In a move that has been long-rumored, the Cubs promoted right-hander Will Sanders from Double-A Knoxville to Triple-A Iowa.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were metastasized by the Syracuse Mets, 12-3.

Kenta Maeda continues to struggle as he gave up six runs in the first inning and let the first three batters of the second inning reach on two walks and a single before he was mercifully pulled from the game. Maeda’s final line was nine runs on seven hits and three walks over 1+ innings. He struck out two.

Iowa was being no-hit in this game until the bottom of the sixth when center fielder Kevin Alcántara and left fielder Greg Allen had back-to-back singles. Alcántara’s single drove in two and Allen’s plated one more.

Alcántara breaks up the no-hitter and the shutout.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies split a doubleheader with the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), winning game one 1-0 and losing the second game 2-0.

Grant Kipp pitched six scoreless innings in game one, picking up the win. Kipp gave up six hits. He walked four, hit one batter and struck out three.

The Smokies had just one hit and no other baserunners. That was enough because it was a solo home run in the second inning by first baseman BJ Murray Jr. It was Murray’s eighth home run this season. Murray went 1 for 2.

So the Barons left eight men on and the Smokies never had a man on base.

Murray’s home run.

In game two, Tyler Santana started and took the loss after surrendering two runs on three hits over 2.2 innings. Santana walked two and struck out two.

The Smokies had just three hits in game two. Catcher Pablo Aliendo went 1 for 3 with a double in the bottom of the seventh.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs brought the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals) to justice, 8-6.

Evan Aschenbeck started and got his first High-A win after going six innings and giving up just two runs on seven hits. Aschenbeck controlled the strike zone as he struck out eight River Bandits and walked just one.

Kenyi Perez came in to protect an 8-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth and he walked four of the five batters he faced before getting pulled. The other one hit into a force play at third. So Brayden Riesdorph got called up to get the save with one out and the bases loaded. Riesdorph then walked the first two batters he faced, forcing in two runs and bringing the walk total to the inning to six before getting a sacrifice fly and a ground out to second base to finally put this game away and collect the save.

Right fielder Ivan Brethowr went 2 for 4 with two steals. He scored once and drove in one.

DH Edgar Alvarez was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI single in South Bend’s five-run sixth inning.

Shortstop Cristian Hernandez had a two-run single in that sixth inning. Hernandez went 1 for 4 with a walk.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Rained out. Doubleheader on Saturday.

ACL Cubs

Losing to the Giants, 3-1 after four innings.