Cubs Minor League News: Thompson homers, Murray raking, Sanders impressive, more |
This hasn't been a great week for the Cubs Minor League system, especially considering the wins and losses. Despite several players having some big games during the week, the wins have yet to follow and with the Cubs posting a 2-4 record on Saturday, that continued.
The only full-season team to come away with a win was the Iowa Cubs, which is a surprise when you look at how this series has unfolded. Behind the strong pitching duo from Thomas Pannone and Trey Supak, the Cubs offense did what they had to do to pick up the win as they topped the Sounds 4-3. Pannone got the start and went four innings, allowing a pair of unearned runs and striking out six. He gave way to Supak, who tossed the final five innings, allowing one run and striking out five. Supak was dealing in his second win of the season🙌 pic.twitter.com/pSPsBKoOmm Their efforts alone played a massive role in this one. Tyler Clarke got the start for the Sounds and lasted just 4 1/3 innings on the mound. Clarke was backed by a first-inning triple from Isaac Collins as the Sounds grabbed an early 2-0 lead. From there, it was all Iowa as Darius Hill got the Cubs on the board with a second-inning sacrifice fly, while the Jack Reinheimer forceout later in the inning tied things up 2-2. One inning later, it was the newest Iowa Cub coming through as Trayce Thompson connected for a massive homer as his solo shot gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead. Trayce Thompson hits a solo homer to give us a lead in the third! pic.twitter.com/NeAd9loC6M Iowa never looked back as they held that lead until the seventh before Christian Bethancourt pushed home the game-winning run on an RBI fielder's choice to give the Cubs a 4-2 lead. Darius Hill beats the throw home!💨 pic.twitter.com/foUGxIMTf8 Nashville did manage to pull within 4-3 on the Yonny Hernandez single in the eighth, but they would eventually fall by that score. BJ Murray Jr led the Cubs offense with three hits, and he had a massive series. Thompson and Hill got in on the fun with multi-hit games as the Cubs delivered 12 hits in the win. Got the W in Music City! pic.twitter.com/M4aVqLoXUP
It has been a long time since the Smokies had what you would call a blowout game, but Saturday was one of those days. Backed by a five-run third inning and another big inning later, the Biscuits opened up a massive lead and cruised to the 10-0 win. Chris Kachmar got the start for the Smokies and after allowing five runs in two innings, his night came to an end as he wasn't at his best. Those five runs of support would be all Adam Levertt would need, as he allowed just one hit in five shutout innings. Trailing 1-0 after the Chris Williams solo shot in the first, the Smokies found themselves in a massive hole as the Biscuits pushed across five runs in the third to break the game open. Dominic Keegan and Dru Baker were responsible for three of those runs on a pair of RBI singles, with an error and an RBI forceout leading to the other two runs. That 6-0 score would hold until the sixth inning when the Biscuits offense got after again to score three more runs and opened up a 9-0 lead. Gionti Turner had a double as part of that inning, with another error helping keep the inning rolling. Montgomery closed out the scoring with a Tanner Murray RBI double in the eighth as the Smokies were blanked 10-0. Tennessee was held to just five hits in the loss, with five different players having one hit. Final score presented by @Zips3mincarwash
This game sums up the entire Cubs season. South Bend grabs an early lead, sees their offense go cold, and then watches the Dragons start to rally late off their pen. The end result was a bullpen that allowed five runs after the sixth inning, including one in the bottom of the ninth that lifted the Dragons to the 7-6 walk-off win. Will Sanders didn't have his best command, but the bottom line was he gave his team a chance to win and pitched well enough to win. Sanders went five innings for the Cubs, walking four and striking out five while scattering three hits. He allowed two runs, but only one was earned as the bullpen couldn't hold his strong effort. For an offense that has been struggling, you wouldn't have guessed this one. They jumped all over Gabriel Aguilera, who didn't even get through the first inning. South Bend scored four times in the first inning, starting with a two-RBI Pedro Ramirez triple and ending with an Ethan Hearn two-run homer. Dayton got on the board with a third-inning Carlos Jorge double, but with the Cubs adding two runs in the fourth off a wild pitch and the Wally Soto grounder, it was all South Bend as they opened up the 6-1 lead. That would be all of the offense for the Cubs, but given how Sanders pitched, you had to think the Cubs had a great chance to win. Trailing 6-2 entering the sixth, the Dayton offense started to get rolling in a big way as the two-run Sal Stewart double capped off a three-run inning to pull the Dragons within 6-5. Dayton continued the comeback bid by scoring on a wild pitch in the eighth, and just like that, this was a 6-6 game. With just three outs standing between them and extras, the Dragons made sure that wouldn't happen as the Leo Balcazar single pushed home the winning run to lift the Dragons to the 7-6 walk-off win. South Bend picked up eight hits in the loss, with Ed Howard and Hearn pacing the offense with two. Hearn also added two RBIs along with Ramirez as those two had the big hits at the plate. Final. pic.twitter.com/cogNBKOqUx
For the most part, the Pelicans have held their own against the Cannonballers, and Saturday was no exception. However, this was one of those days where the Pelicans ended up on the short end as the Cannonballers used a three-run fourth inning to grab the lead and held off the Birds 4-2. Following another good start from JP Wheat, who allowed just one hit in three innings, Mason McGwire took over and took the loss after allowing three runs in two innings. Apart from his rough inning, the Pelicans pitching was outstanding, including three scoreless frames from Angel Hernandez, who struck out four. Their efforts alone weren't good enough as Ricardo Brizuela picked up the win after allowing just two runs in five innings. The first of those runs came on the first-inning sacrifice fly from Alfonsin Rosario, but that would be the only lead the Pelicans would have in this one as the Cannonballers tied things up on the Arxy Hernandez single in the third. Sac-fly by Alfonsin Rosario scores Jacob Wetzel for the 1st run of the ballgame! #MBPelicans | #YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/dgUb9kBdTv In the fourth inning, the Cannonballers put the game away, as they had plenty of good swings off McGwire. Kannapolis loaded the bases in that inning before Alvaro Aguero brought all three runners home with a double to put the Cannonballers in front 4-1. That hit went down as the winning hit as Myrtle Beach only scored one more run on the Christian Olivo sacrifice fly to fall 4-2. Paciolla scores on a sac-fly by Olivo!#MBPelicans | #YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/Lpln9JQT7w Jacob Wetzel and Christopher Paciolla had two hits to lead the offense. Palm State Saturday 🌴 pic.twitter.com/IQWtX7YFUk Series finale tomorrow night at 6:35.#MBPelicans pic.twitter.com/nxzxnaTxxv
IOWA CUBS 4 - NASHVILLE SOUNDS 3
MONTGOMERY BISCUITS 10 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 0
Box Score: https://t.co/V3fwWB4uiL pic.twitter.com/otiI4idqIfDAYTON DRAGONS 7 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 6
KANNAPOLIS CANNONBALLERS 4 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 2
ACL Cubs 9 - ACL DIAMONDBACKS 4
DSL RAYS 7 - DSL CUBS BLUE 1
