Cubs Minor League News: Roberts is back, Teheran rocked, Murray and Stevens raking
Brett Davis - USA Today Sports

Cubs Minor League News: Roberts is back, Teheran rocked, Murray and Stevens raking
by - Senior Writer - Mon May 20 11:15:07 GMT-04:00 2024

It wasn't a great Sunday for the Cubs organization in more ways than one. Not only did the Chicago Cubs lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates to drop their four-game series, but their Minor League system limp to the finish line by closing out another week of competition 0-4.

They always say winning is contagious, but apparently losing is also contagious, and the Cubs are doing a lot of losing right now. Normally, that wouldn't be an issue as long as the prospects continue to develop, but even that seems to be taking a bit of a hit right now.

SYRACUSE METS 5 - IOWA CUBS 3

All the Mets needed was two innings to pick up the win, as a four-run second gave them the lead before tacking on another run in the third. At some point, you have to wonder if the Cubs will continue to trot out Julio Teheran as he continues to struggle on the mound. Across three innings, Teheran allowed five runs as his ERA currently sits at 10.32 for the season. That isn't going to cut at any level of professional baseball, especially not AAA.

Apart from his outing, the Cubs bullpen was outstanding including Ethan Roberts and Zac Leigh who combined for two scoreless innings and three strikeouts.

Throw in David Peterson and his 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, and the Cubs were in a tough spot from the start. The lone run Peterson allowed came in the first inning as the Alexander Canario double made things 1-0.

That lead didn't last long, with Carlos Cortes tying things up with a second-inning single before the Rylan Bannon double cleared the bases to put the Mets in front 4-1. Syracuse would add their final run of the game on a Trayce Thompson homer in the third as they held a 5-1 lead.

That score would hold until the ninth when the Cubs pushed across two runs, but it wasn't enough to top the Mets. Iowa had eight hits in the loss, with BJ Murray Jr and Bradlee Beesley leading the way with two.

ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 2 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 0

Although the Smokies' pitching was great, their offense was non-existent, as they were held to just four hits in the shutout loss. Brandon Birdsell got the start, going four innings and allowing one run as he continues to pitch well. Newly acquired Dalton Moats followed that up with three solid innings of one-run ball, while Michael Arias and Blake Whitney finished things off.

Their efforts alone didn't matter in this one, as Victor Mederos was dialed in on the mound, tossing five scoreless frames to earn the win. The only run the Trash Pandas would need came in the fourth as the Denzer Guzman single put them in front for good 1-0.

Former Smokies catcher Tyler Payne added a homer in the fifth to close out the scoring as the Trash Pandas picked up a 2-0 win.

FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 9 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 (F/10)

The most exciting game of the day came in High-A, where the Cubs and Tin Caps went to extras before the Tin Caps walked off the Cubs. Ironically, Fort Wayne scored all nine of their runs in two innings, including four in the bottom of the 10th to walk things off.

For the second straight start, Will Sanders pitched well, allowing no runs. The biggest issue is that he only went three innings, putting a ton of pressure on the bullpen. That didn't go well, with Tyler Schlaffer giving up five runs and Mitchell Tyranski serving up four. Offensively speaking, things got off to a slow start for both sides with the Felix Stevens RBI single in the first the games only run until the bottom of the fourth.

In that inning, Fort Wayne did all of their damage in regulation as they pushed across five runs to take a 5-1 lead. Nik McClaughry and Nerwilian Cedeno picked up RBI singles in that inning, while several Cubs miscues led to three more runs scoring. The rest of regulation was all Cubs as the Brett Bateman triple made things 5-2 before a Reivaj Garcia grounder pulled the Cubs within 5-3 in the fifth.

Then came the seventh when a wild pitch pulled the Cubs within 5-4 ahead of a Stevens grounder to tie things up as this game was ticketed to extra innings. Looking to keep their momentum going, Jordan Nwogu cashed in with an RBI single as the Cubs took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the 10th. That is when the game's big blow came as Albert Fabian got every pitch of a Tyranski pitch and took it over the fence for the Walk Off Grand Slam.

Bateman was one of three Cubs to record multiple hits, joining Jake Long and Parker Chavers.

Stevens paced the offense with two RBIs in the loss.

FREDERICKSBURG NATIONALS 9 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 1

Of all the games on Sunday, this was by far the worst showing as the Pelicans were dominated from start to finish. Alfredo Romero is still searching for his first win of the season, as he struck out seven in just over three innings of work. He allowed four runs as his ERA sits at 8.32 and is 0-5.

With Travis Sthele allowing just one run in five innings to go with seven punchouts, the Pelicans offense was in for a tough day as they fell behind early and could never recover. It took three innings for anyone to break through as the Jeremy De La Rosa double put the Nationals in front for good, 1-0. Brandon Pimental added an RBI single shortly after, as that was the game-winning run.

The lone run of the game for the Pelicans came in the bottom of the second, with Cristian Hernandez cashing in with an RBI double to make things 2-1. From there, it was all Nationals as they ended the game with seven unanswered runs. Two came home on the Armando Cruz double in the fourth, with two more coming home in the sixth on the Tyler Baca triple, followed by a Nathaniel Ochoa single.

Fredericksburg closed out the scoring with three more runs in the ninth as a passed ball led to the first run, with a Roismar Quintana homer closing out the scoring for the Nationals.

The Pelicans were held to five hits in the loss as Christopher Paciolla led the way with two.

INDEPENDENT BALL

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SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS 5 - CHICAGO DOGS 2

The Dogs had a chance to pick up their second home sweet in as many tries, only to come up short in the end. Brooks Gosswein took the ball for the Dogs and gave Chicago 4 2/3 innings of two-run six strikeout ball.

Usually, that would be a solid enough outing to keep you in the game, but with Jared Wetherbee striking out nine in six innings, his effort went to waste.

After the Dogs opened the scoring on a third-inning wild pitch, Sioux City took the lead in the fifth as the Scott Ota double made things 2-1.

That score would hold until the eighth when the Explorers pushed across three runs to break the game open 5-1. Henderson Perez started that big inning with a sacrifice fly, and Daniel Lingua double-capped off the scoring for Sioux City.

The Dogs added a run in the bottom of the eighth on the Pavin Parks fielder's choice, but that was it in what was a 5-2 loss.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

WINDY CITY THUNDERBOLTS 2 - GATEWAY GRIZZLIES 0

It took Windy City a bit to get going, but perhaps this weekend is a step in the right direction as they topped the Grizzlies 2-0. Will Armbruster got the ball for Windy City as he struck out five in six scoreless frames to set the tone.

Opposing him was Teague Conrad, who started things off with four scoreless frames before it became a battle of the bullpens.

Both of the Thunderbolts runs came in the ninth inning after this was a 0-0 game through eight innings. Those runs came on one swing from Christian Kuzemka, who connected for a two-run shot to provide the only offense.

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