Cubs Minor League News: Caissie walks it off, Alcantara drives in 5, Sanders dazzles, more |
Dustin Riese
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- 5 hours ago
It was another strong showing overall for the Cubs Minor League System as the full-season squads posted an impressive 3-1 record. Two of those wins came via a shutout, with the lone loss coming as a one-run decision, as the Cubs came close to a clean sweep across the board.
You want to talk about an exciting game with an even more exciting finish, Des Moines was the place to be. After falling behind big early, the Cubs played catch-up most of the day and managed to take the lead late. They then gave up that lead in the top of the ninth before walking off the Saints for another impressive win. The best part of having an offense as talented as the Cubs is that it allows them to make up for their lack of pitching, as Kenta Maeda had a rough go on the mound. Making his season debut with the Cubs, Maeda only lasted two innings and was hit for four earned runs. Those runs all came in the first inning, with a pair of RBI doubles from Jair Camargo and Jose Miranda leading to three runs and a sacrifice fly leading to the fourth. Things only got worse from there for Iowa as Saint Paul tacked on three more runs in the fourth to open up a 7-0 lead, as this was starting to look like a long night for the Cubs. Armando Alvarez added a solo shot as part of the fourth inning with Edouard Julien tacking on an RBI. There was also a wild pitch in that inning, leading to the seventh run, as the Cubs' offense had work to do. Not only did they start doing that work with a Kevin Alcantara RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, but it was Alcantara who set the tone for what was to come as he finished the game with five RBIs. The Jaguar gets the I-Cubs on the board! He added a two-run single one inning after his double as Iowa was within 7-3 in the fifth. Alcantara drives in two more! Then came the sixth, where the Cubs' comeback effort was nearly complete as they scored four more times to tie things up 7-7. Chase Strumpf was responsible for the first of those runs with an RBI single. Greg Allen followed that up with a single of his own while Carlos Perez delivered the game-tying RBI double. With three RBIs, Alcantara capped off his best game of the season by connecting for a two-run shot in the eighth, and just like that, Iowa had its first lead of the game, 9-7. THE JAGUAR STRIKES AGAIN WITH A 2-RUN HOMER It was a lead that didn't last long, with Will Holland picking up a two-run single off Tom Cosgrove in the ninth to bring things back to even 9-9. On the verge of an extra-inning affair, Owen Caissie had other ideas as he came through in the ninth to deliver a walk-off single and handed the Cubs a 10-9 win. Owen Caissie calls game!!!!! Alcantara was the only player with multiple hits, picking up three hits with his five RBIS. OWEN CAISSIE YOU ARE A LEGEND pic.twitter.com/i8IJ9jDbyC
One of the two shutouts on the evening belonged to Knoxville as they took care of Columbus 5-0. Will Sanders continues to do his part on the mound, and some are wondering if a promotion to AAA is forthcoming. The right-hander allowed just one hit in six innings, striking out seven as he improved to 3-1 on the season with a 2.29 ERA. Will Sanders strikes out the side in the 4th🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/QB8ll8WIXB Sanders didn't need much offensive support, but with Corey Joyce delivering the go-ahead and what was also the game-winning single in the third, it was the Smokies in front 1-0. BJ Murray Jr would add a sacrifice fly later in the inning to extend their lead to 2-0, and they would never look back. BJ Murray and Brett Bateman combine for the second run of the night! #KnoxvilleSmokies #WholeNewBallGame pic.twitter.com/hDQ4l6rSU7 Those were the game's lone runs until late when Parker Chavers tacked on the final three runs of the day for the Smokies. Two RBIs came from his sixth inning double to push the lead to 4-0, with an eighth inning sacrifice fly making this a 5-0 Smokies win. Parker Chavers, @parkerchavers, adds some insurance with a 2-run double! #KnoxvilleSmokies #WholeNewBallGame pic.twitter.com/o9X5oNV5lV A Smokies shutout on a Tennessee Saturday night! #KnoxvilleSmokies #WholeNewBallGame | @zips3mincarwash
The lone full-season team to lose on Saturday comes as no surprise with the South Bend Cubs falling to Lansing 6-5. This was another game that saw the Cubs battle from start to finish, only to run out of gas in the end. Coming off a dominating start last time out, Ryan Gallagher had an interesting outing as he took the loss. Sure, Gallagher gave the Cubs six innings, which you like to see, but he did allow five runs (four earned) in his start. What stands out the most is his 12 strikeouts, as he is quickly becoming a massive strikeout guy for this team. After Andy Garriola put the Cubs in front 1-0 with a first-inning RBI single, it was the Lugnuts answering in the second as TJ Schofield-Sam took Gallagher deep for a two-run shot to give Lansing a 2-1 lead. The long ball continued to give Gallagher fits in the fourth with Sahid Valenzuela taking him deep in the fourth to extend their lead to 4-1. That lead would hold until the sixth when the Cubs came roaring back for three runs off Kyle Robinson to tie things back up 4-4. Drew Bowser started the scoring in that inning with a two-run single before Brian Kalmer grounded out to push across the tying run. Just as quickly as the Cubs tied the game, they saw their lead evaporate as a costly throwing error from Miguel Pabon led to the go-ahead run coming home, as the Cubs were never able to recover. Lansing would officially put the game away in the eighth on the Joshua Kuroda-Grauer single to extend their lead to 6-4, as that would go down as the game-winning hit. South Bend did manage to keep things interesting in the ninth with Ivan Brethowr picking up an RBI single to pull the Cubs within 6-5 before falling by that score. Brethowr led the way for the Cubs offense with two hits, as Pabon joined him.
Backed by a pair of early two-run frames, the Pelicans grabbed an early lead and never looked back as they took care of business 6-0. Alfredo Romero earned his first win of the season, allowing just one hit in five innings with four strikeouts as the Pelicans pen took care of the rest. That included a dominating three-inning performance from Kevin Valdez, who struck out eight out of a possible nine hitters. With things knotted at 0 entering the fourth, it was the Pelicans' offense finally breaking through to back Romero as the Owen Ayers double not only put the Birds in front 1-0, but proved to be the game-winning run. Birds strike first thanks to this RBI double from Owen Ayers! pic.twitter.com/RVNyW0DSDo Christian Olivo added an RBI single in that inning to push the lead to 2-0 as the Birds never looked back. Ayers continued to build on their in the fifth, adding his second RBI double in as many at-bats to push the Pelicans' lead to 4-0. Seeing double? No, that's just Owen Ayers again! pic.twitter.com/ThLsULYk7P They would then add their fifth run of the game in the sixth off a wild pitch before closing out the scoring on a ninth-inning error to roll to a 6-0 win. Ayers led the way with two hits and three RBIs. The third shutout of the season gets the Pelicans back in the win column! 🔥#MBPelicans | @CampersInnRV pic.twitter.com/VPEjQW9CG6
IOWA CUBS 10 - SAINT PAUL SAINTS 9
7-1 St. Paul pic.twitter.com/UVMaPsKpM1
7-3 St. Paul pic.twitter.com/MlkhpkyYhA
9-7 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/GWV35d6dEC
Owen Caissie walks it off with a single in the bottom of the 9th! #iowacubs #onlyindesmoines #IOWAAA #milb #baseball pic.twitter.com/8FAGa8SDLK
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 5 - COLUMBUS CLINGSTONES 0
Box Score: https://t.co/WXR9oUsaLI pic.twitter.com/MGlBD7UkITLANGSING LUGNUTS 6 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 5
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 - LYNCHBURG HILLCATS 0<
ACL GUARDIANS 7 - ACL CUBS 1
