Chicago Cubs Minor League Wrap: May 18

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs lost to Indianapolis (Pirates), 10-5.

Javier Assad started and gave the I-Cubs four solid innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out five.

The bullpen was not as good as all four relievers allowed at least one run. Rehabbing Codi Heuer got knocked around after relieving Assad and took the loss. Heuer got tagged for three runs on one and two walks over one-third of an inning. Heuer did not have a strikeout.

However, all three runs allowed by Heuer scored after Tyler Duffey relieved him. Then Duffey gave up three runs of his own in a six-run bottom of the fifth. Duffey walked three and allowed two hits over just two-thirds of an inning. He also did not have a strikeout.

Catcher Miguel Amaya was 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.

Left fielder Yonathan Perlaza was 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored.

Tennessee Smokies

The Tennessee Smokies reeled in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins), 5-4. The win snapped Pensacola’s 10-game winning streak.

Starter Kohl Franklin got his first win of the year with five strong innings, allowing just one run on two hits. Franklin didn’t allow a hit until there was one out in the fourth. Franklin walked three and struck out four.

The one run Franklin did allow was a fifth-inning home run by Griffin Conine.

Carlos Guzman struggled in relief of Franklin, giving up three runs in two innings of relief. But Riley Martin was terrific in a two-inning save. He gave up just one baserunner, a leadoff walk in the ninth. Martin struck out four.

Third baseman BJ Murray Jr. stayed red-hot, going 3 for 5 with an RBI double in the fifth. Murray also scored one run.

The Smokies drew ten walks in this game, but failed to capitalize on most of them as they were 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position. They left runners on base in every inning.

The game could have turned out differently if not for this terrific (but ugly) catch by Owen Caissie in right field. You don’t need style points to make a great catch.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were strafed by the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins), 5-3.

Beloit jumped all over Cubs starter Richard Gallardo for four runs in the first inning. Gallardo settled down after that and pitched much better, but it was too late at that point. The final line on Gallardo was five runs on six hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out three.

South Bend has six hits in this game and left fielder Ezequiel Pagan had three of them, going 3 for 4 with a two-run double in the fourth inning.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans shredded the Augusta Green Jackets (Braves), 10-8.

The Pelicans quickly fell in a deep hole in this game. Starter Marino Santy managed to go just one inning after he surrendered three runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batter. He did strike out three—so every out he recorded was a strikeout. However, it took him 41 pitches to get through the first and that’s an automatic exit for Cubs starting pitchers in the minors.

Dominic Hambley relieved Santy and faced the minimum in the second inning thanks to a double play after a hit batsman. But he got rocked in the third inning, giving up four runs and putting the Pelicans in a 7-0 hole. The final line on Hambley was four runs on one hit over 1.1 innings. He walked four, hit a batter and struck out one.

Angel Hernandez relieved Hambley in the third inning, stopped the bleeding and got the win. Hernandez allowed one run on no hits and six walks over three innings of work. He struck out two.

Saul Gonzalez really earned his third save, pitching 3.2 innings to close the game out. He allowed no runs and two hits. Gonzalez struck out seven and walked just one.

After falling behind 7-0 after 2 ¹⁄₂ innings, the Pelicans stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the third and six runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 9-7 lead.

Second baseman Juan Mora had an RBI single in the third inning and a two-run double in the fourth. Mora was 2 for 3 with the three RBI and two runs scored. He was also hit by a pitch twice and took great exception to the first one, but Birds manager Buddy Bailey calmed him down before anything got serious.

Left fielder Andy Garriola had an RBI single in the third and a two-run single in the fourth. Garriola went 2 for 4 with a walk.

Shortstop Cristian Hernandez was 2 for 4 with a double. He had an RBI single in the third inning and scored on a balk in the fourth.

The Pelicans only had eight hits in this game, but the benefitted from seven walks and three hit batsmen. On the other side, their pitchers allowed just five hits, but gave up eight runs because they walked thirteen batters and hit two.

So what I’m saying is that this was a sloppy game.

The start of this game was delayed by 1 hour and 33 minutes because of weather.

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