Cubs Minor League News: Caissie & Ballesteros raking, Long with 3 RBIs, Egbert impressive |
Dustin Riese
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- Monday, May 26 2025
The Cubs closed out another week of Minor League Competition the way they have been in recent weeks. Could they have won more games than they did? Maybe, but they still managed to finish 2-2 for the day, which is better than how things went earlier in the week.
It was an overall great week for the Cubs as they managed to take another series from the Clippers. They capped that off with a dominating performance on Sunday as the Cubs made quick work of the Clippers 9-3. Knowing this would be a bullpen game, they pieced together their pen the best way they could as Nate Pearson got the start and went two innings. He was only the beginning, as the Cubs used six relievers in the game and held the Clippers scoreless through seven innings. With the pitching doing their part on the mound, it was up to the offense to do the same, and with a Carlos Perez sacrifice fly in the first, the Cubs took a 1-0 lead and never looked back. Perez added a second sacrifice fly as part of a two-run third as the Cubs also benefited from an RBI fielder's choice to take a 3-0 lead. Iowa continued to pick up runs any way they could, with Jonathon Long adding an RBI forceout in the fifth ahead of a bases-loaded walk by Chase Strumpf to push the Cubs' lead to 5-0. Long's third RBI of the game! Long and Perez played a massive role in the team's success as they combined for six of the team's first seven runs, each adding RBI singles in the sixth to make this a 7-0 Cubs lead. Perez has three RBIs on the day! They managed to hold that lead until the eighth when Johnathan Rodriguez picked up an RBI single off Luke Little to end the shutout and made this a 7-1 game. Both teams tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth as Greg Allen delivered an RBI single ahead of a Hayden Cantrelle groundout for the Cubs, who led 9-1 before winning 9-3. Owen Caissie and Moises Ballesteros paced the Cubs with three hits in the win, while three others had multi-hit games.
It was a painful way to end the week if you are a fan of the Smokies. Not only did Knoxville let an early lead get away courtesy of the Shuckers' five-run sixth, but they also watched the Shuckers walk them off in the ninth for the 7-6 loss. Sam Armstrong was partly responsible for the shaky sixth as he started to run out of gas after holding the Shuckers to two runs through five innings. Although he was only charged with two runs in that sixth, his final could be better as he walked three and struck out four across five innings of four-run baseball. At that time, it looked as if his effort would be enough to win this game as the Smokies came out firing with three runs in the first to open up an early 3-0 lead. Darius Hill started the scoring with an RBI groundout, while the Haydn McGeary single brought home a pair. Biloxi did their best to keep things close with a second-inning single from Garrett Spain, but following another McGeary single in the third, it was the Smokies in front 4-1. Knoxville continued to make the Shuckers pay in the sixth as Ethan Hearn touched them all for the second time this season and had the Smokies in front 6-1. That is when the game changed as the Shuckers not only held the Smokie scoreless the rest of the way but managed to tie things up off Armstrong and Tyler Santana as part of a five-run inning. Two errors led to the first and last runs of the inning, as the Smokies didn't do themselves any favors. There was also an RBI double from Darrian Miller thrown in there and a two-run double from Spain, and this was suddenly a 6-6 game. That score would hold until the bottom of the ninth when the Shuckers capped off the comeback with a Brock Wilken fielder's choice and walked off the Smokies 7-6. McGeary had a strong showing at the plate, picking up three hits and three RBIs. Hearn, Pablo Aliendo, and Pedro Ramirez added two hits.
At long last, Kenten Egbert was able to get a win, and it came against a Timber Rattlers team who has handled the Cubs most of the week. After dominating in Low-A last year, Egbert has struggled to find his footing in High-A, but after allowing one run in five innings with four strikeouts, perhaps he turned the corner. Kenten Egbert goes 5 strong innings, only giving up one run and the offense erupted for 7 runs to give South Bend the win. Watch how they did it ⬇️#SBCubs pic.twitter.com/eD5AbxppoQ It does make things easier when your offense can give you plenty of early support, and after being held scoreless through two innings, the Cubs finally got to Jaron DeBerry in the third as they grabbed the lead and never let up. Drew Bowser opened the scoring with an RBI single, which was followed by a two-run Reggie Preciado single that put the Cubs in front 3-0. The Cubs continued to build on their lead on a fifth-inning triple from Cristian Hernandez before breaking the game open in the sixth. Leading 4-1 at this point, the Cubs benefited from some shaky command as Jefferson Rojas worked a leadoff walk to push the lead to 5-1 before a wild pitch made things 6-1. Hernandez added an RBI single as part of that three-run sixth as the Cubs were in complete control 7-1. Hernandez would an RBI double in the eighth inning to close out the scoring as the Cubs took care of business 8-3. Hernandez was the engine that made the Cubs go as he led the offense with four hits and drove in three.
Although you never want your team to lose, as long as the games are competitive, that is all that matters. Right now, the Pelicans are giving the fans competitive games, but came up short once again 8-7. Cole Reynolds took the ball for the Pelicans and made his first start. While there were some good things, evident by his five strikeouts in three innings, he also gave up three runs as the Crawdads got to him early and often. Ironically, the Pelicans grabbed the lead first, with Eriandys Ramon opening the scoring with an RBI triple before coming home on a David Avitia single that Myrtle Beach in front 2-0. It didn't take Hickory long to respond as all three runs off Reynolds came in the bottom of the second. The first of those runs came on the rare disengagement violation before the Chandler Pollard RBI double made this a 3-2 Crawdads lead. The Pelicans offense continued to shoulder the load in the third, with Leonel Espinoza coming home with an error to tie things up, while Yahil Melendez connected for his first homer of the season to put the Birds back on top 4-3. Myrtle Beach kept the pressure on in the fifth, and after another Avitia single, they held a 5-3 lead. Anderson Suriel tacked on an RBI single later in that inning ahead of a bases-loaded Espinoza walk as the Pelicans opened up a 7-3 lead. Anderson Suriel pads the lead with an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/l42Ojarc8Y Not to be outdone, the Crawdads came roaring back as the Rafe Perich doubled in the bottom of the fifth, got them back on the board, and had things within 7-4. Then came the sixth when the Crawdads' offense came to life in a big way as the Marcos Torres homer pulled Hickory within one. The Crawdads tied things up later in the inning on a wild pitch as the Pelicans bullpen continues to struggle. With things still tied 7-7 entering the seventh, the Crawdads got the last laugh as Torres brought home the winning run on an RBI groundout. Avitia, Ramon, and Espinoza led the way with two hits, with Espinoza adding three more walks.IOWA CUBS 9 - COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 3
6-0 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/SPcfOmiXev
7-0 I-CUBS pic.twitter.com/2dAsXGnS1uBILOXI SHUCKERS 7 - KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 6
SOUTH BEND CUBS 8 - WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 3
HICKORY CRAWDADS 8 - MYRTLE BEACH PELICANS 7
