Cubs Minor League News: Davis homers, Strumpf and Alcantara raking, Pels and SB blanked

Photo courtesy: Iowa Cubs

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Mon Sep 04 11:15:22 GMT-04:00 2023

This will go down as one of the worst weeks of the season for the Cubs minor league system as their struggles continued. Not only was the offense nowhere to be found, but the Cubs closed out the week with an 0-4 record, which was all too common of a theme.

TOLEDO MUD HENS 5 - IOWA CUBS 4

This week saw the Iowa Cubs' playoff chances take a significant hit as they dropped a crucial series to the Mud Hens. Riley Thompson made the start for the Cubs and labored through three innings, allowing five runs.

When Keider Montero struck out six in five innings and allowed three runs, the Cubs faced a deficit too big to climb out of. Nick Sloak opened the scoring for Toledo with a two-run triple in the second to make things 2-0. Iowa tried to keep things close with an RBI groundout in the third, only to have the Mud Hens with a massive bottom of the third.

Justyn Henry-Malloy went deep again to make things 3-1, with Michael Papierski and Donny Sands adding RBI doubles to make things 5-1. That was it for Toledo's offense, but the Cubs still had a ton of work to do. The Cubs tried to battle back in the fourth, with the Luis Vazquez double making things 5-2, while the Bryce Windham single pulled the Cubs within 5-3.

Brennen Davis would then add a solo homer in the top half of the seventh to make things 5-4, but the Cubs would fall by that score. Davis led the offense with two hits, joining Darius Hill and Chase Strumpf.

Back to Principal Park on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/dBsukbP6Cf
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) September 4, 2023

BILOXI SHUCKERS 7 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 3

Tennessee is the happiest team in the world to see this weekend as Biloxi capped off the six-game sweep. Sparked by a five-run first inning, the Shuckers pitching continued to handcuff the Smokies and made life difficult for them.

Chris Kachmar was the loser in this one, allowing five runs in 3 2/3 with all five runs coming in the first. Considering that Tobias Myers only allowed three runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts, you can see why the offense was tough to come by all week. All it took for the Shuckers to win this game was one swing from Ernesto Martinez, as his Grand Slam in the first was the winning hit and had Biloxi in front 4-0.

Carlos Rodriguez added an RBI single later in the inning as it was all Biloxi early 5-0. Credit the Smokies for at least trying to battle back as a wild pitch in the first pushed across their first run, with two more coming in the third. Haydn McGeary brought home the first of those runs with a double play, while BJ Murray Jr. picked up an RBI single.

Those were not only the lone runs for Tennessee but all of the runs until the ninth when Jackson Chourio delivered an RBI single to cap off the 7-3 Shuckers win. Matt Shaw is off to one of the best starts in recent memory, as he added three more hits to push his average to .364. Owen Caissie added two hits, with five other players picking up one.

FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 2 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 0

After winning the series opener with the Tin Caps, things went south in a hurry as the Cubs dropped the final five games of the series. That included the series finale when Victor Lizzarga and the Tin Caps pitching staff shut them out. Lizzarga was lights out in his six innings, striking out nine and scattering three hits as the Cubs had no answers.

Opposing him was Michael Arias, who fell to 0-6 since joining the Cubs. Arias wasn't the problem in this one, allowing just one run on one hit in four innings for one of his better starts of the season. Following his start, you had Derek Casey toss two perfect innings with three strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.70, with Yovanny Cruz finishing things off.

The lone run off of Arias came in the fourth inning when Tyler Robertson connected for a solo shot to give Fort Wayne the 1-0 lead. That would be the only run they would need, but the Tin Caps added a run off of Cruz in the seventh off the Carlos Luis double to pick up the 2-0 win. Ezequiel Pagan and Kevin Alcantara had two of the team's four hits, with Luis Verdugo and Jacob Wetzel grabbing the other two.

We'll see you back at Four Winds Field on Tuesday 👋 pic.twitter.com/2zBC5sv8r3
— South Bend Cubs (@SBCubs) September 4, 2023

CHARLESTON RIVERDOGS 10 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0

A close game early on turned into a blowout as the Riverdogs scored seven times in the sixth to pull away. That took away from another strong start from Kevin Valdez, who gave the Pelicans four innings of three-run ball.

The biggest problem on Sunday was an offense that couldn't score, as the Riverdog's pitching staff showed up in a big way. Tied 0-0 in the third, Brayden Taylor provided the game-winning hit as his two-run shot put Charleston on top 2-0. That was followed by the Angel Mateo single in the fourth to make things 3-0, but it was in the sixth when Charleston began to pull away.

Bryan Broecker started the massive inning with a two-run single, only to have Taylor triple home two more to open up a 7-0 lead. Cooper Kinney followed that double to make things 8-0 while the two-run blast from Colton Ledbetter closed out the scoring in a 10-0 win for the Riverdogs.