Cubs Minor League News: Horton makes debut, Bateman raking, Ramirez with go-ahead homer

Cubs Minor League News: Horton makes debut, Bateman raking, Ramirez with go-ahead homer
by - Senior Writer - Sun May 05 09:22:14 GMT-05:00 2024

For the first time all season and for the foreseeable future, there won't be four Minor League teams in action, but five. That is because the Arizona Complex League kicked off last season, which is a huge change considering the league's history. This league typically started in late June or early July and ran until the end of August.

With the League officially kicking off now rather than then, it will be concluded before the MLB draft even begins, which will be a huge change as the players taken in this year's draft will be distributed through the full-season leagues. With another team to follow, it will make things harder for fans to keep track of, but the team posted a strong 4-1 record on Saturday.

OMAHA STORM CHASERS 10 - IOWA CUBS 3:

Ironically, the Iowa Cubs posted the lone loss, as they have hit a bit of a rough patch lately. This game had the most excitement out of any of the games, as top Pitching Prospect Cade Horton made his AAA debut. Horton was far from perfect, walking four and striking out six in four innings, but he only allowed two runs, which was a good sign.

With Johnathan Bowlan going five innings and only allowing a pair of unearned runs, it didn't matter how Horton pitched, as the Cubs bullpen was terrible. After Brennen Davis opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first, Omaha answered as both of the runs off of Horton came in the second, with one coming off a wild pitch and the other on a John Rave sacrifice fly.

Rave was just getting started as he added a solo homer as part of a three-run fifth inning, while the Nick Eaton double made things 5-1 and proved to be the winning hit. The Cubs kept things close with Owen Caissie picking up an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth ahead of the Jake Slaughter double in the sixth as they pulled within 5-3.

That was as close as they would get as Omaha scored five unanswered runs to end the game, including a pair of homers from Nick Pratto and Brian O'Keefe to win the game.

Iowa had just four hits in the game with Slaughter leading the team with two. Caissie and David Bote had the rest as Matt Mervis will return to Iowa in the coming days.

TENNESSEE SMOKIES 8 - BILOXI SHUCKERS 6

Backed by some early offense that saw the Smokies score six runs in the first four innings, it was their bullpen that nearly let it get away as Tennessee held off Biloxi for another win. Connor Noland bounced back from a horrendous start last time out to get through six innings, allowing just two runs and striking out four.

Noland was backed by a four-run second inning as the Smokies raced out to the 4-0 lead and never looked back. Haydn McGeary may not be getting tons of hits, but when does he produces as his RBI single made things 1-0. The big blow in that inning came from Jordan Nwogu, whose first homer of the season put the Smokies in front 4-0.

Both runs off Noland came in the third inning, with Lamar Sparks picking up an RBI double ahead of an RBI groundout to pull within 4-2. Tennessee responded in the bottom half of the third with Moises Ballesteros adding another RBI hit, while a wild pitch made things 6-2. That score would hold until late in the game when both bullpens had a rough time.

Leading 6-3 in the eighth, Luis Vazquez closed out the scoring for Tennesse as his two-run single put the Smokies on top 8-3. Things got interesting in the ninth inning, as Biloxi wouldn't go down without a fight. All it took was one swing for this to become a game again as Mike Boeve delivered a three-run shot to make things 8-6, but that was the game's final runs. Ballesteros and McGeary led the way with three hits, with James Triantos adding two.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 7 - LANSING LUGNUTS 6

It's not about how you start a game, but how you finish, and the Cubs finished strong. After scoring first to open the game, the South Bend offense came to life late, scoring six times in the last three innings to pick up the win. Luis Devers bounced back from a rough last start to give the Cubs five innings of one-run ball, with that run being unearned.

That run came in his final inning off a CJ Rodriguez groundout to tie things up after the Cubs scored in the first. Once the bullpen entered the game, things began to go south quickly, with Brayan Buelvas using an RBI triple to make things 3-1 before coming home on the Euribel Angeles double.

South Bend kept things close as they scored for the first time since the first inning in the top half of the seventh off the Felix Stevens homer. One inning later, it was a 4-4 game as Stevens tied things up with an RBI single, which game after an RBI groundout pushed the third run across for the Cubs.

The back-and-forth affair continued into the bottom of the eighth when a pair of RBI singles from Angeles and Dereck Salom put the Lugnuts in front 6-4 and had them on the verge of pulling it out. Leave it to Pedro Ramirez to change that, as his ninth-inning homer put the Cubs in front 7-6 before winning by that score. Ramirez led the offense with three hits while hitting his second homer in as many games.

Brett Bateman added three hits, with Yohendrick Pinango, Stevens, and Ed Howard grabbing multi-hit games.

MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 8 - SALEM RED SOX 1

Of all the games in the Cubs system, this was the one that was a blowout as the Pelicans made quick work of the Red Sox. Juan Bello may not last long when he starts, but he continues to set the tone for the Birds as he makes life easier for their offense.

He allowed the lone run of the game for the Pelicans staff, which came in the second inning, but it was all Myrtle Beach after that as they ended the game with eight unanswered runs. That all started in the third inning, the Leonel Espinoza homer (1) to put Myrtle Beach up 3-1. Christian Olivo kept the pressure on in the fourth and delivered an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-1.

It was in the seventh inning that the Pelicans scored again as the Alfonsin Rosario single made things 7-1 before he came in to score on a wild pitch later. Espinoza paced the offense with two hits while driving in those three runs.

ACL CUBS 2 - ACL ANGELS 0: The Cubs' Rookie League showings last year were terrible, but the ACL Cubs started their 2024 campaign with a 2-0 victory. Nazier Mule made his Cubs debut, and despite going just two innings, he didn't allow a run and struck out five. Yenrri Rojas was the man who picked up the win, going 4 2/3 scoreless frames and striking out six.

This was an odd ACL game, as only two runs were scored. Both came from the Cubs and came in the sixth and seventh innings with an Anderson Suriel RBI groundout, making things 1-0 in the fifth, and Yahil Melendez added an RBI single in the seventh to close out the scoring. Jose Escobar led the Cubs offense with three hits, with four others, including Carter Trice grabbing one.

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