Cubs Minor League News: Madrigal with rehab start, Amaya activated, PCA homers, more |
After nearly a week off from baseball with the all-star break, full-season ball was back in action. For the Cubs, it was a rough night on the diamond as Tennessee picked up the lone win in what was otherwise a 1-4 evening to open the unofficial second half of play.
Friday was not the opening to the second half they would have liked for the Iowa Cubs as Omaha drubbed them 9-1. A large portion of that damage came in the first two innings as Cam Sanders struggled. The right-hander is now 1-6 since his promotion to Iowa and is sporting a 6.65 ERA after failing to make it out of the first. The only run for Iowa came in the first inning when Nick Madrigal picked up an RBI single to make things 1-0. Apart from that, it was all Omaha as they ended the game with nine unanswered runs, with four coming in the first off Sanders. Brewer Hicklen delivered the game-winning three-run shot in the first, while Dairon Blanco added a solo shot. In total, Omaha launched four homers on Friday evening as they looked like the 2021 version of themselves. Madrigal, Dixon Machado, and Darius Hill led the offense with two hits in the loss. Final from Werner Park. pic.twitter.com/wd5Xj21BQ0
The only full-season team to come away with a win was AA Tennessee, and they did so by putting up three crooked innings. Chris Clarke was shaky at best on the mound as he tossed 4 1/3 innings of five-run ball before turning it over to a pen that did a great job. Clarke was backed by plenty of run support; it would have been nice to see him earn another win. Tennessee wasted little time getting the party started with Bryce Ball opening up the scoring with an RBI double. Chase Strumpf followed that up with a sacrifice fly before Miguel Amaya made his AA return with an RBi double to make things 3-0 in the first. We have activated Catcher Miguel Amaya. Tennessee was just getting started with Amaya adding an RBI double in the third ahead of the two-run Yonathan Perlaza double, and just like that, the Smokies were in front 6-0. Following the Alex McGarry homer in the fourth to get on the board, Chattanooga began to chip away in the fifth as they would score five times to tie things up 6-6. TJ Hopkins had the big blow of that inning as his bases-loaded double pulled the Lookouts within 6-5 before the Nick Quintana double tied things up. Looking to strike back in the seventh, Tennesse was backed by a pair of Chattanooga miscues which aided two runs. Add in the Jake Slaughter RBI single and the Alexander Canario double, and the Smokies brought home four runs in the seventh to pick up the 10-6 win. Amaya returned to AA and put on a three-hit two RBI show to lead the way. Perlaza, Canario, Ball, and Strumpf added two hits, with Bradlee Beesley picking up three.
Looking to remain in first place as the second half begins, the Cubs wasted a fantastic pitching performance to fall 3-1. Porter Hodge made his High-A debut and, for the most part, looked great. He only lasted 4 2/3 innings, but he allowed just two hits and didn't allow a run. That was very important as Jonathan Bowlan and company managed to match Porter and kept the Cubs off the board through six as things were knotted up 0-0 heading into the seventh. In the seventh, the River Bandits took the lead for good and didn't look back as Tyler Tolbert ended the scoreless game with an RBI triple. He would then come around to score on the Kale Emshoff sacrifice fly as the Cubs were down 2-0. Moving to the bottom half of the inning, you have Pete Crow-Armstrong picking up his fifth homer with South Bend and bringing the Cubs within 2-1. No. 3 @Cubs prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong cranks his 12th home run of the season, fifth for the @SBCubs: pic.twitter.com/uR3wpIutit
They could not get any closer as Diego Hernandez added an eighth-inning homer to make things 3-1. Yohendrick Pinango continues to hit, leading the way with two hits. His average is now sitting at .296 for the season.
The Second half hasn't gone as smoothly as the first half for these, as this series is about bragging rights. Despite a fantastic pitching performance throughout, the offense stalled as the Pelicans fell to Charleston 2-1. Luke Little continues to improve with each start, and after going four scoreless frames to lower his ERA to 2.70, it will be interesting to see what he can do. The Pelicans backed Little on the mound by scoring first, with Kevin Alcantara putting them up 1-0 in the first. That score would hold until the fifth, when Alejandro Pie picked up an RBI single to tie things up. The next inning saw Bobby Seymour pick up the game-winning hit as his RBI single brought home two more to make things 3-1. The Pelicans pulled within 3-2 off the Josue Huma grounder in the eighth, but that was as the Pelicans lost again. Birds fall one run short.
Cristian Hernandez picked up three RBIs using a sacrifice fly and an RBI double to do his damage. Moises Ballesteros connected for his team-best seventh homer.
It was another round of the DSL Cubs vs. DSL Cubs battle, with Blue taking this one 3-2. Adan Sanchez not only picked up the lone RBI for Red, but would be part of the team's second run later in the game. Jairo Diaz and Jose Escobar provided the RBI hits for blue, but it was a double steal with the back runner coming home to provide the winning run.OMAHA STORM CHASERS 9 - IOWA CUBS 1
TENNESSEE SMOKIES 10 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 6
Amaya last played for the Smokies on 6/3/21.#Cubs #SmokiesBaseball #ItsDifferentHere pic.twitter.com/zDBEkJPaEdQUAD CITY RIVER BANDITS 3 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 1
CHARLESTON RIVER DOGS 3 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 2
Game two of the series will be tomorrow night.#MBPelicans pic.twitter.com/6Ld4Z7Se0SACL GUARDIANS 11 - ACL CUBS 6
DSL CUBS BLUE 3 - DSL CUBS RED 2
