Cubs Minor League News: Ballesteros raking, Shaw homers, Espinoza with three hits, more

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 5 hours ago

While the Chicago Cubs didn't do much winning this past weekend, it was the Cubs' Minor League system putting on a show to close out what was otherwise a challenging week. It took long enough for everyone to come together, but after closing out the week with a 3-1 record, plenty of positive momentum is heading into next week.

IOWA CUBS 6 - LOUISVILLE BATS 4

In what was a stressful weekend across the board with all the rainouts, the Cubs made sure to make the most of it and delivered a series win with a 6-4 victory. After putting forth his worst effort of the season last time out, Connor Noland bounced back in a big way as the right-hander gave the Cubs five innings of two-run baseball, striking out six.

Noland was backed by a first-inning Moises Ballesteros single to give Iowa the lead, but with Edwin Rios going deep in the second to put Louisville in front 2-1, this was looking like another rough outing for Noland. Fortunately for him, those were the only runs he would allow as he got into quite a groove to close out his start.

BALLY IS UNBELIEVABLE

14 straight games with a hit!

1-0 I-CUBS! pic.twitter.com/ZaPHlG68x9
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 27, 2025

Immediately after falling behind, the Cubs offense was battling back, with Greg Allen tying the game in the third off a bases-loaded hit by pitch. That was followed by the Matt Shaw homer in the fourth, as he is rounding back into form. Following the five innings from Noland, the Cubs turned to Keegan Thompson in the sixth as he was looking to keep his strong season going.

Over the next three innings, Thompson pitched well, allowing two runs, with both coming on a pair of sixth-inning homers from Tyler Stephenson and Will Benson that put the Bats back in front 4-3. Like the last time the Bats had the lead, the Cubs didn't waste any time responding as Balk pushed home the tying run in the seventh, with Kevin Alcantara driving home the winning run shortly after on a single. Iowa would add a ninth-inning run on the Jonathon Long single to close out a 6-4 win.

Long gives some insurance for a 6-4 I-CUBS lead! pic.twitter.com/CvhvsUTdk8
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 27, 2025

With two more hits, Ballesteros continues to hit everything in sight, as his average is up to .414. Shaw, Long, and Ben Cowles also had two-hit games for the Cubs offense.

Sunday DUB https://t.co/4IMrCg9sXL
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 27, 2025

KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 7 - PENSACOLA BLUE WAHOOS 4

It's not always about how many innings you score, but how many runs you can score in an inning. Take the Smokies, for example, who scored all seven of their runs in one inning and made that stand up for the win. With Antonio Santos on the mound for the second time, the Smokies jumped all over Luis Palacios to close the week with a win.

Santos may have gotten a no-decision, but with three shutout innings, he is starting to look like last year's version of himself. All he needed was an offense that scored seven runs in the third inning as the Smokies took a 7-0 lead and never looked back. What started with a Haydn McGeary sacrifice fly was followed by the Ethan Hearn single as the Smokies led 2-0.

An error brought home the third run of the inning and set the tone for what was to come as Jordan Nwogu delivered a two-run single to push the lead to 5-0. That hit would go down as the game-winner as the Smokies added two more runs off an error and a steal of home to open up a 7-0 lead in the third.

Even with their offense going quiet the rest of the way, the Smokies still managed to win, as their pitching was just good enough to get the job done. It took five innings for Pensacola to break through as the Spencer Bramwell single got them on the board, while a sacrifice fly made this a 7-2 game in the fifth.

One inning later, Tony Bullard came through against the pen as his RBI single brought home a pair and pulled Pensacola within 7-4. Those were the final runs of the day for either side, as the Smokies ended the week in style, 7-4.

Headed back to Knoxville on a high note! | @zips3mincarwash
Box Score: https://t.co/nJtlybEwHV pic.twitter.com/wN910r7Wb2
— Knoxville Smokies (@smokiesbaseball) April 27, 2025

BELOIT SKY CARP 4 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 3

The lone team to come away with a loss on Sunday was the South Bend Cubs, and it was one of those games that stings. With things deadlocked 3-3 in the later innings, the Sky Carp came through in the eighth to push home the winning run as they held on for the 4-3 win.

That took away what was arguably the best start of the season for Kenten Egbert, who is finally starting to adjust to High-A hitting. The right-hander pitched into the fifth, giving up three runs on five hits, although only one of those runs was earned. It took four innings for either side to come through as a pair of RBI hits from Garrett Forrester and Michael Snyder put the Sky Carp in front 2-0.

They would add another RBI double in the fifth from Jay Beshears to take a 3-0 lead, and given how well they were pitching up to this point, it was looking as if three runs would be enough. Leave it to the Cubs to battle back as Drew Bowser put South Bend on the board with an RBI double, pulling the Cubs within 3-2 after five.

Then came the big fly from Reggie Preciado, who connected for his first homer of the season and brought things back to even at 3-3 in the sixth. Following nearly three impressive innings from Chase Watkins in relief, who struck out three, the Cubs turned to their closer, Vince Reilly, in the eighth, hoping he could keep things tied.

Reilly has been solid all season, but on this day, he was the victim of an eighth-inning Forrester single that put the Sky Carp back in front 4-3 and proved to be the game-winning hit.

Preciado led the Cubs with two hits in the win, while South Bend had seven hits in total.

Final. The Cubs will be back in action Tuesday in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels.#SBCubs pic.twitter.com/rflN0f9U2G
— South Bend Cubs (@SBCubs) April 27, 2025

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 8 - KANNAPOLIS CANNONBALLERS 6

It took long enough for the Pelicans to get back on track as they closed out the week with an 8-6 win. This was one of those games where one team liked to spread out their runs while the other used two innings to do most of their damage.

With Brooks Caple on the mound, and allowing four runs (3ER) in five innings, it was up to the Pelicans' offense to bail him out, and boy, did they ever, as they scored seven of their eight runs by the fourth inning and made that hold up. Caple didn't get off to the best start, allowing the game's first run to score on a third inning wild pitch while the Nathan Archer single made this a 2-0 game.

Fortunately for him, the Pelicans offense came to play as they erupted for four runs in the third to take the lead and never looked back. Christian Olivo opened the scoring with an RBI groundout, while a pair of doubles from Jose Escobar and Leonel Espinoza put the Birds on top 3-2. Cameron Sisneros closed out the massive inning with an RBI single as Myrtle Beach was now in front 4-2.

The Pelicans continued their offensive onslaught in the fourth with Eriandys Ramon connecting for a two-run shot to push the lead to 6-2. Espinoza added another single to make this a 7-2 game. Had they not scored the rest of the way, the Pelicans would have still won this game, but with Kannapolis pulling to within 7-4 in the fifth, this lead never felt safe.

Kannapolis continued to battle back in the later innings with Jordan Sprinkle picking up a sixth inning RBI single ahead of a seventh inning sacrifice fly that saw the Pelicans' lead cut to 7-6. That was as close as the Cannonballers would get as the Pelicans added a massive insurance run on an eighth-inning wild pitch to extend their lead to 8-6, and went on to win by that score. Espinoza led the Pelicans with three hits and two RBIs, with Ramon adding two hits and two RBIs.