Cubs Minor League News: Wisdom homers, PCA raking, Horton pitches gem, more

Cubs Minor League News: Wisdom homers, PCA raking, Horton pitches gem, more
by - Senior Writer - Fri Jun 30 10:11:05 GMT-05:00 2023

For the first time this week, the Cubs Minor League system had all seven teams on the diamond. That means a plethora of prospects continue to make strides toward their ultimate goal, including some players debuting with new teams.

There was some winning, especially in the full-season leagues, where the Cubs won three of the four games between full-season teams. However, an 0-3 record for the Rookie League teams did put a damper on the day, as the Cubs posted a 3-4 mark on their first full day of competition for the week.

OMAHA STORM CHASERS 8 - IOWA CUBS 3

Throw the records out in this series, as Omaha is one of the hotter teams in the minors. They continued to show why on Thursday, receiving plenty of hitting and a great start from Ryan Yarbrough, who stuck out nine in 4 2/3. Compare that to Riley Thompson, who wasn't bad, but not great either, and it was too much for the Cubs to overcome.

Thompson gave Iowa four innings on the mound and allowed three runs before the bullpen struggled to keep the Omaha offense in check. Fresh into his rehab stint, Patrick Wisdom gave the Cubs the lead in the first as his homer put them in front 2-0.

Home runs were the key early, with Adeiny Hechavarria going deep in the second for the solo shot, followed by the two-run blast from Angelo Castellano that put the Storm Chasers in front for good.

Omaha maintained that lead until the fifth when their offense started to get rolling and scored five times in the next three innings. That all started with the Tucker Bradley triple in the fifth to push the lead to 4-2, with Logan Porter and Tyler Gentry adding RBI doubles in the sixth to make things 6-2. Omaha added to more runs in the seventh, including one off the solo shot by John Rave to seize control 8-2 and had the Cubs on the brink of defeat.

Don't tell that to this offense, as Jake Slaughter left the building in the eighth to make things 8-3 before some ninth-inning drama had the fans anxious. With Will Klein on the mound, Patience was the for the Cubs as Miles Mastrobuoni, Wisdom, and Edwin Rios all managed to take walks and loaded the bases for Iowa. Unfortunately, they were unable to scratch across any more runs and fell 8-3.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 8 - CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 3

Coming off a gut punch of a loss on Wednesday, the Smokies returned to the field and evened things up with Chattanooga. All it took was a pair of big innings for the Smokies offense while Walker Powell did his thing on the mound. The right-hander tossed five innings, allowing two runs and striking out seven in the win.

He was backed by three runs of support in the second, with a wild pitch leading the first run and an Andy Weber single making things 3-0. The lone run off of Powell came in the second when Alex McGarry continued his outstanding series with an RBI single that pulled the Lookouts to within 3-2. That was as close as things would get as the Smokies scored the rest of their runs in a massive sixth inning.

Jordan Nwogu started things off with a deep two-run shot before the Pete Crow-Armstrong double made things 6-2.

Already with five RBIs in this series, Haydn McGeary closed out the scoring for the Cubs as his two-run single capped off the huge inning and had them in front 8-2 before winning 8-3.

PCA and Owen Caissie led the way with two hits, with five other players picking up one.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 6 - BELOIT SKY CARP 0

It is nice to have an ace on your team rounding into form, and for South Bend, that ace is Cade Horton. There is a reason why this guy is the top pitching prospect in the system, and his dominance continued with the Cubs picking up the 6-0 win on Thursday.

Horton was brilliant on the mound, tossing a career-high 5 2/3 innings while also throwing a career-high 78 pitches. He walked three and struck out seven as the Sky Carp managed just one hit off him and two for the game.

With Horton doing his thing on the mound, the Cub's offense picked up the slack early as they immediately put a crooked number up in the first.

With Kevin Made opening the scoring with an RBI double, it was a series of RBI singles from Jacob Wetzel, Felix Stevens, and Moises Ballesteros that had the Cubs rolling as they raced out to an early 4-0 lead. They continued to build on that lead in the second, with Kevin Alcantara making things 5-0 with his RBI triple.

That would be the brunt of the scoring for the Cubs in this one as they managed to score just one more run, and it came from Alexander Canario in the eighth off an RBI double. For Canario, just seeing him on the field playing at all this season is a massive win for the Cubs, and it will be interesting to see how far he can climb in 2023.

Everyone in the Cubs lineup had at least one hit, but Bryce Ball and Wetzel led the way with two. Ed Howard also added a hit as he is trying to snap out of a long funk that has him hitting .136.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 6 - CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 1

Last season, the Riverdogs won the second half and proved to be the kryptonite for these Pelicans. One year later, you have the Pelicans not only winning the first half but sending a message to Charleston to open the second half that they will not be pushed around.

Led by a strong pitching staff that allowed one run on five hits, the Pelicans offense did plenty of damage, scoring six times and cruising to another win. Drew Gray was making his Low-A debut and was very good despite going just three innings. Gray allowed just one hit, walking one and striking out four as he kept the Riverdogs offense guessing.

Following his outing, you had Koen Moreno taking the ball and giving the Pelicans four innings of one-run two, strikeout ball with Angel Gonzalez closing things out. The only support Gray needed came in the first when Rafael Morel delivered what was the game-winning single to put the Birds up 2-0.

The Pelicans kept the pressure on in the fourth, with David Avitia coming through with an RBI double and doubling the lead to 4-0. The lone run of the day for the Riverdogs came on a bunt in the fifth as they were looking for any spark to get the offense going.

Fortunately for the Birds, their pitching was good enough to put out that spark, with Andy Gariola adding a fifth-inning RBI and Parker Chavers going deep in the sixth to close out the scoring.

The Pelicans had 12 hits in the game, with Guardiola leading the way with three. Jefferson Rojas, Chavers, and Miguel Pabon added two hits in the win.

ACL ROYALS 5 - ACL CUBS 1

It would have been nice for at least one of the Rookie League teams to win for the Cubs to have a winning record, but that will have to wait another day. In this one, it was all about players progressing back to the majors with Adrian Sampson back on the mound. Sampson labored through his three innings, allowing three runs (2ER) and not striking out a single hitter. He was the one that suffered the most damage, and with guys like Brandon Norriega tossing another scoreless frame to lower his ERA to 2.08, things are looking up.

All of the Royals' offense came in the first few innings, and the Cubs were in a massive hole. Doubles from Omar Nuel and Jairo Mendez in the first two frames gave the Royals a 2-0 lead, and it was a lead they would never give back. Leading 3-0 in the fourth, Diego Hernandez pushed the lead to 5-0 as he left the yard for the second time this summer.

It took eight innings for the Cubs offense to get on the board, with Jose Escobar picking up an RBI single to make things 5-1 before falling by that score. Escobar led the offense with two hits as he was joined by rookie Ke'Shun Collier.

DSL CUBS RED 7 - DSL RED SOX 4 (F/10)

Extra-inning baseball was the theme for the Cubs on Wednesday, and it continued on Thursday. This time it was the Rookie Leagues getting in on some free baseball, with DSL Red picking up the 7-4 extra-inning win. Zhiorman Imbriano continues to go about his business as he gave the Cubs five innings of one-run ball to lower his season ERA to 2.60

Imbriano was backed by some early run support, with Sandy Sanchez picking up a sacrifice fly in the second for an early 1-0 lead. The Cubs added a second run in that inning off the Oferman Hernandez grounder to take a 2-0 lead. Imbriano made that score hold until his final inning when the Red Sox pushed home a run in the fifth via an RBI groundout.

One inning later, it was the Red Sox's turn to take the lead as Cristofher Paniagua delivered a sacrifice fly to tie things up before Luis Arrendondo delivered the go-ahead single. DSL Red immediately responded, with Ludwing Espinoza picking up his sixth double of the season to push the Cubs back in front 4-3. That lead was short-lived, with Yoelin Cespedes tying things up with a solo shot in the bottom half of the seventh.

That homer was the final run in regulation, as it was going to take free baseball to determine a winner. Fortunately for the Cubs, their offense came through in the 10th, with Yidel Diaz putting them in front for good with an RBI single while Andres Bonolis added a two-run shot to cap off the 7-4 win.

DSL PIRATES 16 - DSL CUBS BLUE 2

Led by a pair of six-run innings, the Pirates offense got rolling and made quick work of a struggling DSL Blue squad. Juan Archibold made the start, but after allowing five runs in just 1/3 of an inning, he did his team no favors. Three bases-loaded walks and a hit by a pitch will do that for you as the Pirates opened up a massive 6-0 lead.

The Cubs managed to get one of those runs back in the bottom of the first with a Carlos Altuve single, but the Richard Ramirez homer in the second put the Pirates up 7-1. The final run for the Cubs came in the bottom half of the second on the Derniche Valdez bases-loaded walk, but it was all downhill from there, with the Pirates closing out the game with nine unanswered runs.

Six runs came in the fourth, with Ramirez and Roinny Aguiar picking up RBI singles to bring home a pair of runs. After a bases-loaded hit by pitch pushed another run across, Daje Morales came through with a bases-loaded RBI Triple and closed out the Pirate's second six-run inning that saw them in front 13-2 before winning 16-2.

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