Cubs Minor League News: Morel raking, Slaughter homers, Ferris impressive, more |
Friday was more of the same for the Cubs and their minor league system, as they posted a 2-2 record for the second straight night. Unlike Thursday, all four games were very competitive, but the offense came up short in two of the contests leading to those losses.
If only every team in the Cubs system had an offense like Iowa, we would be talking about historic proportions. Still, the Iowa Cubs have been on a tear all season, and sparked by a five-run seventh inning; they continued that dominance. Caleb Kilian returned from his horrendous MLB start to deliver his second win of the season and looked quite good. The right-hander gave Iowa five innings of one-run (0ER) baseball with five strikeouts as he let the offense do the rest for him. Jake Slaughter played a considerable role with his game-high four RBIs, which started with an RBI double in the first to put Iowa in front 1-0. Slaughter would come home to score later in the inning on Mike Tauchman's single as Iowa led 2-0. Columbus pulled within 2-1 in the bottom of the first until the long ball stretched the lead to 4-1. First, it was Tauchman going deep in the fourth for his third, with Jake Washer adding his first in the fifth to make things 4-1. With Anthony Kay on to pitch the sixth, the Clippers continued to battle back as Jhonkensy Noel delivered a two-run single to pull Columbus within 4-3. That would be as close as they would get as the Iowa offense erupted in the seventh and pushed five runs across. The first two came across on the Christopher Morel single, while the Slaughter three-run jack was the massive blow to put the Cubs up 9-3. Jake Slaughter DOES NOT GET CHEATED at the plate. Columbus pushed across two runs later in the game on homers by Brayan Rocchio and Raynel Delgado, but the Cubs still rolled 9-5 and are 18-9 this season. Slaughter and Tauchman led the way with two hits and combined for six RBIs. Morel added two RBIs as his impressive season rolls on. Back-to-back wins for the good guys! pic.twitter.com/PCKC1eGepu
After scoring 19 runs on Thursday, the Tennessee offense was bound to cool down at some point which they did Friday. Credit the Trash Pandas pitching staff for that, as five pitchers combined to strike out 13 hitters. Add that into a rough outing from Ryan Jensen, who allowed four runs with four walks in just two innings, and it was a long night in Alabama. Three of the four runs against Jensen came in the first with an RBI groundout leading to the first run and an RBI single from Jeremiah Jackson, putting Rocket City up 3-0. The Smokies did their best to battle back in the second when BJ Murray homered for the second straight night. Caleb Knight also added an RBI single in that inning to pull the Smokies to within 3-2, but that was it for them offensively. An Orlando Martinez single in the third made things 4-2, with David Calabrese closing out the scoring with a two-run single in the seventh. Despite the loss, the Smokies outhit the Trash Pandas 7-4, with Haydn McGeary leading the way with three. Haydn McGeary with his 3rd hit of the night...in his 4th game at double A. pic.twitter.com/YyhYT0Kdew No me gusta. pic.twitter.com/LLrvO1Rkru
Things haven't gone as planned for the Cubs in their second of two six-game series at home, as the Chiefs have now won three-straight against them. Kohl Franklin deserved better as he gave South Bend four innings of one-run ball to lower his ERA to 2.79. He walked three and struck out six, but the offense was nowhere to be found. That's because Marco Raya and Pierson Ohl twirled a 12-strikeout gem, with Ohl giving the Kernels six innings of relief with nine strikeouts. Cedar Rapids only needed one run in this one to come away with the win, as the bases-loaded walk to Tanner Schobel in the third was the difference. Schobel single-handedly tried to knock off South Bend in this one as he added a sacrifice fly later in the game, with Ben Ross picking up an RBI single from Joe Nahas in the sixth to provide all the offense needed. The offense was tough to come by with five hits as Jacob Wetzel led the way with two. He also made a pair of stellar defensive plays as he had his most complete game of the season. We believe Matt Mervis Big League RBI's should still count for our run totals. pic.twitter.com/0ujJjeeWf3
It took long enough, but the Pelicans finally solved the Fireflies and doubled them up on Friday. 2022 second-rounder Jackson Ferris played a massive role as he made his professional debut on Friday. The left-hander lasted three innings and struck out seven as will look to form a dominant 1-2 punch with Cade Horton. Career K No. 1 for Jackson Ferris!#MBPelicans | #NextStartsHere pic.twitter.com/zWoBJTYZjd What a night for Jackson Ferris! pic.twitter.com/mgCQnhrLnr You also had Saul Gonzalez strike out four in two innings of work and Kenyi Valdez striking out four in his four innings as the Pelicans combined to strike out 15 Columbia hitters to only four walks. With the pitching taking care of their side, it would be up to the offense to finally get going, and it was Cristian Hernandez providing the early lift. His second-inning homer was not only his second of the season but also put the Birds in front for good, 1-0. Cristian Hernandez takes flight! That lead would hold until the fifth when Moises Ballesteros doubled the lead with an RBI single while a wild pitch gave the Pelicans a 3-0 and pushed across what would be the game-winning run. Like all good teams, Columbia refused to go down without a fight and used a fifth-inning RBI single from Omar Florentino off of Gonzalez to pull within 3-1. Two innings later, it was David Hollie getting to Valdez as his RBI groundout had the Fireflies within 3-2. That was as close as they would get as Miguel Fabrizio added a huge insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single to give the Pelicans a massive 4-2 win. Ballesteros and Felix Stevens had two hits in the game, with the Pelicans delivering seven as a team. IOWA CUBS 9 - COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 5
For the second night in a row, @JakeSlaughter5 hits an absolute ROCKET into the night. pic.twitter.com/xsIYCfnCjL
ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS 6 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 2
CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 3 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 0
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4 - COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 2
His second home run of the season puts the Birds up 1-0 in the top of the third.#MBPelicans | #NextStartsHere pic.twitter.com/uz0lcJ5UCr
