Cubs Minor League News: Pagan walks it off, Strumpf raking, Aliendo homers, more |
Tuesday saw the Cubs Minor League system go through an entire spectrum of games which was interesting to see. You had two blowout games, with one resulting in a win and one resulting in a loss. You also had another game that went into extra innings only to have the Cubs come away with a walk-off win.
All in all, the Cubs minor league system continued their winning ways as they went 2-1 on the diamond on Tuesday. There was a rainout as well, but regardless there were still three games going on which gave fans plenty of players to watch and keep tabs on.
Tonight's game at Columbus has been postponed. We will try again tomorrow night! 📝⬇️https://t.co/j4ndpEOUZI
One of the Smokie's nemeses from a season ago was Rocket City, who had Tennessee's number most of the season. If Tuesday indicates how things will go this season, then the Smokies will have the Trash Pandas number this season. Behind a ferocious offensive attack and another strong outing from their ace Jordan Wicks, the Smokies made quick work of Rocket City 13-2. Wicks was impressive again as he gave Tennessee five innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts. His ERA is 2.95 on the season as he continues to impress. Wicks was strong, but the offense was even better as they started to get rolling in the second. Bryce Ball opened the scoring with an RBI single to make things 1-0, but the Pablo Aliendo homer not only busted things open but provided the Smokies with the winning run as the lead grew to 4-0. Pablo Aliendo, HR #3. pic.twitter.com/aEJkuxuIwH Another homer from Chase Strumpf in the third pushed the lead to 5-0 before the Trash Pandas offense started to settle in against Wicks. Edgar Quero opened the scoring with an RBI double, while the Orlando Martinez sacrifice fly made things 5-2. Wicks would recover from there to get out of the inning, and the Trash Pandas offense was silenced the rest of the way. Already with the lead, the Smokies continued to build on that in the fourth, with Pete Crow-Armstrong ripping an RBI double to extend the lead back to 7-2. He would come around to score on the Luis Vazquez single, and things stood at 8-2. Fresh off his promotion to AA, Haydn McGeary had an excellent game picking up an RBI groundout in the fifth to push the lead to 9-2. McGeary wasn't done, however, and added an RBI single in the seventh to put the Smokies in double digits. Tennessee added three more runs in the eighth, with Vazquez connecting for a two-run shot ahead of the BJ Murray JR single to cap off the scoring in the 13-2 win. Luis Vazquez with his 4th HR of the year. pic.twitter.com/27ZdCAWoRt Strumpf led the offense with three hits, while Aliendo, Murray Jr, and Vazquez had two. McGeary and PCA had two RBIs, with Vazquez and Aliendo leading the way with three. The Smokies exterminate the Trash Pandas 13-2. Chase Strumpf, @CStrumpf, goes 3-3 and swats his 5th homerun of the year. Reindl, Hecht, and Ueckert combine for four innings of one-hit ball in relief. #SmokiesBaseball #BestYearEver pic.twitter.com/mpmoSx4sbX
Perhaps the best game of the night came in South Bend, where the Cubs continued their 12-game homestand. After building an early lead and holding it until the ninth, the Kernels responded late to help push the game into extra innings. That didn't seem to matter for the Cubs as Ezequiel Pagan picked up the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 11th to give the Cubs another walk-off win, 4-3. After struggling out of the pen this season, Tyler Santana was chosen to start this game and looked like a much different pitcher. Santana got through four innings and allowed one run on three hits before handing things off to Luke Little and Adam Laskey, who struck out six across three innings. Kevin Alcantara continued his recent hot stretch that has seen him hit north of .400 across his last eight games by ripping an RBI double to center field to put the Cubs in front 1-0 in the second. 8-pitch AB ends with an RBI-double to left center for Kevin Alcántara pic.twitter.com/O92A9aJVcL However, that lead didn't last long, as the Kernels got to Santana in the third, with Noah Cardenas delivering an RBI single to tie things up 1-1. That was the lone run off of Santana as their pitching was strong again. That 1-1 game stood for quite some time as the Cubs finally came through again in the seventh. This time it was Yohendrick Pinango cashing in as his two-run shot gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead. First @hoosierlottery Home run of the year for Yohendrick Pinango = FAR pic.twitter.com/87Mzok9Bzl
This was Pinango's first homer of the season after having a breakout 2022 campaign. With three outs to go and still holding the lead, Brad Deppermann was called on to pitch the ninth as he immediately ran into trouble. A leadoff walk to Jose Salas didn't help, nor did an error on a pickoff attempt to move Salas to second. That error was followed by an RBI double from Misael Urbina as the Kernels were within one and still threatening. On the verge of finishing things off, Deppermann couldn't close things out, with Noah Miller coming through with an RBI single to tie the game and sending the game to the bottom of the ninth 3-3. With fans being treated to extra baseball in South Bend, it was the Cubs giving them something to cheer about, with Pagan ripping an RBI single to right field as the Cubs walked off the Kernels 4-3. Pinango led the way with two hits and two RBIs in the win as the Cubs pounded out nine hits in the win.IOWA CUBS AT COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (POSTPONED)
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 13 - ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 2
SOUTH BEND CUBS 4 - CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 3 (F/11)
COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 12 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0
Despite picking up eight hits in the game, the offense was nowhere to be found as Columbia pounded Myrtle Beach on Tuesday. Michael Arias was on the mound and had a rough outing allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings. That was the trend in this one, as all four Pelicans pitchers allowed at least two earned runs.
On the strength of a Daniel Vazquez homer in the first, Columbia built an early 3-0 lead and never looked back. They didn't need any more offense, but by the time the third inning game, the Fireflies were off and running. A fifth-inning single from Erick Pena pushed the lead to 5-0, with Omar Hernandez making things 6-0 in the fourth.
Hernandez and Vazquez added RBI doubles in the sixth to push the lead to 10-0 before they added two additional runs late to secure the 12-0 victory. Reivaj Garcia and Rafael Morel led the offense with two hits in an otherwise quiet game for the Myrtle Beach offense.
Columbia takes the series opener 12-0.
— Myrtle Beach Pelicans (@Pelicanbaseball) May 3, 2023
Game two is Wednesday night at 7:05.
