Cubs Minor League News: PCA and Strumpf homer, Murray homers twice, Franklin grand slam

Cubs Minor League News: PCA and Strumpf homer, Murray homers twice, Franklin grand slam
by - Senior Writer - Sat May 13 10:12:05 GMT-04:00 2023

Things were a struggle for the Cubs on Friday, as Iowa was the only team to come away with a win. That is what happens when three of your affiliates surrender 20 earned runs, with 16 coming across two games, as their pitching wasn't very good in this one.

IOWA CUBS 10 - TOLEDO MUD HENS 2

It is starting to become a broken record as the Iowa Cubs continue to dominate their opponents on the diamond. What was once a team that thrived on its offense they are now starting to get the pitching to match that offense, and it is a scary thought.

This time, it was Nick Nidert on the mound as the right-hander improved to 3-2 on the season. Niedert was very good in his five innings, allowing just two hits with one strikeout as his ERA fell to 3.60. From there, a quartet of relievers finished things off while the offense did enough in the first inning to carry the Cubs.

In that first inning, the Cubs offense came out strong, with Jake Slaughter delivering a two-run shot, followed by an Edwin Rios solo shot for the early 3-0 lead.

Little did anyone know that three runs would be enough, but this is an offense that won't stop there.

The Cubs added on in the fourth with an error leading to the next run before the Mud Hens began to claw back into things in the sixth. With Codi Heuer continuing his rehab, Andrew Knapp got the best of him as his RBI single brought home a pair and pulled Toledo to within 4-2. From there, it was all Iowa as the Cubs closed the game with six unanswered runs.

Three came in the bottom of the sixth, with Jared Young connecting for a two-run shot and Sergio Alcantara adding a solo blast.

Iowa then wrapped things up in the eighth with Alcantara adding an RBI single and Darius Hill picking up an RBI double. You also had Mike Tauchman deliver a sacrifice fly in that inning, as it was all Iowa again.

POSTGAME NOTES (courtesy I-Cubs):

Nick Neidert gave Iowa 5.0 innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out one. He is the fourth Iowa starter in the first four games of the series to go 5.0 innings.

Jared Young reached base in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with three runs scored, a home run, two runs batted in and two walks.

Iowa earned the series win tonight, taking each of the first four games against Toledo. With the victory, they have now won five series this year.

MONTGOMERY BISCUITS 6 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 5

For the first time this week, the Smokies fell to the Biscuits, but it didn't come easy. With Mason Montgomery delivering an impressive 4 2/3 inning start with seven strikeouts, the Biscuits capitalized on Kohl Franklin and used a trio of two-run innings to get the job done.

This was his AA debut for Franklin after recently getting bumped up from High-A. The hard-throwing right-hander will have to adjust quickly, as he surrendered six runs in four innings. Take him out of the mix, and you had five scoreless frames from Blake Whitney and Hunter Bigge as the Smokies offense had to play catchup early.

Franklin knew he would take some bumps along the way, and the Smokies were in an early hole after allowing first-inning RBI hits to Blake Hunt and Alexander Ovalles to put the Smokies in a 2-0 hole. BJ Murray would get one of those runs back with a solo shot in the bottom of the first before Montgomery opened things up in the third and fourth innings.

Not only did a pair of RBI singles from Mason Auer and Diego Infante give the Biscuits a 4-1 lead, but they added onto that in the fourth when Alika Williams took Franklin deep to make things 6-1. That would be it for their offense in the game, but the Smokies had a lot of work to do if they wanted to pull this one out.

Murray Jr. did his part by adding his second solo shot in the sixth, which followed a Pete Crow-Armstrong homer to cut the deficit to 6-3.

Armstrong wasn't quite finished as he added an RBI single to pull the Smokies within 6-4 in the seventh as the comeback bid was on. Still trailing by a pair in the eighth, Chase Strumpf ended his homerless drought with a solo shot, but the Smokies couldn't get any closer and fell 6-5.

WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 10 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6

Just when it looked like the Cubs had this series under control, the Timber Rattlers responded with a pair of wins and even things up for the week. Despite the offense generating a five-run frame, Richard Gallardo fell victim to a rare rough outing.

However, it wasn't all his fault as the defense did him no favors, as he was charged for nine runs in 3 1/3 innings. Only three of those runs were earned, so his line isn't that bad, but it still put the Cubs in a big hole they couldn't climb out of. Trailing 1-0 in the fourth after Robert Moore picked up an RBI single in the third, it was the Rattlers who busted the game wide open, using a nine-run fourth to take the 10-0 lead.

A fielder's choice led to the first run that inning, but the Darrien Miller three-run shot busted things wide open 5-0. Throw in another one of the Cub's six errors to lead to another run, and things only worsened as Gallardo and company were in trouble. Eduardo Gracia capped off that massive frame with the Rattler's second three-run shot of the inning as the Cubs went to the fourth down 10-0.

Fortunately, there is no quit in this South Bend club, and they immediately began to chip away at that lead in the fourth. That all started with an Ethan Hearn single to put the Cubs on the board, but the Christian Franklin grand slam capped off the five-run fourth and cut the deficit to 10-6.

One inning later, Scott McKeon came through as his RBI double had the Cubs within 10-6 and plenty of time to go. Unfortunately, the Rattler's pen was too good as they kept the Cub's offense off the board in the final five frames to pick up the win.

LYNCHBURG HILLCATS 4 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 3

This has been a nightmare week for the Pelicans as they fell below .500 for the first time in weeks. With that, they are the only team in the system with a below .500 mark as they search for answers against this Hillcats club.

Jackson Ferris was back on the mound, and despite being limited to just three innings, he did his part by allowing just one run and striking out two. He was followed by Koen Moreno, who also allowed one run, with Dominic Hambley being charged with two. The problem was the Hillcats bullpen was much better as they overcame a shaky start to toss four-plus innings of shutout ball to fend off the Pelicans again.

Trailing 1-0 in the fourth after Wuilfredo Antunez picked up an RBI triple, the Pelicans offense got rolling and scored all three of their runs in just two innings. Andy Gariola drove in the first of those runs with an RBI double in the fourth, but it was Antunez again in the fifth, putting the Hillcats back in front by 2-1.

Moving to the bottom of the fifth, you had Moises Ballesteros tie things back up with a sacrifice fly while Reivaj Garcia delivered the go-ahead RBI double to give the Pelicans a rare lead in this series, 3-2. That lead didn't last long as the Myrtle Beach bullpen struggled as Juan Benjamin cashed in with a game-winning sixth-inning single to lift the Hillcats 4-3.

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