Cubs Minor League News: Jordan, Mervis power I-Cubs past Louisville |
We are getting down to the nitty-gritty regarding the Minor League Baseball season, which means very few games are left. Wednesday is a classic case of that as the Iowa Cubs were the lone team in action on Wednesday. Looking to keep their strong run of play going and run their winning streak to seven games, the I-Cubs used a steady dose of offense to get the job done as they took care of the Louisville Bats 11-7.
That gave the organization a 1-0 record for the day, which marks the fourth consecutive day the system hasn't dropped a game. That is unheard of at any point in the season, but to do that with only two teams remaining goes to show you how well they have been playing the past two weeks. Coming off arguably one of his best, if not his best, performance of the season, Riley Thompson took the ball for the final time in 2023, and it didn't go as planned. Despite dominating the Bats through four innings, giving up just one run in the process, things quickly came unglued as he seemed to run out of gas in that fifth inning. The result was a five-run inning for the Bats as Thompson was charged with six earned runs in just 4 2/3. Following his outing, you had a Cubs bullpen that was locked in for the second straight game as Jeremiah Estrada, Nick Burdi, and Cam Sanders combined to toss 4 1/3 no-hit innings the rest of the way, allowing one run to help secure the win. Opposing the Cubs right-hander was a familiar face as former Cub Alec Mills toed the rubber for the Bats. Whether by design or another reason, Mills lasted just three innings before being pulled, but was charged with two earned runs. After his outing, you had a Cubs offense that laid the boom on the Bats pen as they scored nine times in three innings to bust the game open and prevailed for another win. Like in their game on Tuesday, the Cubs opened the scoring first as Chase Strumpf connected for a first-inning RBI single to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Two innings later saw Yonathan Perlaza unload for one of his longest homers of the season as the Cubs opened up an early 2-0 lead. Iowa continued their early offensive assault in the fourth when Strumpf roped a line drive over the left field wall to extend the lead to 4-0, as it was all Cubs early. When Chase Strumpf gets ahold of one, it's a no doubter... pic.twitter.com/XaRGWvJWgh Trailing 4-1 in the fifth after the Matt Reynolds sacrifice fly in the fourth, the Louisville offense started to come to life as Thompson ran out of gas. What began with a Jose Barrero homer to make things 4-2 was followed by another sacrifice fly as the Bats were within 4-3. The big blow in the inning came off the bat of Reynolds as his bases-clearing double gave the Bats a 6-4 lead and capped off a massive five-run inning. Their lead didn't last long as the Cubs played long ball the next two innings to put the game away. First, Levi Jordan tied things up with a two-run shot in the sixth to make things 6-6. Levi Jordan's first home run of the year comes at an opportune time as we are now TIED in Louisville! pic.twitter.com/W4Kbq41w9u Matt Mervis followed that up with one of his own in the seventh to give the Cubs the lead for good, 8-6, with Jordan adding his second homer in as many innings later in the seventh to put Iowa in front 11-6 before winning 11-7. It's not a home run party unless Matt Mervis shows up and he certainly did with this 427-foot blast 💣 pic.twitter.com/pBeFgxmF0x Levi Jordan definitely ate his Wheaties this morning because it's a two homer day for the infielder 💪 pic.twitter.com/c6aeKuigsg Strumpf had a great day at the plate, picking up three hits and three RBIs, but the two-hit five RBI day from Jordan was the difference. Luis Vazquez was the only Cub without a hit in what was otherwise another productive day at the plate. Levi led the charge today and gets @Therookiedsmia Player of the Game honors 👏 pic.twitter.com/gjyfGg83ZE Play the fight song! 🎶
I-Cubs have won SEVEN in a row! pic.twitter.com/pmA8AhpocV
