Cubs Minor League News: Caissie homers twice but wins are scarce

Mark Rebilas - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 18 hours ago

For the most part, this has been an excellent week for the Cubs and their Minor League system, as they have been winning plenty of games. Saturday wasn't their day, as all three of the full-season teams in action failed to register a win, while the Rookie League team performed well. The overall result was a 2-4 showing, which does happen.

OMAHA STORM CHASERS 8 - IOWA CUBS 4

The Cubs have held their own this week against Omaha, but Saturday wasn't their day as they were doubled up by Omaha 8-4. Since his demotion to AAA, Ben Brown has yet to pitch, leading some to wonder if he is hurt. That doesn't seem to be the case, so he may be working on things behind the scenes before he takes the mound.

Kenta Maeda, on the other hand, is pitching, and even if his starts aren't great, he is someone the Cubs can count on every time he takes the ball. Maeda continues to give the Cubs at least five innings every time out, pitching 5 1/3 innings on Saturday as he was charged with four earned runs. He walked one and struck out four, but his effort wasn't as Thomas Hatch was dialed in.

Hatch has had an up-and-down season, but with one run allowed in seven innings, this was one of his best starts of the season. The only run charged to Hatch came in the second inning when Owen Caissie took him deep for the solo shot to put the Cubs on top 1-0. Omaha managed to tie things up in the third on the Nick Pratto double before taking the lead for good in the fifth on the Peyton Wilson single.

Once the sixth inning rolled around, Omaha put the game away as the Storm Chasers offense exploded for four runs to open up a 6-1 lead. Cam Devanney started the big inning with a solo shot, while Wilson and Pratto added a pair of RBI doubles to bring home the other three runs. Down, but not out, Moises Ballesteros did his best to keep things close as his two-run double in the eighth made this a 6-3 game.

The Cubs also received a second homer from Caissie in the ninth for their fourth run, but with Omaha scoring two runs prior to that in the eighth, it wasn't enough as the Cubs fell to Omaha 8-4. Caissie led the Cubs with two hits as Iowa had four hits as a team. Ballesteros and Ben Cowles had the other two hits.

ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 2 - KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 1

To say this series has been competitive would be an understatement, and that continued on Saturday with another one-run game. This time, it was the Smokies who ended up on the losing end of a pitcher's duel as the Trash Pandas held on for the 2-1 win.

This was an especially painful loss for Chris Clarke, who did more than enough to win this game as he gave the Smokies five shutout innings. He walked none, struck out five, and scattered three hits as the Smokies pen couldn't hold the narrow lead.

The lone run for Tennessee came in the fourth inning, with Reivaj Garcia coming through with an RBI single to put the Smokies on top 1-0. Considering George Klassan struck out nine through his five innings, the Smokies were fortunate to have the lead, but this was going to come down to the bullpen to get the job done.

Still holding their 1-0 lead in the sixth, Oscar Colas came through yet again as his RBI double off Jake Brentz tied things up 1-1. One inning later, it was Frank Scalzo Jr's turn to serve up a big hit as Evan Edwards's homer would go down as the game-winning hit in the 2-1 Rocket City win. Knoxville had six hits in the loss, with Garcia responsible for four of those hits.

PEORIA CHIEFS 5 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2

It's amazing what happens when the Cubs cool off as the great start to the second half is becoming a thing of the past. For the first time in what seems like forever, Ryan Gallagher had a rough start as the Chiefs pushed across four runs in the first four innings to pave the way for a 5-2 win.

Despite his early-game struggles, Gallagher continued to do what he has done for most of the season, going six innings and striking out six while walking just one. However, with five earned runs charged to him on 10 hits, this wasn't one of his better outings on the hill.

Trailing 1-0 after a Brayden Jolbert second-inning double, the Cubs took the lead as Brian Kalmer connected for a two-run double in the bottom of the second to put the Cubs on top 2-1. Little did they know, but those would be their only runs of the day as Juan Salas was locked in through five innings, striking out seven.

With Salas taking care of the Cubs' offense, it was up to the Chiefs' offense to get the job done, and they started to do that in the third, as an Ian Pertuz groundout and Zach Levenson single had the Chiefs on top for good, 3-2. They would add to that lead in the fourth on a wild pitch before watching Pertuz go yard in the seventh to close out the scoring. Kalmer was responsible for two of the Cubs four hits in the win.