Cubs Minor League News: Cade Horton impressive, Hernandez with clutch homer, Pels win |
Dustin Riese
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- 1 day ago
At some point, the Chicago Cubs will have all four of their affiliates playing on the same day, as Mother Nature hasn't been kind to them this season. Yes, most of the league has been affected by the weather in some aspect this season, but it seems the Cubs organization is the one suffering the most, as once again, another game was rained out.
Even with the Smokies' game with Rocket City washed away, their three remaining affiliates took to the field looking to get back on track. The Cubs came one run from going 3-0 and one run from going 1-2 as they put together a solid performance of 2-1.
Talk about a team falling victim to some tough luck. Despite a solid start from Cade Horton, the Cubs offense went silent as they were held to three hits in a 1-0 loss. Horton gave the Cubs four strong innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six as he continues to impress. That run came in his final inning when Bligh Madirs cashed in with an RBI single that put the Mud Hens in front 1-0. That would be all the offense they would need as Keider Montero was as locked in as ever, tossing 5 2/3 no-hit innings with six punchouts before the bullpen closed things out. Vidal Brujan began his rehab stint and picked up one of the three hits, with Reese McGuire and Ben Cowles grabbing the other two. Final. pic.twitter.com/tzINGDCcWn
Thursday's game vs. @smokiesbaseball has been postponed due to rain.
For the most part, runs were tough to come by for most of the Cubs system, but all that matters is finding ways to win. That is what South Bend did on Thursday as they took the Chiefs best shot only to win things on an eighth-inning Cristian Hernandez home The win was nice to see, especially after the start Jaxson Wiggins put together. Wiggins may have gone just four innings, walking three and striking out four, but with no hits and only one unearned run allowed he continues to show his potential on the mound. Like Horton, the only run Wiggins allowed in his start came in his final inning as a costly error led to the Cubs trailing 1-0. Considering that Darlin Saladin had held the Cubs scoreless up to this point, you also had to wonder if one run would be enough. That was answered in the fifth inning when the Cubs not only tied things up on the Reginald Preciado fielder's choice but managed to grab a 2-1 lead off an error later in the inning. It was a lead the Cubs would hold until the eighth as Marino Santy came in to toss three scoreless innings in place of Wiggins before turning things over to Burl Carraway in the eighth. Returning to the mound for the first time since 2023, Carraway has been erratic at times this season, allowing the game-tying run off a costly catcher's interference. That run would go down as unearned, but it was costly nonetheless, as the Cubs were now tied 2-2. Leave it to Hernandez to change that with one swing as his eighth-inning solo shot not only put the Cubs back on top 3-2 but would be the game-winning hit as Sam Thoresen locked things down for the save with two punchouts in the ninth. Cristian Hernandez goes YARD with the first @hoosierlottery home run of the season in the bottom of the 8th!!#SBCubs #OpeningWeek pic.twitter.com/JV9KfIbw6y South Bend only had three hits in the win, with Hernandez grabbing two of them and Andy Garriola adding the other one. Cristian Hernandez hammered his first #SBCubs home run to lead us to victory! After the dub, he caught up with Tyler Reidy. 🐻 pic.twitter.com/7V1ut2IITx Back-to-back wins! Catch the highlights of last night's win! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Tkfh7ZSpg3
After two ugly games that saw the Birds get outscored 23-1 to open the series, the Pelicans finally put an end to the Mudcats unbeaten run as they topped Carolina 6-2. Nazier Mule played a role in that with his five-inning start, but it was the offense that broke out for five runs in the first two innings to set the tone. That included a three-run first inning that gave the Birds a 3-0 lead, and they never looked back. Matt Halbach opened the scoring with his RBI double before the Michael Carico two-run double extended the lead to 3-0. One inning later, the same story as a Leonel Espinoza single pushed their lead to 4-0 with an RBI fielder's choice giving the Pelicans a 5-0 lead. Mule and the pitching staff took care of the rest as the hard-throwing right-hander gave the Pelicans five innings of one-run baseball, allowing three hits and striking out five. His lone run allowed came in the fourth inning off a Demetrio Nadal single, but even that wouldn't be enough to give the Mudcats the win. Filippo Di Turi did his best to keep things close by taking Yoendris Gonzalez deep in the sixth to pull Carolina within 5-2, but that was as close as things would get as Myrtle Beach capped off the scoring in the bottom of the sixth off an Angel Cepeda single to win 6-2. Brayden Risedorph worked a scoreless final two innings of relief, striking out three. Cameron Sisneros was the only player in the starting lineup without a hit as the Pelicans connected for 11 hits. Alexey Lumpuy, Cepeda, and Anderson Suriel collected six hits and were the lone players with multiple hits. The W flies high at Pelicans Ballpark for the first time in 2025! #MBPelicans | @CampersInnRV pic.twitter.com/JyinubLsJQTOLEDO MUD HENS 1 - IOWA CUBS 0
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES vs ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS (Postponed)
It will be made up as a single-admission doubleheader TOMORROW starting at 4:05 P.M.
Both games will be 7 innings and tickets are valid for both games! pic.twitter.com/Yn3T65WrAjSOUTH BEND CUBS 3 - PEORIA CHIEFS 2
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 - CAROLINA MUDCATS 2
