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Cubs Minor League News: Morel blasts two homers, Hendricks' rehab, Amaya hot, more

Cubs Minor League News: Morel blasts two homers, Hendricks' rehab, Amaya hot, more
by - Senior Writer - Fri Apr 28 10:18:57 GMT-05:00 2023

Winning can be contagious, and for the Cubs Minor League system, a lot of winning has been going on. One night after going 4-1 on the diamond and narrowly missing a perfect 5-0 record, the Cubs system was back at it with a full slate of games.

This was the classic case of what good hitting and good pitching can do, as two of the games saw the Cubs score 28 runs offensively while the other two saw the Cubs allow two runs. Even with those odd numbers, the Cubs still posted a perfect 4-0 night on the diamond, 5-0 if you count the Cub's win earlier in the day against the Padres.

IOWA CUBS 18 - LOUISVILLE BATS 16

With 42 combined hits and 34 runs scored, pitching was nonexistent in Iowa on Thursday as the fans were treated to plenty of excitement. You did have Kyle Hendricks make his first rehab appearance and first start since June last season, as the right-hander allowed six runs in less than two innings.

Apart from Riley Thompson, who threw two scoreless frames, there was not much to get excited about as both offenses were ready to roll.

Louisville came out on fire, as they opened up a 2-0 lead in the first before Matt Mervis cut the deficit in half with a solo shot in the bottom of the first. Led by an Elly De La Cruz double and the Christian Encarnacion homer in the second, the Bats offense continued to go to work, pushing across five more runs to take a 7-1 lead.

Fortunately, the Iowa offense kept pace as Jared Young left the building for a solo shot before Miles Mastrobuoni and Mike Tauchman added RBI singles to make things 7-4.

Trailing 9-4 in the fourth, Iowa took it upon themselves to provide the fireworks as their offensive onslaught continued.

Sparked by four homers from Christopher Morel, Jake Slaughter, Young, and Sergio Alcantara, the Cubs pushed six runs across and took a 10-9 lead.

Darius Hill added an RBI double in that frame to provide the lone non-homer RBI. The Cub's power surge continued into the fifth, with Morel joining Young with his second homer to extend the lead to 11-9.

Morel now has 10 homers and 21 RBIs on the season as his torrid April continues.

Multi-homer games were plentiful in this one, with Encarnacion picking up his second homer in the sixth to put Louisville back in front 12-11, while two more RBI hits extended the lead to 14-11. Trailing 15-12 in the seventh, Iowa knew they needed one last surge to win this game and that they got with Hill and Slaughter working bases-loaded walks to pull within 15-14. Then came the massive hit from Alcantara, whose bases-loaded double put Iowa in front for good, 17-15, as they held on 18-16.

Where to start in terms of stats? Morel had four hits, as did Hill, to pace the Iowa offense. You also had Mastrobuoni post a three-hit night to give the Cubs plenty of firepower. Alcantara led the way with four RBIs, while Young and Slaughter picked up three.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 5 - BIRMINGHAM BARONS 1

Things are taking shape for Tennessee as they continue to get tremendous starting pitching. Thursday was all about Ben Brown as the right-hander proved he is worth a AAA promotion. Brown gave the Smokies five innings of one-run (0ER) ball with eight strikeouts as his ERA fell to 0.45. Chris Kachmar and Riley Martin took over from there, with Kachmar striking out six in three innings.

One thing we have continued to preach is the importance of great pitching. When you get that, it does make things easier offensively and allows you to relax more at the plate. It took the Smokies a little bit to settle in, but after Bradlee Beesley put them in front 2-0 with a homer in the third, they never looked back.

Luis Mieses provided Birmingham's only RBI of the night, using an RBI single in the bottom of the third to pull within 2-1. That would be as close as the Barons would get as BJ Murray Jr singled home another run in the sixth before Miguel Amaya went deep in the eighth to cap off the 5-1 win.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 3 - PEORIA CHIEFS 1

Another team starting to come into their own are the South Bend Cubs, who continue to rely on their pitching also. This time it was Brandon Birdsell on the mound as he continued to dominate High-A hitters. Birdsell may have only struck out one batter in five innings, but he allowed two hits and no runs to lower his ERA to 0.57. He was replaced by Frank Scalzo Jr, who threw the final four frames and lowered his ERA to 2.57.

With the Cubs pitching setting the tone again, it wouldn't take much offense for South Bend to pick up another win. Leave it to Kevin Alcantara to provide the winning hit as the Jaguar went yard in the second to make things 2-0.

At the time, no one knew a two-run lead would hold up, but that is all South Bend would need.

Kevin Made added a massive insurance run with an RBI groundout in the eighth to put the Cubs in front 3-0. Jeremy Rivas tried to make things interesting in the ninth with an RBI double, but the Chiefs couldn't get any closer and fell 3-1. The Cubs had just four hits in the game, with Alcantara, Yohendrick Pinango, Fabian Pertuz, and Made delivering those hits.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 10 - CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 9

The second offensive game was in Charleston, where the Pelicans outlasted the Riverdogs. Considering Grant Kipp and the pitching staff had a rough night, the offense needed to step up, and they did.

Kipp allowed three runs in his outing, with the first coming off a Dominic Keegan single in the first to put the Riverdogs in front 1-0. Two innings later, not only saw the Pelicans take the lead, but they did so with a massive inning as Cristian Hernandez started that off with an RBI single. His single was followed by the Moises Ballesteros RBI single to put the Birds on top, while the Felix Stevens double made things 4-1. Jefferson Encarnacion capped off the five-run inning with another RBI single as the Pelicans held a 5-1 lead.

Despite having the lead, the Pelicans knew they would be in for a battle, with Keegan adding his second RBI hit in as many at-bats and Kamren James using an RBI ground out to make things 5-3. Throw in a balk in the fourth inning as the Riverdogs were back within one at 5-4. Looking for some offense late, Stevens provided that in the sixth as his single pushed the lead back to 7-4.

Once again, the Riverdogs had answered, with James pulling Charleston to within 7-6 with an RBI single while the bases-loaded walk to Odalys Peguero tied things up. The very next inning saw the Riverdogs take the lead as a wild pitch put them in front ahead of another Keegan RBI knock to make things 9-7.

Down to their final three outs, the Pelicans were not going to go away quietly as they began to rally. Reivaj Garcia came through with the bases loaded with his biggest hit of the season as his RBI single brought things back to even 9-9. Myrtle Beach took the lead for good a few pitches later as a wild pitch from Drew Sommers brought home the winning run in the 10-9 decision.

Pedro Ramirez was the lone player without a hit in the win, as the offense was led by Stevens and his three hits and four RBIs. Garcia added two hits from the leadoff spot, as did Rafael Morel from the No. 9 spot, as Myrtle Beach is starting to figure things out. On a side note, the Pelicans welcomed a new player to their roster as Crisitan More joins the team for the Arizona Complex league. More was acquired as part of the Yu Darvish deal a few seasons ago and put up great numbers last summer.

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