Cubs Minor League News: Mud Hens rally past Iowa Cubs

Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 2 hours ago

For the third consecutive game, the Iowa Cubs dropped a game to the Toledo Mud Hens, as their late-season struggles continued on Thursday. For the second time this week, it was the Cubs' bullpen letting this one get away as the pen combined to allow eight runs in the final two innings, including a six-run ninth to give the Mud Hens a 10-4 victory.

The late-game meltdown took away what was a great bullpen performance overall, as Tyson Miller started the game for what was a bullpen game. Miller came out and tossed a pair of scoreless innings to start things off and was then backed by a second-inning Chase Strumpf homer as the Cubs took an early 1-0 lead.

They would hold that lead until the fourth, when the Toledo offense finally started to show signs of life. Unfortunately for the Cube, those signs came off of Luke Little as the Trei Cruz single brought things back to even 1-1. A bases-loaded walk to Kevin Newman later in the inning brought home another run as the Cubs were now behind 2-1.

Also, going with a bullpen game, it was Kyle Finnegan making the start, lasting just 2/3 of an inning before handing things off to the rest of the pen. Even then, two runs were looking to be enough as Iowa continued to struggle offensively to start this series.

Then came the bottom of the sixth, where a Jonathon Long single not only tied things up 2-2, but awakened what was a dormant offense most of the night. One inning after tying things up, it was the Cubs retaking the lead as Dixon Machado connected for a two-run single to make this a 4-2 Cubs lead.

Almost as quickly as the Cubs took the lead, they once again let it get away as Zach Pop gave up a pair of eighth-inning runs to make things 4-4. Pop wasn't helped much by his defense as they made several miscues in the field, which ultimately led to the tying run crossing home. It was in the ninth when Toledo put the game away for good, and it came at the expense of Gavin Hollowell on the mound.

For the second time in this series, it was former Chicago Cub Gage Workman coming through for a massive hit as his RBI single put the Mud Hens on top for good, 5-4. Following a Max Anderson double that made this a 6-4 game, Toledo tacked on another run via a sacrifice fly, as they began to open up their lead, 7-4.

That was only the start for what wound up being a six-run frame for the Mud Hens as Hollowell had no answers for that lineup. Newman tacked on an RBI double later in the inning to make this an 8-4 Mud Hens lead, while the two-run single off the bat of Riley Unroe brought home the game's final runs in what was a 10-4 Mud Hens win.

Iowa came away with seven hits in the loss as Machado led the way with two hits and two RBIs. Carlos Perez, Long, and Strumpf were just a few of the names that had some skill.