IL Iowa Cubs

April 22 Game Notes: Iowa at Louisville

Published on April 22, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (7-7) @ LOUISVILLE BATS (5-10)

Friday - 7:05 ET - Louisville Slugger Field - Louisville, KY

RHP Matt Swarmer (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Ben Lively (0-2, 5.54)

TONIGHT'S GAME: After back-to-back losses, Iowa hands the ball to Matt Swarmer to right the ship. Swarmer will be making his first start of the year after starting the season as a long reliever. The righty has made three relief appearances so far this year, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has yet to allow a run over his 11.2 innings pitched, surrendering just six hits and six walks while striking out 11. Getting the start for the Bats will be righty Ben Lively, making his third start of the year and searching for his first win. Lively is 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA through three starts, allowing eight earned runs on 11 hits and seven walks through 13.0 innings pitched. The right-hander was Louisville's Opening Day starter, taking the loss despite tossing five innings of one-run ball against St. Paul.

A START FOR SWARMER: Matt Swarmer gets the nod in game five of the series and will take the mound tonight for his first start of 2022. Swarmer made 15 starts for Iowa last year, which ranked third on the team, but has appeared only as a long reliever so far this season. Despite the role change, the righty has gotten off to a fantastic start. He has appeared in three games in the first two weeks of the season, pitching 3.2 innings in one outing and four in the other two, and has yet to allow a run. In a team-high 11.2 innings, he has surrendered just six hits and six walks while striking out 11, which ranks third on the team. His spotless 0.00 ERA is first in the International League, and he is one of only two qualified pitchers in Triple-A baseball who have not yet allowed an earned run. Additionally, opponents have hit just .146 off of him, which ranks fourth in the International League and fifth in all of Triple-A.

HEATING UP: Entering the series against Louisville, Ildemaro Vargas was hitting .133 (4-for-30) with no extra-base hits, two walks and four strikeouts through eight games. Since coming to Louisville, the infielder has started to find his swing, bringing his average on the season up to .267. He has done that by recording three straight multi-hit games including three extra-base hits. The switch-hitter has scored four runs and driven in a run while hitting one double and two triples all with only one strikeout. Vargas, a career .294 hitter over 14 seasons in the minor leagues, has doubled the four hits he entered the series with, checking in with eight already through the first three games. In the series, he is hitting .533 (8-for-15) with a slugging percentage of .867 and an OPS of 1.400.

ALMOST QUALITY, NOT ENOUGH: Chicago's top pitching prospect Caleb Kilian made his third start of the season last night for Iowa, tossing five innings of one-run ball. With the five innings thrown, he matched the longest start by an I-Cubs pitcher this season, tying Adrian Sampson who threw five innings the night before. Kilian allowed just one earned run on three hits and a walk while striking out four, falling just one inning short of a quality start. Despite not reaching the sixth inning, the righty was still in line for the win as Iowa gave him five early runs of support through the first four innings. He would have been the first I-Cubs starter to earn a win, but the Bats stormed back with two runs in the seventh and two in the ninth to tie the game, taking Kilian out as the pitcher of record. With the performance, Kilian now ranks 10th in the International League in ERA, with a 1.54.

BRING THEM AROUND: After scoring five runs in the first four innings, Iowa's bats cooled down, scoring just one more run in the tenth inning with a runner starting on second. For the second straight game, Iowa left 10 runners on base, going 5-for-20 with runners in scoring position. In their last two games, both one-run losses, Iowa is now 6-for-33 with runners in scoring position, leaving 20 runners on base.

ALL HE DOES IS HIT: In his third game with Iowa since getting optioned on Saturday, Alfonso Rivas collected four more hits last night, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two runs batted in. So far in his first three games with the I-Cubs, Rivas is hitting .538 (7-for-13) with two doubles, a home run and four runs batted in. Rivas has been thriving in two-strike counts, hitting .500 when he is down 0-2, .667 when the count is 1-2 and hitting .500 when the count is full, at 3-2. 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.

THE WRONG DIRECTION: For the first time all year, Iowa started off the series against Louisville with back-to-back errorless games. However, last night, they committed three more errors, going back to where they were coming into the series. They entered the series with errors in four straight games, including two errors in their last game on Saturday. They have committed at least one error is eight of their 14 games played and two or more errors in six of those games. With 18 errors on the year, they rank 18th out of 20 teams in the International League.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: With their second straight one-run victory, Louisville took a 2-1 series lead over Iowa, tying the I-Cubs' longest losing streak of the year. 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's lead over Louisville in their all-time series shrunk down to just one game, at 14-13. The I-Cubs are 10-5 against Louisville at home and now 4-8 on the road entering game four of the series tonight.

SHORT HOPS: All nine starters in Iowa's lineup got at least one hit last night, including their top three batters recording 60% (9) of the team's season-high 15 hits...last night marked Iowa's first loss in extra-innings this year, making them 1-1 in extras this season... Cayne Ueckert walked four batters in last night games, putting him tied for second on the team with five walks this year.

Check out the Iowa Cubs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from April 22, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central