Minor League Wrap: Iowa sweeps doubleheader from Louisville

Everyone wins! Iowa wins twice. A no-hitter in the ACL.

Everyone wins! Even the major league team and the ACL team! The Cubs system was 7-0 tonight. (The two Dominican Summer League teams went 1-1 if you want to be pedantic about it.)

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Louisville Bats (Reds), 10-2 and 5-4 in nine innings.

Will Sanders started game one and gave up two runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings. Sanders struck out seven and walked two.

Riley Martin closed out the final 1.1 innings without allowing a run or a hit. He got the win when Iowa exploded for eight runs in the top of the seventh. Martin walked one and struck out two.

The I-Cubs sent 14 batters to the plate in that eight-run top of the seventh. Left fielder Owen Caissie hit a two-run home run in the seventh, his tenth. Caissie went 2 for 3 with a walk. He had three total runs batted in.

First baseman Jonathon Long was 2 for 5 with an RBI single in the first inning and a two-run single in the seventh. He scored once.

Right fielder Greg Allen went 2 for 4.

Eight of the nine players in the starting lineup had hits and one player who came off the bench, Hayden Cantrelle, pinch ran in the seventh and came around to hit an RBI single later in the inning. The only player without a hit in this game was DH Christian Franklin, and he walked three times in a 0 for 1 game

Long’s RBI single went off the wall. He was thrown out trying for second base.

Long’s two-run single.

Owen Caissie crushes one.

Cassie has a rifle.

It was a bullpen game in the nightcap and Frankie Scalzo Jr. got the bump to start the game. Scalzo allowed three runs on four hits over two innings. He walked three and struck out two.

Despite the game being played in Des Moines, the I-Cubs were the visitors in game one because it was a makeup of a rainout in Louisville.

After that, Luke Little threw two scoreless innings, followed by two more scoreless by Brooks Kriske. Tom Cosgrove pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Ethan Roberts gave up an unearned run in the top of the eighth, but the game went to the ninth after the I-Cubs scored in the bottom of the inning. Finally, Phil Bickford kept the Bats silent in the top of the ninth and got the win when Iowa pushed across the automatic runner in the bottom of the frame. Bickford got the first batter to line into a double play. After that he put the next two batters on with a walk and a hit batsman before ending the threat with a swinging strikeout.

First baseman Jonathon Long singled DH (and automatic runner) Moisés Ballesteros to third to lead off the ninth and Ballesteros scored the winning run on a Carlos Pérez sac fly.

Long was 1 for 4. Pérez went 1 for 3. Ballesteros was 0 for 4.

Here’s the big double play in the top of the ninth.

The walk-of sac fly.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies baked the Columbus Clingstones (Braves), 3-0.

Starter Antonio Santos got the win with five innings, allowing just two hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Nick Hull pitched two innings, giving up one hit and two walks while striking out two.

Mitchell Tyranski pitched the eighth inning, allowing a two-out walk and nothing else. Tyranski struck out two.

A.J. Puckett completed the shutout and collected the save after a scoreless ninth. He gave up one single and walked one. He did not record a strikeout.

Catcher Pablo Aliendo was 3 for 4 with a double and one run scored.

DH Ethan Hearn was 1 for 4 with a bases-loaded walk in the top of the first.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs melted down the Ft. Wayne TinCaps (Padres), 10-1.

Evan Aschenbeck started and got the win after allowing just one hit and no runs over seven innings. Aschenbeck struck out five and walked one. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Catcher Miguel Pabon was 2 for 5 with a three-run home run in the eighth inning. It was his first of the season. Pabon scored twice.

First baseman Carter Trice continued his torrid June with a two-run home run in the ninth. It was Trice’s tenth home run on the year and his fifth already this month. Trice was 3 for 5 with a double, the home run and a walk. Trice scored twice.

Third baseman Drew Bowser hit a three-run double in the fifth inning. Bowser went 1 for 2 with three walks.

Left fielder Edgar Alvarez went 2 for 5 with a double and a walk. Alvarez score one run.

Shortstop Cristian Hernandez was 2 for 6 with one run scored.

James Triantos played five innings at second base in a rehab assignment. Triantos was 0 for 2 with a sacrifice fly.

Drew Bowser’s three-run double.

Aschenbeck’s last strikeout.

Pabon’s home run went far.

Carter Trice just sneaks it over the fence.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans cracked open the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers), 3-2.

Starter Kevin Valdez allowed just one run—a home run to the second hitter of the game—over seven innings. Valdez surrendered just two hits. He walked one and struck out four.

Yoendris Gonzalez came on to pitch the eighth and ninth innings and he blew the save by allowing a run in the eighth, but managed to get the win when the Birds walked it off in the ninth. Gonzalez’s final line was one run on one hit and one walk over two innings. He struck out two.

Right fielder Leonel Espinoza doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth. He then went to third on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on a balk. Espinoza went 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

The Pelicans other two runs came on a first-inning home run by first baseman Cameron Sisneros. It was his third home run of the year. Sisneros went 2 for 3 with a walk.

The Pelicans had just five hits tonight, but that was enough.

Sisneros home run.

The walk-off balk.

ACL Cubs

Beat the Athletics, 9-0.

It was a scheduled seven-inning game, but Ethan Flanagan (4 IP), Geovanny Vazquez (2 IP) and Matthew Peters (1 IP) combined on a no-hitter.