Cubs Minor League News: Young blasts two homers, Horton impressive, Shaw's debut, more |
While the Chicago Cubs posted another tightly dramatic win against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minor League system had a bit more struggles. While Myrtle Beach enjoyed another off day due to the torrential rains coming into the area, three other teams saw action on the field.
Once again, the results were not great as the Cubs went 1-2 overall, with one team battling for the playoffs continuing to struggle at the most inopportune time. Hopefully, brighter days are on the horizon.
Talk about an excellent response after dropping the first game of their series. Wednesday was a complete game effort by the Cubs, as the offense scored six times in the first two innings while the pitching took care of the rest. On another bullpen day, Stephen Gonsalves battled through 1 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out four. He turned things over to a plethora of arms, including Chris Clarke, who struck out four in two scoreless innings to earn the win, Michael Rucker, who locked things down, and even Brad Boxberge, who tossed a scoreless relief outing. Knowing the offense would need to help the pitching out, Jared Young got things started quickly as his two-run blast gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead, and they never looked back. Put that one on the board💥JY with a two-run blast! pic.twitter.com/qfzCSD0vZF Young was just getting started as he followed up his two-run shot with a grand slam in the second inning as it was Young six and Toledo zero through two innings. Did anyone order a Jared Young grand slam? pic.twitter.com/Q64wZwbUDX The lone run of the game for Toledo came in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout to make things 6-1. That score held until the ninth when Matt Mervis used a sacrifice fly to close out the scoring and a 7-1 Cubs win. Young was the catalyst in this one, picking up two hits and six RBIs. Came out on top💪 pic.twitter.com/F9erhT64Hh
The Smokies are fortunate to have Rocket City struggling, as they haven't played as well as they would have liked recently. Despite a three-run inning early in the game, the Shuckers came through late, scoring four runs in the final two innings to grab the win. Cade Horton had one of his worst AA starts, and when you look at his line, it still wasn't bad. Horton gave the Smokies five innings of three-run (2ER) baseball, allowing three hits and striking out seven. His ERA sits at 1.57 as he continues to show ACE ability. @cubprospects @IvyFutures @ballskwok amazing atmosphere in TN tonight for Shaw’s debut and Cade’s start. A few takeaways: Aliendo has a ton of energy but struggles defensively, they ran all over him. Shaw and Murray hit the ball hard into bad luck. ONKC has a great eye. pic.twitter.com/RncwjO84Sp Horton was opposed by TJ Shook, who, despite walking five and striking out just three, managed to work around traffic to give the Shuckers 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball. Backed by a Freddy Zamora double, Biloxi grabbed the lead first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second. Biloxi extended their lead to 2-0 later in the inning until Cole Roederer left the building for a three-run shot in the bottom half of the second to give the Smokies a 3-2 lead. Biloxi would respond one inning later on the Jackson Chourio single to tie things up, but that would be the last of the runs for quite a while. With the score still tied 3-3 in the eighth, the Shuckers broke through as Carlos Rodriguez and Ethan Murray delivered a pair of RBI singles to put Biloxi in front for good 5-3. A Roederer sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning pulled the Smokies within one, only to see the Shuckers tack on two more runs in the ninth off a wild pitch and the Wes Clarke double to win 7-4. Roederer was the offense for Tennessee, as he picked up two of the team's five hits and drove in all four. Nelson Maldonado, Haydn McGeary, and Matt Shaw added the rest of the hits as Shaw delivered his first career AA hit. 2023 @Cubs first-round pick Matt Shaw gets his first Double-A hit out of the way quickly for @smokiesbaseball. We are a little salty, but tomorrow will be sweet! | @zips3mincarwash pic.twitter.com/EyHI73oNHZ
Although the Cubs dropped another game on Wednesday, it is at least nice to see them more competitive, as the past few weeks have been a struggle. Connor Noland can't buy a win right now as the right-hander fell to 1-8 on the season. Despite his record, Noland has a 3.98 ERA and tossed five innings of three-run (2ER) ball with six strikeouts on Wednesday. He continues to be hurt by a lack of run support, which was the case again. Credit Henry Baez for that, as the Tin Caps starter struck out eight in 4 2/3 and allowed just two runs on five hits. With the game tied 0-0 in the third, Noland ran into trouble for the only time in the game as the Tin Caps plated the first run of the night with an RBI fielder choice. Nerwillian Cedeno would add an RBI single later in the inning as the Tin Caps opened an early 2-0 lead before adding an additional run in the fourth to extend the lead to 3-0. Those were the game's only runs for Fort Wayne, but that would be all they would need as their pitching was strong throughout. The game's lone runs for the Cubs came in the fifth when Christian Franklin started their scoring with another impressive home run. Another HR for Christian Franklin. pic.twitter.com/ealam3U2pV One day after hitting a home run of his own, Brennen Davis came through again as an RBI single made things 3-2, only to see the Cubs fall by that score. Davis is getting back into the swing of things as he led the offense with two hits. He was joined by Kevin Alcantara, Josh Rivera, and Ed Howard. We are a little salty, but tomorrow will be sweet! | @zips3mincarwash pic.twitter.com/EyHI73oNHZ
IOWA CUBS 7 - TOLEDO MUD HENS 1
BILOXI SHUCKERS 7 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 4
Watch what happens next FREE: https://t.co/aKtGFgWBY3 pic.twitter.com/DRUMX587IA
FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 3 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS vs. CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS (POSTPONED)
