Chicago Cubs Minor League Wrap: June 26

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were foul against the Louisville Bats (Reds), 10-5. The I-Cubs and Bats split the six-game series at three wins apiece.

Caleb Kilian started and surrendered three runs on four hits over three innings. Kilian struck out seven, walked one and hit one batter.

The loss went to Cam Sanders, who relieved Kilian and was clocked for three runs on two hits and two walks over 2.2 innings. He also hit one batter. Sanders struck out one.

Ben Leeper had a really bad day coming in for Sanders in the sixth inning. He walked the first batter he faced. Then he gave up a grand slam. The next two batters also homered off of Leeper before he was mercifully pulled from the game.

Shortstop Dixon Machado went 3 for 5 with a double. He scored one run and had an RBI single in the fourth inning.

Right fielder Darius Hill was 2 for 4 with a double and one run batted in.

Tennessee Smokies

The Tennessee Smokies stopped the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds), 7-1. The Smokies won two games of the six-game series.

Peyton Remy started and got the win. Remy allowed just one run (on a fifth-inning home run) on four hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked just one.

Center fielder Alexander Canario hit two solo home runs today. The first came in the second inning and the second was hit in the sixth. Canario was 3 for 4 today and now has 17 home runs this season and ten with the Smokies

Canario wasn’t the first one to homer for the Smokies this afternoon because third baseman Jake Slaughter got Tennessee on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. That was Slaughter’s 11th homer and eight in Double-A. He also doubled in a 2 for 4 game.

Right fielder Yonathan Perlaza went 2 for 4 with a double. He scored twice.

Here’s Slaughter’s home run.

And here are Canario’s two blasts.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs demoted the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals), 10-7. It was South Bend’s fifth-straight win.

Like the major league Cubs, the SB Cubs fell behind 4-0 today after starter Manuel Espinoza gave up four runs on three hits over 3.2 innings. Espinoza had some issues throwing strikes as he walked four and struck out two.

Sheldon Reed got the win because Espinoza didn’t go five, but he probably doesn’t feel like he deserved it. Reed got knocked around for three runs on two hits and two walks in just two-thirds of an inning.

Walker Powell should have been awarded the win, but I suppose the official scorer felt like he was eligible for a hold if Reed got the win. Powell pitched 2.2 innings and retired all eight batters he faced. He struck out one.

Zac Leigh threw a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for the save. He struck out two.

Shortstop Fabian Pertuz hit a solo home run in the third inning, his fourth of the season. Pertuz followed that up with a two-run single in South Bend’s six-run fourth inning. He went 2 for 4 with a walk and the three RBI.

Third baseman Luis Verdugo had a nice game as he drove in four runs. The first two of them came on a two-run single in the fourth and the other two came on his first home run of the season in the fifth. Verdugo went 3 for 4 and scored three times. He also stole a base

Left fielder Owen Caissie was 2 for 4 with one RBI.

I forgot to mention yesterday that center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong came off the injured list. His first hit back in the lineup was a two-run single in the fourth. Crow-Armstrong went 1 for 5 and scored once.

Highlights:

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were shot down by the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 6-1. The Pelicans won four games out of six in the series.

Richard Gallardo was cruising along in this game until the fourth inning, when an error by third baseman James Triantos opened the gates to a five-run inning for Kannapolis. The final line on Gallardo was five runs, all unearned, on six hits over 3.2 innings. Gallardo walked one, struck out one and hit one batter.

DH Kevin Alcantara went 2 for 3 with a triple and a walk. Alcantara scored the only Pelicans run of the game in the top of the fourth inning when first baseman Felix Stevens doubled him home. Stevens went 2 for 4.