Cubs Minor League News: Abbott pitches gem in I-Cubs win, Pinango impressive, Ball homers |
There was a time when fans had nothing to watch when the Cubs were not playing. Given the season the Cubs have had this season and realizing that they are all but eliminated from playoff contention, many of those fans shifted their focus to the minors this season, and for good reason.
Throw records out the window at this point as Myrtle Beach and the ACL Cubs are the only two teams with a legitimate shot at the postseason. Instead, keep an eye on the numbers a lot of these prospects are putting up this season. These are the names that will be part of this next great Cubs team and the ones that will help speed up what is hopefully a quick rebuild.
All it took was one big inning for the Cubs to secure their first win of the series scoring four times in the first to pave the way. Things haven't gone as planned for Corey Abbott this season, but his start on Thursday is something the Cubs are hoping for more of. Not only did he get through six innings, allowing no runs on four hits, but he walked to and struck out 10 as that was the 2019 version of Abbott. It does help when your team gives you plenty of run support in the early going with Trayce Thompson connecting for his third homer in two days and 19th of the season as he put the Cubs in front for good 3-0. Abiatal Avelino added a solo shot later in the first as the Cubs built a 4-0 lead after one. That score held until the bottom of the sixth when Levi Jordan picked up a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 5-0. Toledo was able to put an end to the shutout bid in the seventh when Kody Clemons picked up an RBI groundout off Erich Uelmen, but the Cubs still won 5-1. Along with his homer, Avelino had a great day leading the offense with three hits. Ian Miller, Thompson, Greg Deichmann, Jared Young, and Taylor Gushue all had hits. BOOM! 5-1 win over the top team in the division. pic.twitter.com/9Q5IuBmwDt
Much like Iowa, all the Lookouts needed was one inning to put this game away. However, their inning came late in the game, using a four-run eighth to break a 1-1 tie and pick up the 5-1 win. Ever since his promotion to AA, Ryan Jensen is looking like the pitcher the Cubs expected him when they took him in the first round of 2019, and that continued. Jensen allowed one run on four hits to go with five punchouts in five innings as his ERA sits at 3.46. His run allowed came in the first inning when Wilson Garcia came through yet again with an RBI double to give the Lookouts a 1-0 lead. After being held scoreless through three innings, Christopher Morel picked up a one-out walk in the bottom of the fourth before stealing second to set the offense up. Morel scored on the same play as a throwing error on that stolen base attempt allowed him to score with the game now tied 1-1. Unfortunately, that was all the offense the Smokies would generate as the Lookouts had the last laugh in the eighth. With Graham Lawson called on to pitch, Matt Lloyd wasted little time connecting for a one-out homer to give the Lookouts the lead for good 2-1. After the Lorenzo Cedrola double pushed the lead to 3-1, Garcia came through again as his two-run shot capped off the scoring in a 5-1 Lookouts win. The Smokies had just three hits in the game, with Nelson Velazquez, Luis Vazquez, and Grayson Byrd having those hits. Smokies fall to the Lookouts in game three of the series. #SmokiesBaseball #GoSmokies pic.twitter.com/Khg7nPdRwb
It took three games, but the Cubs finally solved Snappers pitching by topping them 5-2. Jordan Wicks was on the mound for his second start giving the Cubs 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Max Bain earned the win in relief where despite walking six men in 4 2/3 innings, Bain struck out six and allowed just one run on four hits. It took five innings for someone to break through, and the Cubs scored first, with Bryce Ball connecting for his seventh homer of the season. Bryce Ball cleans M.D. Johnson's clock. pic.twitter.com/8ImdrOwSNb Ball is starting to heat up after a slow start to his Cubs career, which is a good sign for Cubs fans. The lone run Bain allowed came in the bottom of the fifth, with Bennett Hostetler picking up an RBI groundout to make things 1-1. One inning later saw the Cubs take the lead for good, with Yohendrick Pinango connecting for an RBI single to put the Cubs up 3-1. Pinango wasn't quite done having a solid day as he connected for another RBI single in the eighth ahead of the Ball bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 5-1. Beloit pulled within 5-2 on the Nic Ready RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, but they would fall by that score. Pinango has continued to hit the ball well since his promotion collecting two more hits to go with a team-high three RBIs. Yonathan Perlaza added two hits, with Ball picking up the final hit with his two RBIs. Bryce Ball's blast and Yohendrick Pinango's three RBIs lead South Bend to their first victory at ABC Supply Stadium! #SBCubs | #CubTogether pic.twitter.com/UpfMwYlkud
Of all the full-season games, this was the one that was over before it started as the Pelicans got hammered 12-1. Tyler Schlaffer was lit up in his three innings of work, allowing six runs on six hits as he set the tone for the day. Jose Almonte followed him and did even worse, allowing six runs in just 1 1/3 innings as the Pelicans pitching did them no favors. Ironically, the Pelicans were able to keep things close early as Ed Howard tied the game in the second with an RBI single after Diego Infante put the Riverdogs up with a solo shot in the first. Over the next four innings, the Riverdogs pushed across 11 runs using a trio of three-run frames to go with a two-run frame. The first of those three-run innings came second when Michael Berglund put the Riverdogs on top for good 2-1 with an RBI groundout. An Osleivis Basabe RBI fielders' choice followed by the Infante double had the Riverdogs up 4-1, and they didn't look back. RBI singles by Abiezel Ramirez and Berglund extended the lead to 6-1 in the second before a bases-loaded double by Johan Lopez gave the Riverdogs a 9-1 lead through four. Charleston added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth as they closed out the game with 11 unanswered runs to win 12-1. The Pelicans collected just three hits, with Owen Caissie and Peter Matt joining Howard. Final in game 1: RiverDogs 12, Pelicans 1.
Not what we were hoping for. See you at The Joe tomorrow night for two! pic.twitter.com/ghPhISVSz4
The best team in the Cubs system is the ACL Cubs and showed why yesterday cruising 6-0 against the Giants. Luis Devers was on the mound for another start and picked up his second win of the season. The right-hander delivered five shutout innings of one-hit ball while striking out three as he lowered his ERA to 3.33. Rony Baez picked up a pair of punchouts in two scoreless innings of relief as his ERA fell to 3.38. Offensively, it was the Kevin Alcantara story in the first inning as his two-RBI triple not only gave the Cubs the lead for good, but proved to be the winning hit. Triples were the theme for the Cubs early, with Ezequiel Pagan adding an RBI triple of his own in the second to push the lead to 3-0 before coming home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 4-0. After being held scoreless for two innings, the Cubs capped off the scoring in the fifth inning when a costly error allowed BJ Murray to reach base and brought home the final two runs with the Cubs rolling 6-0. Pagan led the way with two of the team's five hits to go with his RBI and is now hitting .333 in the ACL. Alcantara, Ronnier Quintero, and Parker Chavers had the rest of the hits as the 2021 ninth-round pick Chavers made his season debut.
Wins have been hard to come by in the last two weeks for DSL Blue, but they played a great game on Thursday. Wally Soto got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single, but it was in the second when the Cubs began to pull away. After Jorge Puerta singled home the tying run in the top of the second, Cristian Hernandez picked up the RBI double in the bottom of the second, putting the Cubs in front for good 2-1. Leonel Espinoza and Frank Hernandez added an RBI double and the RBI single later in that inning as the Cubs led 4-1. Following a pair of runs by the Dodgers over the next two innings, including another Puerta single, the Cubs offense came back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, with Soto grabbing another RBI single. The Cubs also benefitted from an error on that single as two additional runs came across to score with the Cubs up 7-3. Whenever the Cubs looked like they were about to pull away, the Dodgers managed to climb back into the game using a three-run fifth to pull within 7-6. Andy Espinoza picked up a single during that inning, but the Juan Diaz homer pulled the Dodgers within one as that was his first of the season. That would be as close as the Dodgers would get with Raul Guzman picking up an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth before another run came across in the sixth to cap off the 9-6 win. Frank and Cristian Hernandez were great at the plate, combining for three RBIs and six hits in the win. Guzman, Soto, Early Tatis, and Espinoza all had two hits in the win, as those six were responsible for all 14 hits.
One team the Cubs haven't been able to solve in the DSL has been the Brewers, and that continued with another shutout loss. It doesn't help when you allow seven runs in one inning, but the offense continues to struggle against Brewers pitching across the board. Ariel Gonzalez was on the mound for the Brewers, and he was phenomenal. He allowed just six hits to go with two punchouts in his six innings as he lowered his ERA to 1.32 on the season. He made life miserable on the Cubs offense and the pitching, for that matter, where Kenyi Perez allowed four runs in just 4 1/3 innings, and that was all the Brewers needed. Surprisingly, the Cubs managed to go pitch for pitch with the Brewers for four innings which all changed in the fifth when the Brewers pushed across seven runs. Eduard Winterdaal picked up the game-winning RBI double to put his team up 1-0 before coming home on the Edgardo Ordonez triple extending the lead to 3-0. After the Luis Castillo sacrifice fly made things 4-0, Rafael Martinez and Mendy Ferreira collected RBI singles as the Brewers now led 7-0. They would add two more runs in the sixth on the Miguel Briceno Triple as the Brewers continue to make life difficult for the Cubs 9-0. Elias Fabian collected a pair of hits from the leadoff spot joining Anderson Suriel as the catalysts. Moises Ballesteros and Gouri Lubo had the rest of the hits.IOWA CUBS 5 – TOLEDO MUD HENS 1
CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 5 – TENNESSEE SMOKIES 1
SOUTH BEND CUBS 5 – BELOIT SNAPPERS 2
CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 12 – MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 1 (Game 1)
Our lineup for game 2 in about 30 minutes. #MBPelicans pic.twitter.com/dkBY0HacHVMYRTLE BEACH VS CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS (Game 2 postponed until Friday)
ACL CUBS 6 – ACL GIANTS 0
DSL CUBS BLUE 9 – DSL DODGERS 6
DSL BREWERS 9 – DSL CUBS RED 0
