Down on Cubs Farm: 6-3 record, Pelicans climb standings, Marquez’s historic start, more |
It was a great night down on the farm as the Cubs managed to go 6-3 in an action-packed evening.
IOWA CUBS 1 – San Antonio Missions 9: It was a long night for the 57-47 Cubs are they were handed the 9-1 defeat and were never really in it from the start. Matt Swarmer got the call and gutted through 5 1/3 innings in the game. Unfortunately, during those five-plus innings he was tagged for 9ER putting his team in too big of a hole to overcome. Things were not so bad early as the Mauricio Dubon first-inning homer was the lone run scored until the fourth. A Hernan Perez homer and Lucas Erceg single made things 3-0 after four before the Missions took control of the game with a four-run fifth inning, anchored by the Corey Spangenberg three-run shot to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The lone run for the Cubs came in the top of the sixth inning when Dixon Machado went deep for his 12th homer of the season to cut things to 7-1. A two-run Trent Grisham triple in the bottom of the sixth capped off the scoring in this one with the falling to San Antonio 9-1. With just seven hits in the game, the Cubs never found that groove they were looking for, but it was both Machado and Trent Giambrone leading the way with two hits each. Jim Adduci, Donnie Dewees, and Zack Short collected the teams other three hits in the loss with both Mark Zagunis and Taylor Davis going hitless. Addison Russell did not play. The Cubs also received good work in the pen from James Norwood and Danny Hultzen as they combined to toss 2 2/3 perfect innings. A positive note during a rough night for the @IowaCubs -- Another scoreless outing for LHP Danny Hultzen. Perfect frame with a pair of strikeouts. Hultzen has given up just one run in seven appearances this year with 11 strikeouts in 6.2 IP. Tomorrow's a new day and we're HOME against Round Rock! See you at Principal Park! pic.twitter.com/82tt505Kpx TENNESSEE SMOKIES 4 – Montgomery Biscuits 7: The beat goes on for the Smokies as they continue to play uninspired baseball falling the Biscuits 7-4 as their record is now 43-60 for the season. After his promising start in AA, Alex Lange has now hit a rough patch as his record is now 2-3 following a five-inning performance in which he allowed 6ER to take the loss. Tired of playing from behind this whole series, the Smokies got to work immediately in the first inning when a Jared Young fielder’s choice and Gioskar Amaya double made things a 2-0 lead in the first. That score would hold up until the fifth inning as Lange was on top of his game early. Things quickly began to unravel in the fifth as not only Lange’s command vanished but his ability to miss bats in the process. With a balance of both excellent plate discipline and timely hitting, the Biscuits managed to push across six runs in the top of the fifth, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 advantage. Brett Sullivan played a considerable role in that inning as he continued to mash Tennessee pitching with a bases-loaded double to push the lead from 3-2 to 6-2. Sullivan would later add a solo shot in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-2 Montgomery. Down to their final two innings, the Smokies were searching for answers in terms of where the offense would come from. Look no further than Jhonny Pereda and Amaya once again as the two of them added a pair of RBIs’ in the eight to make things a bit more interesting at 7-4. That was as close as Tennessee would get managing to put just one runner on base in the ninth inning before falling yet again 7-4. Amaya continues his red-hot stretch at the plate, leading the way with three hits to go with his two RBI’s. In total, only three players collected hits for the Smokies with all of them multi-hit efforts as Zach Davis and Charcer Burks rounded out the seven hits. Nico Hoerner went hitless as he is now hitting just 252. Amaya drives in two and Lange strikes out eight in a loss to Montgomeryhttps://t.co/sSaQNwxNPg MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 4 – Frederick Keys 1: Although a long time coming, given the way the Pelicans have played the second half it was only a matter of time until they fought their way out of last place. That finally happened Thursday night as Javier Assad and company knocked off the Keys 4-1 to move to 40-62 on the season tying them with Frederick in the process. Although Assad only lasted 4 2/3 innings battling through some command issues, his 1ER allowed kept his team in the game as the offense rewarded his side with a win later in the game. Grant Fennell was not only able to get Myrtle Beach on the board in the second but opened the scoring up in the process as his 15th double of the season put the Pels in front for good 2-0. Sean Miller managed to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning with a single, but that was it in terms of offense for the Keys. Fast forward to the sixth inning with the score still sitting 2-1, it was the Pelicans looking for some much-needed insurance runs as their bullpen was now in control. Look no further than Cam Balego and Aramis Ademan as an RBI grounder from Balego pushed the lead to 3-1 before Ademan stretched it to 4-1 with a single. That would be all the offense they needed as both Ethan Roberts (W) and Tyler Payton (S) locked things down the final 4 1/3 innings to give the Pels the win. Myrtle Beach managed just five hits all coming from different players. Delvin Zinn, Tyler Durna, Ademan, Miguel Amaya and Fennell were responsible for those hits as three RBI’s came from that group also. This is the first time since mid-April that the Pelicans have not occupied last place on their own. BIRDS WIN!!! SOUTH BEND CUBS 4 – Lake County Captains 1: It was a historic night down at South Bend as the Cubs improved their playoff hopes with a 4-1 win to improve to 53-47. Yes, the victory is great, but the night belonged to rising prospect Brailyn Marquez as he delivered what could be the best start in franchise history. Marquez (4-4), not only went six innings but allowed just 1H in the process with no walks. What made his start even more dominant was that he struck out a career-high 14 hitters including eight straight at one point. South Bend wasted no time in getting the offense going as they took the lead for good in the first inning. It was the combination of Fidel Mejia and Cole Roederer coming up huge as the Mejia single put the Cubs in front for good 1-0 before Roederer brought home the winning run with a grounder to make it 2-0. A third-inning error with Rafelin Lorenzo batting pushed the lead to 3-0 before a second RBI single from Mejia in the seventh made it a 4-0 ball game. After not being able to put anything together through seven innings, Lake County finally broke through in the eighth when Cody Farhat picked up one of his teams three hits with his third homer of the season to make things a 4-1 game. That is what the final would be as Brian Glowicki continues to improve in relief, earning the save. South Bend received multi-hit nights from both Mejia and D.J. Artis as they picked up six hits as a team. Hits from both Lorenzo and Jonathan Sierra rounded out the hit category with Roederer going hitless again despite picking up an RBI and two more walks. Brennan Davis remains out with an injury. So Cubs prospect Brailyn Marquez had himself a day. EUGENE EMERALDS 11 – Boise Hawks 1: This season has not gone as planned for the 18-23 Emeralds, but after an 11-1 win over the Hawks Thursday, maybe this is the game that will turn things around for them the rest of the way. With a plethora of pitchers, five to be exact to combine for nine innings of one earned run on two hits, the Emeralds offense did not need to do a whole lot to win this game. Don’t tell them that however, as they erupted with a six-run first and never trailed. In that inning, we saw a Nelson Maldonado, Fernando Kelli double steal for the games first run which was followed by a Greg Byrd grounder to make it 2-0. Doubles from the suddenly scoring Darius Hill and Jonathan Soto, paired with a Luis Diaz single and a throwing error had the Emeralds up 6-0 after one inning of play. After Jake Slaughter pushed the lead to 7-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, the Ems continued to keep the pressure on in the fifth with another big frame. Aided by another Hawks miscue, this time a wild pitch to bring home the games eighth run, Eugene went on to score four times in that frame as Edmond Americaan, Maldonado and Slaughter all tallied RBI’s to make things 11-0. Boise put an end to the shutout bid with the Michael Toglia inside the park homer, but that was all the excitement for them as the Ems dominated 11-1. Despite their less than stellar record, the Emeralds are on pace to set an all-time attendance record for the Northwoods league as the fans continue to file in. Slaughter continues to show why he leads this team in nearly every offensive category, going 4-4 with 2 RBI’s as he is now hitting 321 to go with a team-high 21 RBI’s. Soto and Hill joined him with multi-hit efforts as Eugene picked up 12 hits in the win. Chalk that up as a BIG Emeralds win! DSL CUBS (2) 6 – DSL Phillies (white) 5: Once again the DSL Cubs 2 found a way to win as they improve to 28-18 with the 6-5 win over the Phillies. With Luis Devers starting the game and keeping things close through five, Marcos Encarnacion deserves the player of the game honors as he not only picked up the win in relief but lowered his ERA to 0.72 with his 3 2/3 scoreless frames and six K’s. DSL opened the scoring in the third when Jose Lopez recorded a sacrifice fly before Felix Stevens stayed hot with an RBI single to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Stevens added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 3-0 before the Phillies scored three in the bottom half of that inning to draw even 3-3. DSL Phillies managed to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth before that man Stevens came through again in the seventh with his fourth homer of the season to tie things up 5-5. Still tied in the top of the ninth Lopez came through with the huge single to bring home the eventual winning run as the Cubs were able to rally late for a 6-5 win. Nothing can stop king Stevens right now as he recorded three more hits to go with his three RBI’s. He was the lone player to have a multi-hit game as Lopez joined him in the RBI department picking up the final two in the win. DSL CUBS (1) 5 – DSL Indians 4 (10 Innings): The DSL Cubs 1 provided fans with a drama-filled game of their own as they were able to get back to 500 at 23-23 following the walk-off 5-4 win. Making his ninth start of the season, Moises Diaz was impressive going five shutout innings with two hits allowed before turning things over to the pen. The offense certainly was minimal early as the Cubs opened the scoring in the fourth with a Jonathan Rodriguez single before an error in the sixth made things 2-0. The Indians, however, appeared to have momentum on their side in the eighth as they managed to take the lead with a three-run frame 3-2 before the Cubs were able to tie things up on the Brayan Mancilla single to send the game to extras. After the Indians managed to retake the lead in the top of the 10th, the Cubs were focused on extending the game any way they could. Not only did they tie things up with the Morel double, but they were able to walk the Indians off on the Mancilla single as the Cubs prevailed 5-4. A three-hit night from Morel led the team, but it was Mancilla playing hero collecting two hits and Two RBI’s including the game-winner. Four other Cubs recorded a hit in the win as they tallied nine in total. AZL CUBS (1) 2 – AZL DBacks 3: Looking to keep their winning ways rolling, the Cubs squared off with the AZL DBacks on Thursday and were dealt a tough 3-2 loss to fall to 15-15 on the season. Some positives to take with this loss must be the pitching as they only allowed 3ER in nine innings. That included Jake Reindl and his two shutout frames as he has yet to allow a run in four appearances thus far. Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Cubs were able to get on the board as Oswaldo Pina showed off his wheels with his third triple of the season. The DBacks responded with another run in the top of the fifth from Sandy Martinez before the Cubs once again were able to battle back. This time it was a Yovanny Cuevas homer in the bottom of the seventh to make things 3-2 which is what things ended up being as the Cubs offense stalled late. Both Cuevas and Pina had the hot hands at the plate collecting two hits each to lead the way. AZL CUBS (2) 4 – AZL White Sox 2: AZL Cubs 2 got back to 500 (15-15) as they managed to double up the White Sox 4-2 on Thursday. Led by a quartet of strong pitching performances, specifically, Julio Guante and his 4 2/3 innings of 1 ER 7K ball the Cubs were able to rally late to steal one from the Sox. Down 1-0 in the fourth, Alexander Guerra tied things up with a single before Orian Nunez took a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. Now tied 2-2 following the Josue Guerrero homer, the Cubs managed to push two runs across in the eight which proved to be the difference as the Carlos Morfa single provided the winning run ahead of a wild pitch as the Cubs prevailed 4-2. Not one single player tallied a multi-hit effort, but seven players did record at least one hit in what was a balanced attack. Along with allowing just two runs in the game, Cubs pitchers managed to record 13 strikeouts without walking a batter.
Continues to be an amazing story.
Pelicans take the series from the Frederick Keys with a 4-1 win!! pic.twitter.com/6D4D0srYfr
He set a @SBCubs RECORD with 14 strikeouts in one game over six shutout innings.
Marquez leads today's prospect report: https://t.co/QfCT87Wm0y pic.twitter.com/XapXmKfmGe
Everyone in the Emeralds lineup reaches base at least once as Eugene blows out Boise to take the series.#GoEms | #ItAllStartsHere pic.twitter.com/2zBYCVHMU9
