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Cubs Minor League News: Strumpf homers, PCA raking, Horton with 9Ks, more

Cubs Minor League News: Strumpf homers, PCA raking, Horton with 9Ks, more
by - Senior Writer - Thu Jun 01 10:31:06 GMT-05:00 2023

If you want to count the completion of the suspended game, then Wednesday was a busy day for the Cubs system as five games were on display for the fans to witness. Four of them were full games, with one game being finished off as the completed game.

The overall results were not kind as the Cubs posted a 1-3 mark, 1-4 if you count the completion of that suspended game. Throw that in with the Cubs' loss to the Rays, and the wins were tough to come by all day, as Wednesday was a struggle for the organization.

IOWA CUBS 9 - COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 0

The lone win in the Cubs system came in AAA, where Iowa made quick work of Columbus. Facing off against Zac Plesac, who already had a seven-inning complete-game win against Iowa earlier in the season, the Cubs jumped on him early and often as he allowed eight runs in four innings.

That was more than enough offense for the Cub's pitching, with Chris Clarke getting the start and allowing two hits in three innings. He gave way to Keegan Thompson, who finally had a good inning out of the pen to earn the win as Daniel Palencia and Manny Rodriguez took care of the back end.

All the runs against Plesac came in the first two innings as the Iowa offense came out swinging. Four of those runs came in the first, with Jake Slaughter opening the game with an RBI single, which would have been enough to be the game-winning run. Later in the inning, the newly promoted Chase Strumpf made his presence felt as he connected for a three-run shot to put Iowa up 4-0.

The Cubs never looked back and added four more runs in the second inning to double their lead.

This time, a pair of homers did the damage, with Jared Young using a three-run shot to make things 7-0 and Nelson Velazquez adding a solo shot.

Iowa closed out the scoring in the fifth inning off the Brennen Davis double as they rolled 9-0.

This was precisely what Iowa needed as they dropped the completion of the suspended game earlier 4-2.

CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS 9 - TENNESSEE SMOKIES 5 (F/11)

It is not too often when a game goes into extras and a team loses by four. That was the case in Tennessee on Wednesday as the Lookouts rallied to force extras in the ninth and then exploded in the 11th to put the game away. For the first time in a long time, Jordan Wicks looked human in his start as he allowed four runs in five innings. Wicks did strike out five as opposed to just one walk, as the ERA still sits at 2.91.

After Wicks, you had a good run of bullpen success, with Samuel Reyes, Ryan Jensen, and Danis Correa allowing one run in four innings before the bottom fell out late. When it came to Chattanooga, they went with a less traditional approach and chose to use Wednesday as a bullpen game where all of their pitchers threw at most three innings.

Andy Weber opened the scoring for Tennessee with an RBI single in the bottom of the second, but it was all Chatanooga shortly after.

Nicholas Northcut tied things up with his homer in the third, but the three-run fourth put the Lookouts in front 4-1 as Northcut went deep for the second time in as many at-bats along with Ivan Johnson.

A Pablo Aliendo solo shot in the bottom of the fourth pulled the Smokies to within 4-2 until Pete Crow-Armstrong tied things up with his two-run blast in the sixth.

With the game still tied in the seventh and a chance for Tennessee to bust things open, BJ Murray Jr put the Smokies back in front; however, he grounded into a double play to get the run home as the Smokies led 5-4, although it could have been worse.

Looking to close out the Lookouts in the ninth, Michael Ryan called on Correa to get the save, and instead, it was Johnson connecting for his second homer of the game to tie things up 5-5 and helped send the game into extras. Neither team could get much of anything going in the 10th, but once the 11th rolled around, it was Northcut putting an exclamation point on his big day as his third homer of the night put Chattanooga on top for good 8-5.

James Free added an RBI single later in the inning to make things 9-5 with the Smokies coming to bat and a ton of work to do. Spencer Stockton made sure that would be as close as things would get as he retired the Smokies in order in the 11th to secure the 9-5 win. Weber and Crow-Armstrong led the way with three hits as the Smokies had 15 hits as a team. Jordan Nwogu was the only player without a hit and is now hitting a robust .140 this season.

FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS 5 - SOUTH BEND CUBS 2

After the Cubs posted a high-scoring victory on Tuesday, things were not as smooth on Wednesday, with the Tin Caps evening up the series. Despite his domination in Low-A earlier this season, Cade Horton is still trying to settle in with South Bend. However, Horton was the tough-luck loser in this one after dominating the Tin Caps across four innings.

During his outing, the hard-throwing right-hander walked one and struck out a career-high nine while allowing an unearned run on three hits.

The defense continued to be an issue for the Cubs once Jared Wright entered as another error led to three unearned in a 5-2 loss. While Horton was doing his thing on the mound, Jared Kollar held South Bend scoreless across 5 2/3 while striking out three.

The lone run against Horton came in the first when a throwing error on a stolen base attempt allowed a runner to come home to make things 1-0. That score would hold until the fifth when Jackson Merrill took Wright deep for a solo shot to make things 2-0. That was the lone earned run Wright would allow, as the sixth inning was a nightmare defensively for South Bend.

Despite only allowing one error in that frame, it was a costly error that extended the inning, which resulted in a Juan Zabala three-run shot to put the Cubs in a 5-0 hole. Credit their offense for doing their best to battle back in the seventh, with Fabian Pertuz taking a bases-loaded hit by a pitch and Ethan Hearn bases-loaded walk to make things 5-2. That was as close as the Cubs would get as the Tin Caps pen finished them off. James Triantos led the way with two of the team's five hits in the loss.

SALEM RED SOX 3 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 0

It would be nice for the Pelicans offense to get back on track as their pitching continues to shoulder the load. Michael Arias got the start and gave the Pelicans his best start of the season. Across five innings, Arias struck out six, walked two, and, most importantly, didn't allow a run as his ERA fell below 3.6.

The problem is Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz was able to match Arias and gave Salem six shutout innings of his own with six punchouts and saw his ERA fall to 2.16. All three runs for the Red Sox came off the Pelican's pen in the sixth, as their bats took a while to get rolling. Roman Anthony Delivered the game-winning hit as his first triple of the season made things 2-0. He would later come home to score on the Allan Castro single, as that would be all the Red Sox would need.

Myrtle Beach had four hits in the loss.

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