IL Iowa Cubs

April 21 Game Notes: Iowa at Louisville

Published on April 21, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (7-6) @ LOUISVILLE BATS (4-10)

Thursday - 6:35 ET - Louisville Slugger Field - Louisville, KY

RHP Caleb Kilian (0-0, 1.35) vs. LHP Bernardo Flores (0-1, 1.50)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Caleb Kilian will take the ball for Iowa trying to get the I-Cubs back on the right path after dropping game two yesterday, 3-2. Kilian is set to make his third start of the year, holding an 0-0 record with a 1.35 ERA through his first two. Getting the start for Louisville will be left-hander Bernardo Flores, who enters tonight's game with an 0-1 record and a 1.50 ERA. Set to make just the 10th Triple-A start of his career, Flores is in search of his first win of the season. Through two games (six innings), the southpaw has allowed two runs, one earned, on just two hits including a home run. He has walked four batters and struck out nine, holding batters to a .100 batting average against him.

BRING THEM AROUND: Iowa lost yesterday's game by just one run, a final score of 3-2. The I-Cubs stranded two runners in each of the first two runs, two runners in the fourth inning and a runner on third in both the eighth and ninth inning. They were just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 total runners on base, including six in scoring position. Their lone hit with runners in scoring position came in the third inning, when Alfonso Rivas delivered a two-out RBI single, scoring Brennen Davis from third. Louisville pitchers did retire nine straight batters from the fourth to seventh inning, but for the most part, worked around traffic all day to limit Iowa to just two runs.

FIND THE ZONE: In two Triple-A starts for Iowa this year, Caleb Kilian is 0-0 with a 1.35 ERA. He has allowed just one earned run on five hits over 6.2 innings pitched. Chicago's No. 4 overall and top pitching prospect has struck out nine batters in his two games, but has also walked three batters, including two in his last start against Toledo. In 19 starts last year over two different levels, Kilian walked two batters in the same outing just twice, walking 13 batters over the entire season. The righty has been known for his ability to throw strikes through his young career, walking just 18 batters compared to 138 strikeouts in 123.0 innings pitched. Kilian went 2.2 innings throwing 53 pitches in his first outing and grew that to 4.0 innings on 61 pitches on Friday. In those two games, he has thrown 61% (70-of-114) of his pitches for strikes.

WELCOME BACK: In his second game with Iowa since getting optioned on Saturday, Alfonso Rivas collected two hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. He was the only hitter in Iowa's lineup to get a hit with a runner in scoring position, as the team went 1-for-13 in that category. So far in his first two games, Rivas is hitting .375 (3-for-8) with a home run and two runs batted in. The infielder broke camp with Chicago as part of their Opening Day roster, making the first Opening Day Major League roster of his career. Rivas went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in two games with Chicago before being optioned to Triple-A. Last year with Iowa, he hit .284 (56-for-197) with 32 RBI in 58 games. In July, his only full month on the roster, Rivas led the team in hits (27), total bases (45), doubles (6), RBI (17), walks (19) and tied for the lead in home runs with all four that he hit coming in July. He reached base safely in 51 of his 58 games and recorded the longest hitting streak (12) and the longest on-base streak (26) by an I-Cubs hitter last year.

GETTING ON BASE: Esteban Quiroz went 2-for-5 yesterday for Iowa hitting out of the two-hole, marking his first two-hit game of the year. Entering yesterday's game, the infielder was on a five-game hitless streak, with a batting average of .043 (1-for-23) and eight strikeouts. Despite not hitting for a high average, Quiroz was still finding a way to get on base, with yesterday's two-hit performance marking his eighth straight game reaching base for the I-Cubs. Since April 8 against Buffalo, Quiroz has taken seven walks and recorded three hits, reaching base in all eight games he has played. After his 2-for-5 performance yesterday, his batting average raised to .107 (3-for-28), with an on-base percentage of .278.

STARTING TO FIND IT: Chicago's top prospect Brennen Davis started the season going 0-for-10 in his first four games, striking out seven times compared to taking three walks. Since April 9, Davis has started to get into a rhythm at the plate, hitting .286 (10-for-35) in his last nine games. Over those nine games, the outfielder has scored six runs, hit two doubles, two home runs, driven in four runs and walked six times compared to striking out nine times. Two of those nine games have been multi-hit performances and he has gone hitless in just one game over that span.

MAKING STRIDES: For the first time all year, Iowa has started off the series against Louisville with back-to-back errorless games. They entered the series with errors in four straight games, including two errors in their last game on Saturday. Despite having back-to-back errorless games, Iowa still ranks tied for 17th in the International League in errors after entering the series ranked 18th out of 20. They have committed at least one error is seven of their 13 games played, totaling 15 on the season. Despite being clean defensively, the I-Cubs dropped yesterday's game, falling to 2-3 when they don't have an error this year.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: Louisville tied the series at one game apiece with a 3-2 win in game two of their six-game set yesterday against Iowa in their first ever trip to Louisville Slugger Field. The two teams played in the American Association back in 1996, but Louisville Slugger Field didn't open until 2000. The I-Cubs and Bats played for the first time since their American Association games last year, splitting a six-game series at Principal Park 3-3. With the loss in yesterday's game, Iowa holds the all-time record over Louisville by two games at 14-12. The I-Cubs are 10-5 against Louisville at home and now 4-7 on the road entering game three of the series tonight.

SHORT HOPS: With Locke St. John suffering the loss yesterday, Iowa has now had 12 different pitcher earn a decision this year; only Ben Leeper has two decisions, and they are both losses... Adrian Sampson spun five innings yesterday, marking the longest start of any I-Cubs starting pitcher this season...Iowa enters tonight's game with a 1-3 record against left-handed starting pitchers, a category in which they were 10-27 last year...with 10 more hits yesterday, Iowa now has double-digit hits in three straight games, collecting 32 total hits over that span.

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