Cubs Minor League News: Taillon struggles, but Cubs farm delivers strong finish |
Dustin Riese
· · 8 hours ago
For the most part, this has been a very successful week as the wins have been coming in large numbers for the Cubs' Minor League System. Looking to close out another week on a high note, the Cubs system did their best to take care of business and finished the day 2-1.
The lone team to come away with a loss was Iowa, which dropped the final two games of this set. This was one of those games that was over early as the Indians' offense jumped all over Jameson Taillon, who was making his first of what is to be expected several rehab outings, as the Cubs fell to the Indians 12-4. This is one of those starts that Taillon wants back as the right-hander gave Iowa three innings of no walks, one strikeout baseball, as you could see the rust from missing time. To make matters worse, he was charged with seven earned runs in those innings as he didn't give the Cubs much of a chance. Four of the seven runs came in the second inning as the Nick Yorke homer opened the scoring and put the Indians on top for good, 1-0. Tsung-Che Cheng added a two-run triple to stretch the lead to 3-0 with Ronny Simon tacking on a double to make this a 4-0 Indians lead. Iowa tried to keep things close in the second as Ben Cowles ended a long homerless drought with his solo shot that made this a 4-1 game through two. Then came the fourth, where Taillon was hoping to get through that inning, only to run into more trouble. It all started with an Alika Williams homer that made things 5-1 as Indianapolis continued to tee off on the righty. Add in a Cam Devanney double and another Yorke RBI, and it was all Indians as they opened up a 7-1 lead at this point before a Ronny Simon single in the fifth made this an 8-1 game. That score would hold until the bottom of the eighth when Moises Ballesteros connected for his 10th homer, but with an 8-2 deficit, the Cubs still had plenty of work to do. Any hopes of a late-game rally came to a crashing end in the ninth as Keegan Thompson got lit up for four runs in just 2/3 of inning to push the Indians lead to 12-2. Three of those runs came on the Simon homer, while the Rafael Flores single made this a 10-run game. Already with one homer under his belt, Ballesteros capped off what was a big game for him with a two-run single in the ninth, but it wasn't enough as the Cubs fell to the Indians 12-4. Ballesteros and Cowles led the Cubs with two hits and drove in all four runs.
In what was an up-and-down series for South Bend, the Cubs managed to end things in style as a five-run eighth inning paved the way for a 6-2 comeback win. It was a win they desperately needed, especially given the way Yenrri Rojas pitched, as he deserved better than a no-decision. Across his five innings, Rojas scattered just two hits, walking two and striking out seven to lower his ERA to 0.82 with South Bend. He was even given a 1-0 lead off the second inning, Reggie Preciado single, and he made that lead hold up the duration of his start. Still holding that lead into the sixth, it was up to the Cubs' pen to keep things that way, but Quad Cities had other plans as they came out swinging to grab the lead in the sixth. Blake Mitchell took it upon himself to tie things up with a single, only to have a costly error drive home the go-ahead run as Quad Cities was now in front 2-1. Given the way things were unfolding, this was likely enough for Quad Cities to get the win until the Cubs' offense erupted for five runs in the eighth to put the game away. The River Bandits didn't help themselves to start things as a bases-loaded walk paired with a wild pitch gave the Cubs the lead for good, 3-2. Edgar Alvarez would tack on a sacrifice fly to make this a 4-2 game while Brian Kalmer closed out the scoring with a two-run shot to give the Cubs a 6-2 win. Preciado and Kalmer combined for three RBIs and led the Cubs with two hits.
Record aside, with the Pelicans sitting at (51-48), no one wants to play this team come the playoffs, as they have been on a tear in the second half. Following another impressive series that saw the Pelicans close things out 9-1, they are now 26-9 and are 5.5 games clear of the second-place team. Making the start was Alfredo Romero, and despite going just four innings, he did his part as he allowed just one run in those innings. A pair of first-inning runs backed Alfredo as the Leonel Espinoza double put the Pelicans on top 1-0, leading to a Matt Halbach sacrifice fly that made things 2-0. They wouldn't look back as Derek Alcantara added a sacrifice fly in the fourth to push the lead to 3-0, only to have Ryan McCoy use an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to make this a 3-1 game. That was it for the Riverdogs offensively as the Pelicans' offense was far from finished, using an Angel Cepeda double to push the lead to 4-1 in the sixth. The seventh inning is when the Pelicans put things to rest as they broke through for five runs in that inning to open up a 9-1 lead. Alexey Lumpuy started things off with an RBI fielder's choice while a trio of singles from Halbach, Jose Escobar, and Alcantara drove home the other three runs in the 9-1 Birds win. Halbach led the Pelicans with three hits, driving in two. Escobar, Ty Southisene, and Espinoza all added two hits.INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 12 - IOWA CUBS 4
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES at CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS (Cancelled due to Wet Grounds)
SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 - QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS 2
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 9 - CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 1
