Cubs Minor League News: Smokies stay hot, Iowa bats go quiet

Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 7 hours ago

Then there were two, as in two Minor League Affiliations remaining for the Cubs. That will all change on Sunday, when Knoxville's season comes to an end, but for one more weekend, fans can enjoy multiple Minor League baseball options.

For the most part, the Cubs have enjoyed an up-and-down week of competition, which has led them to a record of around .500 for the week. That trend continued on Friday as the Cubs finished the night 1-1 in what was an overall exciting night.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS 4 - IOWA CUBS 0

It has been a long time since someone was able to slow down this Iowa offense, but that was the case on Friday as the Cubs were held to just two hits. Nick Dombkowski was a significant reason for the offensive struggles, as he allowed just one hit in 6 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out 11.

Austin Gomber was equally as good on the Cubs side as he continues to be worth the investment on a late-season flyer deal. For the first time since arriving in Iowa, Gomber made it six innings, allowing two hits in six shutout innings as his ERA fell to 0.56. He walked none and struck out nine as the pitching dominated most of the night.

It wasn't until the seventh inning that the Indians broke through, and they did so in a big way by scoring all four of their runs off Caleb Kilian in that inning, as he had a tough time getting the job done. Shawn Ross delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI single, but it was the two-run single from Tsung-Che Cheng that put the game away and had the Indians up 3-0.

Indianapolis tacked on a sacrifice fly later in the inning to close out the scoring as they took care of Iowa 4-0. James Triantos and Chase Strumpf picked up the hits for Iowa as they couldn't do anything offensively.

KNOXVILLE SMOKIES 7 - MONTGOMERY BISCUITS 1

While they may have lost their first game in a week on Thursday, the Smokies have a chance to finish the season strong as they got back to their winning ways on Friday, 7-1. Although Grant Kipp didn't pitch long enough to qualify for the win, he still did his job, allowing one run on three hits in 4 1/3.

Kipp was backed by some instant offense from the Smokies as the Pablo Aliendo double gave the Smokies a 1-0 lead, only to have Jadher Areinamo answer with a single in the bottom of the first to bring things back to even 1-1. That was it for the Biscuits offense, as the Smokies' pitching took care of the rest, leading to an overall sound offensive attack.

Knoxville grabbed the lead for good in the third on a Corey Joyce RBI single, only to add a run in the fourth on the Jaylen Palmer force play to extend their lead to 3-1. It wasn't until the later innings that the Smokies' offense really came to life as they scored four times in the final three innings to break things open.

All four of those runs came on a pair of homers with BJ Murray Jr uncorking a two-run shot in the seventh, followed by the Casey Opitz blast in the ninth to secure the 7-1 win. Opitz paced the Smokies with two hits as Jordan Nwogu was the lone Smokie without a hit.