Cubs Minor League News: Alcantara and Ballesteros homer, Kilian dominant, Gray with 9 Ks
Allan Henry - USA Today Sports

Cubs Minor League News: Alcantara and Ballesteros homer, Kilian dominant, Gray with 9 Ks
by - Senior Writer - Thu Aug 08 09:55:35 GMT-04:00 2024

Wednesday was a rough night for the Cubs Minor League system as the wins were tough to come by. Not only did the Myrtle Beach Pelicans get rained out for the second straight day against Down East, but the Cubs then saw their system go 0-3 in one of their worst showings in a while.

OMAHA STORM CHASERS 6 - IOWA CUBS 2

Talk about an interesting yet painful game for the Cubs. While all the attention has shifted to their new-look lineup, some forget that Caleb Kilian is back in the rotation and working his way back to the bigs. Kilian took a massive step toward returning as he gave the Cubs five shutout innings, allowing three hits and striking out two.

However, his effort went to waste. Sam McWilliams and the Cubs pen imploded in the seventh inning, as the Storm Chasers scored all six of their runs in the seventh to win 6-2. Matching Kilian in the early going was Noah Cameron, who struck out seven in six innings of work, allowing just one run. That run came in the fourth inning on Moises Ballesteros's homer, which was his sixth homer of the year for Iowa.

There was some bad news following his homer as Ballesteros was removed from the game for what the team is calling a precautionary situation after taking a foul ball off the knee. His homer was the only run of the game until the seventh inning when the Omaha bats came to life and teed off on McWilliams and Daniel Palencia.

Nick Pratto tied things up with an RBI double before the Cam Devanney sacrifice but put the Storm Chasers in front for good 2-1. The game-winning hit came off the bat of Nick Loftin, whose bases-loaded double put the Storm Chasers in front 5-1, with Loftin coming home on a Tyler Gentry single.

The Cubs managed to get one of those runs back in the eighth on Kevin Alcantara's first Iowa homer to pull the Cubs within 6-2 as they would fall by that score.

Alcantara and Ballesteros had two of the Cubs four hits with Owen Caissie and Trayce Thompson grabbing the rest.

CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 8 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2

It has been a long time since the Smokies had a clunker game, but Wednesday night was one of those nights. Like in the Iowa game against Omaha, the Smokies wasted a fine start from Matt Thompson as the Lookouts scored seven times in the sixth inning to take the lead and win the game.

Thompson has had an up and down last month, but after pitching into the sixth and allowing three runs, he did his part to win. Unfortunately, three runs was too much, as his offense couldn't get the job done. Both of the Smokies runs came in the second inning with Jake Reinheimer cashing in with an RBI single to put them in front 1-0.

Christian Franklin added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to double the lead, but with no more runs the rest of the way, it would come down to the pitching to make things happen.

For the most part, Thompson made that 2-0 lead hold as he held the Lookouts scoreless through five innings before running out of gas in the sixth.

It was in that inning when the Lookouts not only took the lead but also broke the game open as seven of their eight runs scored in the eighth.

Nicholas Northcut started the scoring with a game-tying two-run single, and just like that, this was a 2-2 game. His single was followed by an Austin Hendrick single that pushed home the winning run. The big blow in that inning came off the bat of Daniel Vellojin, whose bases-clearing RBI double opened up a 6-2 lead for the Lookouts. Vellojin scored on the Bubba Thompson single later in the inning as Chattanooga was now in front 7-2.

The Lookouts would tack on one more run later in the game on the Vellojin ground out as they picked up a rare win against the Smokies 8-2. Seven different players had one hit for the Smokies, who are adjusting to life without some of their big bats.

FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 3 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 1

The Cubs system had a theme on Wednesday, and it was disturbing, to say the least. That theme was good starting pitching and a lack of offense, as the Cubs scored a total of five runs in their three games. Strong pitching also showed up in this one, but when you only score one run, wins are going to be tough to come by.

After arguably the worst month of his professional career, Drew Gray has bounced back his past few starts and continued to pitch well. The left-hander gave the Cubs five innings of nine strikeout balls and allowed only two runs.

Both of the runs he allowed came in the third inning as the Nerwilian Cedeno homer gave the Tin Caps a 2-0 lead and wound up being the game's winning hit.

Braden Nett played a massive role in that as he overcame some command issues across the board to allow just one run on two hits in five innings, with that run coming off a fifth-inning Rafael Morel grounder that pulled the Cubs within 2-1. That was as close as they would get as the Devin Ortiz single off Bradley Deppermann in the sixth brought home the game's final run in a 3-1 Cubs loss.

South Bend was held to four hits in the loss, with rookie Edgar Alvarez leading the way with two hits. Parker Chavers and Jordan Nwogu added the rest of the Cubs' hits, as runs have been an issue this week.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS vs. DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS (Postponed)

CLEBURNE RAILROADERS 5 - CHICAGO DOGS 4

Coming off an offensive explosion that saw the Dogs fall 11-10 on Tuesday, these teams were back at it again with another one-run loss sealing the Dogs fate 5-4. Kenny Serwa took the loss for the Dogs as he struck out eight across five innings, allowing four runs in those innings.

All the runs off him came in the fourth inning as the Cleburne offense broke what was a scoreless tie. Korey Holland opened the scoring with an RBI single, but the bases-loaded double from Bret Boswell did the most damage. The Dogs managed to mount a big fifth-inning rally to pull themselves right back into the game as three of their four runs scored in the fifth.

None of those runs came home to score on a hit as a pair of bases walks and a balk led to the three runs as the Dogs pulled within 4-3. Chicago tied things up in the seventh on the Dusty Stroup homer, but the Railroaders got the last laugh as the Brian O'Grady eighth-inning homer proved to be the winning run in the Dog's 5-4 loss.

SCHAUMBURG BOOMERS 3 - WINDY CITY THUNDERBOLTS 1

Like most Cubs affiliations, where offense was an issue, that was also the issue for the Thunderbolts, who fell to the Boomers 3-1. All three of the Boomers' runs came off Kevin Pindel in the first two innings. He went six innings in the loss, with his ERA rising to 1.68.

Paxton Wallace opened the scoring with a two-RBI double in the first before the Alec Craig RBI fielder's choice closed out the scoring for the Boomers in the second. It was in the second when Windy City also scored their lone run, with Emmanuel Sanchez cashing in with an RBI double to pull the Bolts within 2-1 before falling 3-1.

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