Cubs Minor League News |
Wednesday was one of those where you just crumple it up and toss it in the trash, as it was a rough night for the Cubs and their minor league system. There were some games where the pitching pitched well enough to win, but the offense couldn't get it done, and there were other games where the offense did its part, but the pitching let them down.
Put that all together, and you have a 1-4 mark, which isn't the kind of night this organization wants to have. However, when you have nights like that, you need to look at the positives with some of the players, and there were plenty of positive showings once again. COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 6 - IOWA CUBS 3 (F/10): There were two extra-inning games across the Cubs system on Wednesday, and Iowa was one of them. A low-scoring affair in regulation turned into an exciting finish, with the Cubs falling in 10. Despite struggling with his command, Thomas Pannone delivered his best outing in a month, allowing just one run in five innings. He walked four and struck out seven before the pen took over. Whether it be Hunter Bigge, Keegan Thompson, Carl Edwards Jr., or Ethan Roberts, the bullpen pitched outstanding until Jose Cuas got lit up in the bottom of the 10th for four runs. Not only was Pannone strong, but so was Will Dion, who also allowed just one hit in five innings, adding seven strikeouts. He managed to leave with a 1-0 lead, as Jhonkensy Noel homered in the fifth to give the Clippers a 1-0 lead. It was a lead the Clippers would hold until the seventh when Cole Roederer cashed in with an RBI single to tie things up and helped send things into extras. In the extra frame, Owen Caissie took it upon himself to put the Cubs in front as he launched a long two-run shot to put the Cubs up 3-1. Their lead was short-lived as Cuas entered the bottom of the 10th and couldn't finish the job. Not only did he allow a Jose Tena single to tie things up, but he left a pair of runners on for Riley Martin, who surrendered the walk-off three-run shot to Juan Brito in the 6-3 loss. The Cubs had four hits in the loss, with Roederer picking up two and Caissie and Bryce Windham adding the rest. TENNESSEE SMOKIES 8 - BILOXI SHUCKERS 6: The lone win in the Cubs system on Wednesday came in AA, and it didn't come easy as the Smokies had to fend off a late rally. Chris Kachmar got the start and gave the Smokies four innings, allowing three runs and striking out four. He gave way to one of their new additions, Alex Troop, who was lights out through his three innings, striking out four. Tennesse couldn't have asked for a better start to this game as Christian Franklin unloaded for a solo shot to put the Smokies in front 1-0 as part of a three-run first. Luis Verdugo added an RBI single, with Haydn McGeary picking up a sacrifice fly as the Smokies were up big early. Home runs continued to be the theme in the early innings, with Biloxi getting on the board with an Ernesto Martinez Jr second inning homer, which was followed by a pair of Tennessee homers from Moises Ballesteros and James Triantos to extend the lead to 6-1. Trailing by five in the fourth, Noah Campbell came through with a clutch triple to pull the Shuckers within 6-3, only for McGeary to come through with another Tennessee homer in the fifth to stretch their lead to 8-3. It was the McGeary homer that was the difference, as those were the final runs of the game for Tennessee. Looking to lock down another win, the Smokies bullpen started to let things get away late as an Eric Brown Jr homer pulled the Shuckers within 8-4 in the sixth before they added two additional runs in the ninth to fall 8-6. Franklin, Verdugo, and McGeary paced the offense with three hits, with McGeary leading the way with three RBIs. Triantos added two hits and two RBIs. PEORIA CHIEFS 6 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2: After putting together a string of good starts, Will Sanders had a bit of a rough outing on Wednesday, although the offense only gave him two runs of support. Sanders gave the Cubs four innings, allowing two runs and striking out three, but when your team only scores two runs, those outings don't matter. Credit Iohan Paniagua for that, as the Chiefs starter brought it in his five innings, scattering just four hits and striking out eight in the win. Backed by a Won-Bin Cho homer in the first to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead, they never looked back as Zach Levenson delivered the game-winning solo shot in the third. They held that lead until the fifth when a pair of RBI singles from Chris Rotondo and Dakota Harris extended their lead to 5-0. It took the Cubs six innings to break through, with Jonathon Long coming through with a single to make things 5-1. Casey Opitz added a solo shot in the seventh to pull the Cubs within 5-2, but that was it, as Harris added his second RBI single in the seventh to close out the scoring. Long and Parker Chavers paced the offense with two hits, and they had eight hits as a team. COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 10 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 (F/10): What started as a strong showing for the Pelicans turned into a nightmare as the six-run 10th inning proved to be the difference for the Pelicans in their loss. Erian Rodriguez got the start and delivered his best outing of the season with five scoreless frames, scattering two hits and striking out three. He gave way to Sam Thoreson and a plethora of bullpen arms, who had a rough showing on the mound. After pushing across a first-inning run on a wild pitch, the Pelicans offense went silent until the fifth, when they did most of their damage. Andy Gariola cashed in with a massive RBI single to make things 3-0, with a Frank Hernandez grounder putting the Birds on top 4-0. Immediately following their three-run inning, the Fireflies answered with three of their own as a pair of costly errors led to those three runs and saw the Pelicans lead cut to 4-3. Then came the bases-loaded Lizandro Rodriguez walk in the eighth, and the Fireflies tied things up without the strength of an RBI hit. With this game ticketed for extras, the Pelicans picked the worst time for their pitching to go south, surrendering six runs in the top of the 10th. Derlin Figueroa opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly before the Lizandro Rodriguez single pushed across the winning runs and put the Fireflies in front 7-4. Columbia added three more runs in their half of the 10th, with Dionmy Salon making things 8-4 with his single and Diego Guzman launching a homer to put the Birds in a 10-4 hole. The Pelicans did manage to get two of those runs back in their half of the 10th off the Christian Olivo single and Ismael Mena sacrifice fly, but they couldn't get any closer falling 10-6. Carter Trice and Cristian Hernandez paced the Pelicans with two hits as they finished with nine hits as a team. Cristian Hernandez also added three walks to reach base four times, with Alfonsin Rosario joining him with three walks. ACL GIANTS 5 - ACL CUBS 4: After an excellent start to the week, the Cubs came one inning away from improving to 3-0, only to get walked off by the Giants 5-4. All their runs came after the fifth as Miguel Cruz and Brad Deppermann were strong in their 4 2/3 innings, doing a great job limiting the offense. All four of the Cubs runs came in the first when as a pair of errors led to two runs mixed with the Anderson Suriel homer to put them in front 7-0 early. For Suriel he continues to mash ACL pitching as he now has seven homers and has to be on the verge of a promotion soon. Still holding that 4-0 lead in the fifth, the Giants finally got on the board as an RBI forceout mixed with the Mauricio Pierre double pulled them within 4-2. After the Nomar Diaz homer pulled the Giants within 4-3 in the sixth, they continued to make things happen in the seventh as another Pierre double-tied things up 4-4. A few pitches later, Pierre came around to score on the Jediael Maduro single as the Giants picked up the come-from-behind walk-off win 5-4. Suriel was one of three Cubs to record a hit, joining Angel Cepeda and Geuri Lubo. With his homer, he has seven to go with an ACL-best 25 RBIs.
