out the week in style on Sunday, aiming for their fourth win.
