Minor League Wrap: Reggie Preciado hits 3 doubles as South Bend slays Dayton, 6-2

Iowa shuts down Louisville and South Bend stomps on Dayton. Myrtle Beach rallies past Columbia.

The Cubs signed right-handed reliever Zach Pop to a minor league deal. Pop was designated for assignment by the Mets earlier this year. It’s the second time this year that Pop was DFA’d an elected free agency, after the Mariners DFA’d him earlier this season.

Pop has also pitched for the Marlins and Blue Jays.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs sawed off the Louisville Bats (Reds), 9-0.

Four Iowa pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout. Starter Kenta Maeda allowed just one hit over six innings and got the win. Maeda walked four and struck out five.

Keegan Thompson then pitched one inning, walking one and striking out no one. Next up was Riley Martin, who allowed the second hit with one out in the eighth but nothing else. He struck out two. Finally, Gavin Hollowell retired the side in order in the ninth for the save. He struck out two.

First baseman Jonathon Long hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning, his 15th on the season. Long went 1 for 2 with a bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice fly and he was hit by a pitch. That gave him four total RBI. He scored twice.

Right fielder Owen Caissie was 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Iowa scored nine runs on just six hits—and only one extra base hit—thanks to drawing 11 walks and getting hit by three pitches.

Jonny Long goes long.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies hibernated against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins), 5-2. It was the Smokies’ fifth-straight loss.

It was a strong start for Sam Armstrong, until he surrendered a three-run home run in the fifth inning. Armstrong took the loss after giving up three runs on five hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out four.

DH Corey Joyce hit an RBI double in the fifth inning. Joyce went 1 for 3 with a walk.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs pierced the armor of the Dayton Dragons (Reds), 6-2.

Erian Rodriguez pitched the first five innings and got the win after allowing two runs on six hits. Rodriguez struck out five and walked one.

Third baseman Reginald Preciado had a huge night, hitting three doubles in a 4 for 4 game. Preciado drove in four runs and scored once.

Shortstop Cristian Hernandez went 2 for 5 with a run-scoring double.

One double by Preciado.

Doubles for Preciado and Hernandez.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans rallied to beat the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 6-4.

Nazier Mulé put the Pelicans in an early hole after giving up four runs in the third inning. Mulé’s final line was four runs on two hits over 2.1 innings. He walked three and hit one batter while striking out three.

Landon Ginn pitched the eighth and ninth inning and got the win as the Birds rallied with two runs in the seventh and three in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead. Ginn gave up two hits but no runs. He struck out two and walked no one.

Second baseman Ty Southisene had an RBI single in the eighth inning and then scored from second on a wild pitch to tally the go-ahead run. Southisene went 2 for 3 with two walks. He scored twice, including on a steal of home that was part of a double steal. Southisene stole four bases in this game.

Southisene is batting .353 with a .551 on-base percentage in the month of July, which is really good considering he came into the month batting .171 with a .314 OBP.

DH Alexey Lumpuy was 1 for 3 with two walks and two steals.

(Note: the boxscore currently says the final score was 6-5. This appears to be an error as the press release I got from the Pelicans says 6-4 and a check of the play-by-play data only indicates four runs for Columbia.)

Southisene’s game-tying single.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Athletics, 1-0 in eight innings.

Miguel Amaya caught five innings in this game and was 0 for 1 with a walk.