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April 11 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Omaha Storm Chasers

April 11, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (6-2) vs. OMAHA STORM CHASERS (5-4)

Tuesday - 6:38 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

LHP Roenis Elías (0-0, 9.00) vs. RHP Mike Mayers (0-0, 6.00)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa faces off with Omaha for the first time this season. Coming off of two series wins, the I-Cubs are back at home and ready to keep the winning ways going. Roenis Elías gets the starting nod tonight for his first appearance at Principal Park. He searches for his first win and the I-Cubs seventh. Omaha will send righty Mike Mayers to the bump. He also searches for his first win in his third start of the season. Through 9.0 innings pitched, Mayers has allowed six runs on 14 hits and just one home run. The Ohio native has walked just one batter while striking out 10. He's made 14 appearances against the Iowa Cubs in 83 Triple-A games. He holds an impressive 0.50 ERA against the I-Cubs with 33 strikeouts in 35.2 innings.

BACK IN THE 90'S: With series wins against Columbus and St. Paul to start the season, Iowa has their best start since 1998. That marks the last time the I-Cubs got two series wins to begin the season. Those series wins came against Memphis and New Orleans. Through eight games, their 6-2 record is also the best since '98. That 1998 team was 7-1 at this time. By the end of this series, Iowa will have played 14 games. The best start in club history in that period was 12-2 in 1970. The '98 team was 10-4 through 14. Early in the season, this team is the best Iowa has seen in the 21st century.

VAMANOS VELÁZQUEZ: Outfielder Nelson Velazquez has started this season on a tear at the plate. The typical No. 4 hitter in the lineup leads the I-Cubs in a multitude of hitting categories through the first eight games of the season including: at-bats (33), hits (12), total bases (23), home runs (3), and slugging percentage (.697). As far as International League rankings, Velázquez ranks in the top-10 in hits (10th), total bases (7th), home runs (T-5th), and slugging (9th). The 23-year-old has also recorded at least one hit in every game he has played this season. With his impressive start to the season, it didn't take long for the 2017 fifth round draft pick to get called up to Chicago as he was promoted to the big leagues on April 10.

RUNS ON RUNS ON RUNS: Iowa has scored double-digit runs in four of their eight games this year and scored five or more runs in six games. Their 66 runs on the season leads the International League. The team in second: the Omaha Storm Chasers with 65. With the postponement of a game last week, Iowa has played in one less game than 13 other teams, yet they still lead in runs. Iowa leads in a couple more International League categories: RBI (62), OBP (.404), OPS (.891) and AVG (.296).

MOREL STAYS ON TOP: Christopher Morel has been efficient in every aspect of his offense. He's hit for power clubbing four doubles, a triple and a home run. He's worked his counts walking eight times in his 39 plate appearances. The righty has knocked in seven runs and scored nine himself. He leads Iowa with his .367 average, .513 OBP and 1.180 OPS. In the International League, he ranks in the top 12 in each of those categories and in fifth in both OBP and OPS. Morel ranks top 15 in five more categories. His eight walks account for 17.8% of Iowa's walks as a team. Morel walks in 20.5% of his at-bats.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: With the 2023 season now underway, there are going to be some firsts checked off for every player. Even for 34-year-old Roenis Elías who is slated to make his Principal Park debut tonight as he takes the mound versus Omaha. This will be Elías' second start of the season, however, as he experienced another first by making his Iowa Cubs debut last week on the road in Saint Paul. In his I-Cubs debut last Thursday the Guantanamo, Cuba, native had an interesting stat line of fours: four runs allowed on four hits over 4.0 innings. Breaking the trend of fours in his stat line was that three of the hits he allowed were home runs. All solo shots. Elías will look to have a better go around this outing but will have to do it against a ball club he has never faced before in the Storm Chasers. Despite having 93 appearances at the Triple-A level, this will be the first time the lefty has gone up against the team just a couple hours west of Des Moines on Interstate 80.

AGAINST OMAHA: The I-Cubs and Storm Chasers face off tonight for their first of 24 games this season. It's the start of the first of four six-game series. There is a rich history in this I-80 matchup with 618 games played between these teams since 1998. Iowa holds the all-time series lead at 323-295. When playing at their home field, Iowa also leads with a 177-135 record. In 2022, the I-Cubs went 14-6 overall and 9-3 at home against the Storm Chasers.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa is 5-0 this season when they hit a home run ... When Dom Nuñez starts behind the dish the I-Cubs are 5-0 ... On Sunday, Jared Young hit the first pinch-hit homer for Iowa since Greg Deichmann did it on Aug. 8, 2021 also in St. Paul ... Omaha's hitting coach Bijan Rademacher is a familiar face in Iowa as he donned an I-Cubs uniform as a player from 2016-2018.

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