Down on Cubs Farm: Short stays hot for Iowa, Pels suspended again, SB earns DH split, more |
Where do we start with in terms of action on Sunday as so much was going on throughout the day? If you want to count AZL teams, the Cubs played a total of eight games Sunday afternoon with the Cubs going 5-3 overall, (4-3) if you don’t want to take the suspended game into account.
IOWA CUBS 8 – Nashville 4: The Cubs rode a solid start from Trevor Clifton who lasted five innings on the day to double up the Sounds 8-4 Sunday afternoon to improve to 56-45 on the season. Down two early in the first after Matt Davidson connected for his 23rd homer of the season, Iowa got on the board with a pair of their own on an Erick Castillo double before Johnny Field gave the Cubs the lead 3-2 in the fourth. Nashville was able to tie things up in the bottom of the fourth before Iowa took the lead for good in the sixth. Once again it was Johnny Field coming through as his return to Iowa shows he has not missed a beat. A few batters later it was Zack Short getting in on the fun as his fourth homer of the season made it 6-3 Iowa. That ball is looooong gone ?? Nashville cut things down to 6-4 in the seventh, but once again Iowa responded with a pair of runs in the ninth as a wild pitch and Castillo single put an end to the scoring with the Cubs emerging on top 8-4. It was the bottom third of the order that provided all the thunder as Field, Short, Castillo and Trent Giambrone all had two-hit nights with all seven RBI’s coming from those spots. Taylor Davis, Ian Happ and Mark Zagunis were all held hitless on the night. Following the decent effort from Clifton, the Cubs used a plethora of bullpen arms as four pitchers did their part the final four frames. Duane Underwood, Randy Rosario, Dakota Mekkes and Dillon Maples were those men as Maples was solid striking out four of the five batters he faced. Your @EMCInsurance Player of the Game is Zack Short! pic.twitter.com/xUvrhNdMeb TENNESSEE SMOKIES 6- Birmingham Barons 7: No matter what the Smokies do on the field lately, nothing seems to help translate to many wins as the second half has not gone well thus far. That was once again the case on Sunday as the Smokies erased an early deficit to plate six runs in the fourth inning before falling to the Barons 7-6 in walk-off style. Erick Leal has been rejuvenated since his promotion to Tennessee through three innings it appeared as if he would be in line for another winning start allowing just 1ER through those first three frames. The fourth inning is when Tennessee back their started with support as they took control of the game with a six-run frame. Charcer Burks got the hit parade started with a double to tie things up 1-1. A Christian Donahue double and Robert Caro single gave the Smokies a commanding lead as they were now in front 5-1 with traffic still on the bases. Caro was able to trot home a few pitches later as Nico Hoerner picked up the sacrifice fly to put Tennessee up 6-1. The bottom half of the fourth is where things began to change as homers by both Damek Tomscha, and Alfredo Gonzalez closed the gap to 6-4. That gap continued to close in the bottom of the fifth when Tomscha continued to swing a hot bat with an RBI double to bring things even 6-6. After both bullpens stood tall for most of the game, it was Tomscha coming through when it mattered the most as another double in the bottom of the ninth capped off the comeback bid with the Barons coming back 7-6. Tennessee is 43-56 on the season as the second half continues to be a struggle. Despite not having an RBI, Jhonny Pereda continues to swing a hot bat leading the way with three hits. A pair of hits from the leadoff man Zach Davis rounded out the multi-hit efforts as much of the RBI production game form the bottom of the order. Vimael Machin and Hoerner also added hits in the game. Despite serving up the game-winning run, Wyatt Short continues to shine at AA as his ERA is now 1.99 for the season. MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 – Salem Red Sox 1 (Suspended): The Pelicans have been involved in some fun games as of late, and Sunday was another one of those games. With Paul Richan continuing to do his thing on the mound with 6 2/3 innings of 1ER ball, the Pelicans held a 6-1 lead in the eight before the game was suspended due to power issues. Most of the damage was done in the middle portion of the game as only Delvin Zinn’s first-inning sacrifice fly happened before the fifth. Carlos Sepulveda was able to add the lead in the fifth with a single as the game went from 1-0 to 3-0 just like that. Salem was able to cut things to 3-1 in the top of the seventh before the Pelicans delivered the decisive blow ahead of the suspension call. Up by a pair and needing some insurance runs, the Pels were gifted their fourth run of the game as a passed ball made things 4-1. Zinn kept the line moving with an RBI single for his second RBI of the night as Cam Balego put an end to the scoring binge with a bases-loaded walk to make things a 6-1 game. That is where the teams stand now as the game will be completed Monday night. SOUTH BEND CUBS 3 Beloit Snappers 4 (game 1): As severe weather pounded Wisconsin for the second day in a row, the Cubs were forced to play a doubleheader Sunday looking to put an end to their sudden road woes. What looked like a promising game turned sour as a pair of seventh-inning runs delivered the Snappers the walk-off win in game one. Brendon Little continued to improve on the mound gutting out 4 2/3 innings to allow 2ER in a no-decision effort. If it weren’t for his high pitch count, Little most likely would have gone into the fifth with hopes of another win. Still, his performance was good enough for the Cubs to win as Jonathan Sierra put the Cubs up early with a two-run single in the third for the 2-0 lead. Fresh off his rehab stint in Arizona, D.J. Artis was able to extend the lead in the fourth with a bunt single as the Cubs were now up 3-0. Unfortunately, that would be the last of their offense in game one as the Snappers closed within 3-2 on a Max Schuemann double. With the Cubs still holding a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the seventh, Brian Glowicki was looking to shut Beloit down to earn the save. However, it was not meant to be as the John Jones single tied things up 3-3 before Nick Osborne walked off the Cubs with a sacrifice fly and 4-3 win. SOUTH BEND CUBS 5 – Beloit Snappers 1 (game 2): Game two was a much better showing for the Cubs as they put an end to their losing streak with a 5-1 win for their first victory of the Wisconsin trip. Cam Sanders continued to pitch brilliantly on the hill going five scoreless frames to drop his ERA to 3.08 and improve to 5-4 on the season. The only offense the Cubs would need came in the first inning as the Snappers gifted them with the first run on a wild pitch for the 1-0 lead. Luke Reynolds later reached on a fielding error to push another run home ahead of a second wild pitch that same inning as the Cubs held a 3-0 lead after one without the strength of an RBI hit. That all changed in the sixth inning when Artis came through with an RBI double ahead of a Clayton Daniel single to push the Cubs lead to 5-0 in the sixth. Beloit was able to push a run across off Eugenio Palma in the seventh on the Skyler Weber RBI groundout, but it was nowhere near enough as the Cubs picked up the DH split 5-1 to improve to 50-47. Rafael Narea was the lone Cub with a multi-hit game, collecting two out of the nine spots in the order. Daniel, Reynolds, and Artis added the rest of the hits for South Bend with Artis reaching base three times with two walks also. Cole Roederer went 0-3 on the night while Brennan Davis continues to nurse a wrist injury. Cubs win! EUGENE EMERALDS 2 – Hillsboro Hops 5: The Emeralds quest to move up in the standings has not gone as planned as they fell to the first place Hops 5-2 on Sunday to fall to 16-21 for the season. All was not lost, however, as Zach Mort tossed a beauty in his 6 1/3 innings giving up just 2ER in a no-decision as the pen led things get away late in the loss. For all the negative things going for Eugene, there were some positives early as the Hops helped bring home the games first run on a balk to put the Ems up 1-0 in the first. That early lead doubled in the fourth inning when Edmond Americaan added an RBI single for the 2-0 Eugene lead. After tossing six shutout innings to open the game, things began to come unglued for Mort in the seventh as a passed ball, and Tristan English single tied things up 2-2 handing Mort a no-decision in the game. The Hops comeback bid continued into the eighth inning when they put the game away as Steven Leyton brought home the winning run with a double ahead of a Kristian Robinson homer as the Hops come back to win 5-2. Eugene managed to out hit the Hops 8-4 in the loss with Americaan leading the way with two hits. He was the lone player to tally multiple hits to go along with the Ems only RBI in the losing effort. Fernando Kelli, Jake Slaughter, and Chase Strumpf all added one hit in the game. DSL CUBS 1: Off no scheduled League games. DSL CUBS 2: Off no scheduled League games. AZL CUBS (2) 7 – AZL Brewers (Gold) 3: AZL Cubs 2 managed to improve to 12-15 on the season as they picked up an impressive 7-3 win against the Brewers. After exchanging runs in early in the game, the Cubs took control with a pair of three-run innings as Manuel Espinoza improved to 3-2 following five innings of 1 run ball of relief. Knotted 1-1 in the fourth, the Cubs took the lead for good on a bases-loaded walk to Luis Verdugo as AZL never looked back. Alexander Guerra connected for a double later that frame as the AZL Cubs increased their lead to 4-1. Now leading 4-2 in the eight, the Cubs delivered the knockout punch with their second three-run frame as both Guerra and Verdugo added their second RBI’s of the day along with a Josue Huma sacrifice fly in the 7-3 win. Verdugo was on fire at the plate leading the way with three hits to go with his 2RBI’s. Not only did Guerra add two hits of his own but delivered four RBI’s as he provided the thunder in the Cubs big win. AZL CUBS (1) 7 – AZL Brewers (Blue) 5: The AZL Cubs 1 continued their strong season improving to 14-13 with a 7-5 win over AZL Brewers Blue. It was once again a theme of three-run innings as two three-run frames from the Cubs lifted them to the win. Both Luis Silva and Carlos Pacheco exchanged RBI hits in the first and third innings before a wild pitch in the fourth gave the Brewers their second lead of the game 2-1. It was in the fifth when the Cubs bats came to life taking complete control of things at that point. Starting with a Pacheco RBI double, the Cubs pushed across three runs in that half of an inning as RBI hits from Oswaldo Pina and Pedro Martinez put the Cubs in front for good 4-2. That lead continued to grow in the bottom of the seventh as once again AZL Cubs managed to bring home three runs to stretch their lead to 7-2. Yovanny Cuevas got the scoring started with his first homer as Alberto Hinirio added an RBI double ahead of a double steal for the 7-2 lead. The Brewers did make things interesting in the ninth inning pushing across three runs off an Andre Nnebe triple and Caleb Marquez single, but the Cubs managed to keep things right there holding on for the 7-5 win.
Home run #4 in 20 Triple-A games for @zshort_20 pic.twitter.com/sxR07YbWay
South Bend splits today's twin bill at Beloit and beat the Snappers 5-1 in the second game. pic.twitter.com/aKMvJ9FL4k
