Cubs Minor League News: Shaw and Alcantara debut, Caissie homers, Thompson hits 20th homer
Rick Scuteri - USA Today Sports

Cubs Minor League News: Shaw and Alcantara debut, Caissie homers, Thompson hits 20th homer
by - Senior Writer - Wed Aug 07 11:11:24 GMT-05:00 2024

Another Tuesday and another full slate of Minor League action. At least, that was supposed to be the case until the Pelicans' game with Down East was rained out. Take their game out of the mix, and there were still five teams in action on Tuesday, as the Cubs posted a 2-3 mark for the day.

IOWA CUBS 4 - OMAHA STORM CHASERS 2

Although the Iowa Cubs haven't been a great team this season, they are suddenly becoming must-watch TV. Not only did Matt Shaw, James Triantos, and Kevin Alcantara make their debuts last night, but the Cubs also acquired right-handed pitcher Adrian Houser and immediately put him in their rotation to make the start.

Houser was far from perfect, striking out three and allowing two runs in 2 2/3, but the Iowa offense took care of the rest, with the Cubs winning 4-2. Both of the runs charged to Houser came off the bat of CJ Alexander, who opened the scoring with a first-inning sacrifice fly before tacking on an RBI single in the third. Apart from that, the Iowa pitching staff was strong as Trey Supak came in to toss 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to give the offense a chance.

After Trayce Thompson briefly tied things up with a solo shot in the third, the Cubs took the lead for good in the fifth, pushing across two runs.

William Simoneit delivered the first run in that inning with a sacrifice fly, while a wild pitch gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead. They would add to their lead in the seventh, with Owen Caissie closing out the scoring with a solo shot, as the Cubs won 4-2.

Thompson led the Cubs with two hits, but the story of the game was that Shaw and Alcantara picked up their first hits.

The Cubs also saw strong relief outings from Keegan Thompson, who struck out the side in his inning of work, and Jack Neely, who added the 11th and final punchout for the Cubs.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 9 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 4

Despite running away with the division to begin the second half, things are going to be interesting for the Smokies the rest of the way. That is mainly because guys like Triantos, Shaw, Moises Ballesteros, and Alcantara are no longer with the team, and they provided a ton of the offensive damage this season.

Their absence didn't seem to matter on Tuesday as the Smokies scored seven times in the first two innings to roll 9-4. That type of offensive onslaught made life easy for Jimmy Endersby, who gave the Smokies four shutout innings before handing things off to Joe Nahas and the pen. Nahas may have given up two runs, but he also struck out four to earn the win.

Leading 1-0 after a Haydn McGeary first-inning single, the Smokies put the game away in the second as their six-run inning opened up a 7-0 lead.

An error and a wild pitch helped aid three of those six runs, with Jonathon Long adding an RBI single. You also had a pair of bases-loaded walks in that inning, as it was all Smokies early.

It took five innings for the Lookouts to break through with Francisco Urbaez taking Nahas deep for a two-run shot to make this a 7-2 game. Urbaez was the entire offense for the Lookouts, as he was responsible for all three team RBIs, adding a sacrifice fly late. McGeary also added his second RBI on an eighth-inning single while a wild pitch closed out the scoring for the Smokies in the win.

Long continued his impressive start with the Smokies, adding four more hits to push his average to .500. Luis Verdugo and McGeary added multi-hit games, with McGeary picking up two RBIs and Verdugo one.

FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 5 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2

Talk about a kick to the groin for the Cubs in this one. After leading 2-0 entering the eighth, the bullpen fell apart as the Tin Caps scored five runs in their final two frames to secure the 5-2 win. It was a painful way for Nico Zeglin to go out, as the right-hander struck out six in five no-hit innings.

Zeglin has not only been one of the biggest surprises in the Cubs system, but he has come out of nowhere to be one of the most reliable pitchers in the entire organization.

Zeglin went pitch for pitch with Jagger Haynes who also struck out six in six innings, but was charged with two runs. Those runs came in the sixth off another Ethan Hearn homer as South Bend led 2-0.

They held that lead until the eighth inning when things went south for the Cubs. All it took for this game to change was one swing of the bat from Ethan Salas, whose three-run shot put the Tin Caps up 3-2 and proved to be the winning hit. Fort Wayne would tack on two more runs in the ninth off the Nik McClaughry double as the Cubs fell 5-2.

2024 eighth round pick Edgar Alvarez had a strong day at the plate, leading the Cubs with two hits. He was joined by Jordan Nwogu as the Cubs had eight hits in the loss.

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

DSL RAYS 10 - DSL CUBS BLUE 5

Looking to get back on the winning side of things after splitting with the Astros on Monday, the DSL Blue squad was on the road as they faced off with the DSL Rays. Had it not been for the Rays' early offense, including a six-run second inning, the Cubs may have won this game, but as it stands, they fell 10-5.

Julio Valdez didn't waste any time getting the scoring started as his two-run shot in the top of the first put the Cubs in front 2-0. After pulling within 2-1 in the bottom of the first, the Rays offense broke the game open in the second as they erupted for six runs to take the 7-2 lead. Andres Torres, Alberth Palma, Leonardo Pineda, and Alfonzo Matinez had RBI singles in that inning, accounting for five runs with a sacrifice fly aiding to the sixth.

Two more singles from Palma and Diego Batista drove across three more runs in the fifth to push the Rays' lead to 10-2, only for the Alexey Lumpuy homer to pull the Cubs within 10-5 in the seventh before they fell by that score.

DSL GUARDIANS 15 - DSL CUBS RED 7

Big innings were an issue for the DSL Squads on Tuesday, and that continued for DSL Red as the Guardians used three massive innings to score all 10 runs. That included a six-run first inning to open the scoring as the Guardians jumped in front 6-0 and never looked back. A wild pitch started the scoring in that inning before a trio of RBI knocks from Dariel Arias, Nomar Velasquez, and Juan Frances led to the other five runs.

After the Cubs pulled within 6-2 in the third off an Edgardo De Leon double and a Robin Ortiz groundout, the Guardians' offense returned to work. They pushed home four more runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 10-2. Robert Arias drove home the first run in that inning with a single, while a pair of RBI triples from Gabriel Rodriguez and Randy Martinez broke the game open.

While the Guardians were busy offensively in the first five innings, it was only a matter of time before the Cubs' offense put together a big inning. That came in the fifth, with Ortiz going deep for a two-run shot as part of a four-run frame. The Cubs added two more runs on a bases-loaded walk and a passed ball and were within 10-6.

That was as close as they would get. The three-run Gabriel Rodriguez homer in the top of the sixth put the game out of reach, while an error aided in two additional runs to stretch the lead to 15-6. Enyel Rosario connected for an RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh, but at 15-7, this game was well out of reach.

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