Chicago Cubs Minor League Wrap: June 18

Congratulations to Keegan Thompson, who was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. Thompson pitched seven perfect innings for the Pelicans in a start on June 14.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs dropped their fifth-straight game, 5-2 to the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners).

Kyle Ryan started and pitched well, allowing just one baserunner over three innings and that was a two-out infield single in the third. Ryan struck out two.

Daury Torrez pitched the other five innings and didn’t pitch as well. He got the loss after he gave up five runs on five hits, including a three-run home run in the sixth inning. Torrez walked two and struck out three.

Right fielder Mark Zagunis was 3 for 4 with one run scored.

Tennessee Smokies

All-Star Break.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

All-Star Break.

South Bend Cubs

All-Star Break.

Eugene Emeralds

The Eugene Emeralds beat the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays), 2-0.

Ryan Williams, the Cubs 2015 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, made his first appearance in over a year tonight. Williams was terrific, throwing six scoreless innings and allowing just three hits. He did not walk or strike anyone out, getting weak contact almost every time. Williams threw 51 pitches and 38 of them were for strikes. That’s very encouraging from someone who has pitched only 57.2 innings over the past two seasons combined because of injuries.

Dalton Geekie pitched the ninth inning and got his first save in the Cubs organization. Geekie gave up a leadoff single, but then retired the next three batters in order to end the game. He struck out two.

Left fielder Fernando Kelli led off the bottom of the first inning with an opposite field home run, his first and the first of the year for the Emeralds. Kelli was 1 for 4.

Catcher Jonathan Soto singled and came around to score later in the first inning for the only other run of the game. Soto was 1 for 4.

Here’s Kelli’s leadoff home run.

AZL Cubs 1 and AZL Cubs 2

For those of you new to the Minor League Wrap, I don’t do a full recap of the rookie league teams. It’s partly just to make my life easier and to get the Wrap done at a reasonable time. It’s also because the stats mean less and less the farther you get from the majors and there is no way for me to “scout” the games short of moving to Arizona for two months every summer and I’m not getting paid enough to do that.

What I will do is provide a link to the box scores and if there is something that you need to know in there, I’ll mention it. “Need to know” is usually rehab appearances or someone hitting two home runs or something like that. If the game isn’t over when it’s time to publish the Wrap, I’ll link to a partial score and update it later if I get a chance.

Also, the Cubs have two teams in the Arizona League this year. So that’s a thing.

The AZL Cubs 1 were beaten by Diamondbacks 7-0.

Chris Coghlan started in left field in this game. He’s 0 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

The AZL Cubs 2 beat the Reds 4-3.