Cubs Minor League News |
Dustin Riese
· · 1 day ago
For the most part, this has been one of the better weeks of competition for the Cubs as the wins have come in bunches. Friday was a much different story as two full-season squad games were affected by Mother Nature, while the other two resulted in a 1-1 split. That just means there will be plenty of baseball to follow on Saturday as several teams will have makeup games to go with their regularly scheduled contests.
Technically speaking, Iowa was the lone full-season team to lose on Friday, but when only two of those games went the full nine innings, it isn't that much of a loss. This is one of those games where the Cubs dug themselves a massive hole only to battle back late before coming up short. Jake Woodford made his second start since joining the Iowa rotation, and although it wasn't his best, he still battled to try and keep things close. Woodford got through five innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits and two strikeouts. Edwin Rios touched him up for a pair of solo shots as part of the offense, while a pair of RBI grounders from PJ Higgins and Jacob Hurtubise provided the other two. Had it not been for the Carlos Perez homer in the bottom of the first to put the Cubs on top 2-1, they would've been down 4-0 at that point, but at 4-2, they still had a chance to make things happen. Thoughts of a comeback went out the window in the sixth as the Bats erupted for five runs to open up a 9-2 lead. Rios continued his excellent night at the plate as his bases-loaded double pushed the Bats' lead to 7-2. Jack Rogers added a double later in the inning, with Levi Jordan tacking on an RBI groundout as it was all Bats at this point, 9-2. Those were the final runs of the day for the Bats as Iowa began to battle back late and put a ton of pressure on the Bats' staff. After Greg Allen made this a 9-3 game with an RBI single in the seventh, it was the Cubs who continued to battle back as they pulled within 9-6 in the eighth. Darius Hill and Dixon Machado picked up two of those RBIs with a pair of singles, while a bases-loaded walk from Moises Ballesteros made this a three-run game before falling by that score.
It was a wet night across the Cubs' minor league system as several teams had to deal with rain. That included the Smokies, who took an early 1-0 lead before seeing their game suspended in the third. Nick Dean was on the mound for the Smokies, striking out four across his 2 1/3 shutout innings to bring his ERA down to 2.03. The only run of the game for the Smokies came on a second-inning error, as they will resume their 1-0 lead tomorrow.
It's amazing what happens when you receive good pitching, as the Pelicans have finally started to receive the pitching to back up their hitting. Alfredo Romero continued the run of strong starting performances by the Pelicans as the right-hander struck out six across five strong innings. Romero was backed by a fourth-inning error that put the Pelicans in front 1-0 before they put the game away in the third with two more runs. Yahil Melendez provided the game-winning hit with a two-run single as the Pelicans led 3-0 through five. It took seven innings for the Crawdads to score, with Rafe Perich picking up an RBI single to make this a 3-1 game. Hickory clawed a little bit closer with a bases-loaded walk later in the inning, but that was as close as they would get as the Pelicans held on for the 3-2 victory.LOUISVILLE BATS 9 - IOWA CUBS 6
KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 1 - COLUMBUS CLINGSTONES 0 (Suspended in third)
SOUTH BEND CUBS vs FORT WAYNE TIN CAPS (Postponed)
MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 3 - HICKORY CRAWDADS 2
