Talk about an interesting night on the diamond for the Cubs Minor League system. What started as a full slate of games with all five affiliated teams in action, turned into a light night as inclement weather washed away three of the five contests. That still left two games to be played, with the Cubs going 0-2 in those games.
The Cubs had a chance to win one of those games, as the ACL Cubs held the lead in extras before ultimately falling. Hopefully, their recent trend of competitive games is a sign of things to come, as they will no longer be the center of attention once the DSL starts Monday.
QUAD CITIES RIVER BANDITS 10 – SOUTH BEND CUBS 4
The lone full-season squad to take the field on Tuesday was in High-A, where the Cubs hit the road to take on the River Bandits. It was more of the same for South Bend, which saw its pitching allow eight runs in the first four innings, which was too much to overcome in a 10-4 defeat.
Brooks Caple got the start and made his High-A debut after putting on a show down at Myrtle Beach. This was a night to forget for Caple, who was touched up for eight runs in 3 2/3, but only five coming as earned runs. The Cubs did their best to give Caple an early lead, with Miguel Pabon picking up an RBI single that put South Bend in front 1-0 in the second, until Chris Brito tied things up in the bottom of the second with a single.
The Cubs continued to find ways to score against Logan Martin in the early innings as a Cristian Hernandez sacrifice fly gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead in the third. It was in the third when things began to go south for the Cubs as the River Bandits responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. Bryan Gonzalez gave them the lead with a two-run triple before coming in to score on the Carson Roccaforte single.
Quad Cities continued to tack on the runs in the fourth as a pair of RBI doubles from Erick Torres and Gonzalez broke the game open and had the Cubs in a massive 8-2 hole. South Bend did their best to battle back, with Reggie Preciado adding a solo shot in the sixth ahead of the seventh inning Hernandez single as the Cubs were within 8-4 late.
That was as close as they would get as the River Bandits pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to close out the scoring in what was a 10-4 win. Jefferson Rojas and Reivaj Garcia led the way with two hits, while Hernandez added two RBIs.
The Cubs also received a great relief outing from Chase Watkins, who struck out five across 2 1/3 innings.
ACL ANGELS 6 – ACL CUBS 5 (F/12)
The Cubs came so close to winning back-to-back games for the first time this season, but this is one of those years where wins aren’t going to come easily as the Angels walked off the Cubs in 12. While the loss is one thing, seeing Chris Clarke come out and dominate through his four innings was another, as there was some good to take away from this game.
Clarke walked one and struck out three in his four innings, but most importantly, he didn’t allow a run as he continues to rehab his way back. Matched up against a pair of tough Angels arms, this was a 0-0 game entering the fifth until the David Mershon single put the Angels on top 2-0. The Cubs managed to pull within a run on a Christopher Paciolla force-out in the sixth before taking a 3-2 lead in the seventh off an Adan Sanchez double mixed with another disengagement violation.
Just as quickly as the Cubs grabbed the lead, they lost it as the Joswa Lugo bases-loaded walk in the seventh brought things to 3-3 and was the final run in regulation as this game was ticketed for extras. In the extra frames, both offenses started to come to life as Henniel Alcala singled in the 10th to put the Cubs in front 4-3 before another bases-loaded walk tied things back up and sent this one to the 11th.
The Cubs continued to do their part offensively, with Derik Alcantara tacking on an RBI single to put the Cubs back in front, but once again, a costly mistake on the mound led to another Angels run as Victor Zarraga’s wild pitch brought home the tying run to send this one to the 12th. It was in that inning when the Cubs’ offense failed to score and left the door open for the Angels, as Lucas Ramirez came through with the walk-off single to give the Angels a 6-5 win.