IL Iowa Cubs

April 26 Game Notes: Iowa vs. Indianapolis

Published on April 26, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (9-8) vs. INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (9-8)

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

RHP Adrian Sampson (0-1, 4.09) vs. RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 3.97)

TODAY'S GAME: Adrian Sampson will take the ball for Iowa today in the series opener against Indianapolis. Sampson is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA on the year through three starts, allowing five earned runs over his 11.0 innings pitched. The righty faced Indianapolis three times last year, going 2-1 overall. Has last game against the Indians came here at Principal Park on August 7, a game in which he surrendered seven runs on 10 hits including four home runs, taking the loss. Opposite of Sampson will be right-hander Osvaldo Bido getting the start for Indianapolis. Bido has made four appearances this year for Indy, including two starts. The 26-year-old is 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA over his 11.1 innings pitched. He is coming off of his longest start of the year, going 4.0 innings on Wednesday against Columbus. In that game, he allowed one earned run on three hits while walking three batters. Opponents are hitting .209 against Bido on the season.

LEADING THE LEAGUE: Ildemaro Vargas hit another triple on Sunday, marking his fourth in his last six games. In all six games in Louisville, Vargas recorded an extra-base hit, knocking in one double, four triples and a home run. Five of the six games were multi-hit efforts, including two three-hit games. The switch hitter batted .464 (13-for-28) with seven runs scored and just two strikeouts, while maintaining a slugging percentage of .893. His four triples this year leads the International League.

GET PAST NINE: With Sunday's victory over Louisville, Iowa moved to 9-8 on the year, one game above the .500 mark. Last year, Iowa's ninth win of the year came in their 14th game of the season, beating Omaha to go 9-5 and move to just a half-game out of first place in the Triple-A East Midwest division. After that win, the I-Cubs lost nine games in a row before getting their 10th win and after their 10th win, they lost seven more games in a row. After losing 16 out of 17 games over the stretch, Iowa was 10-21 in last place, 12.5 games out of first.

HOME SWEET HOME: Iowa returns home after splitting a six-game series with Louisville. Last time the I-Cubs were home, they went 4-1 against Toledo, winning their first series of the year. The I-Cubs won just two series at home all year last year, gong 2-3-6 in their 11 homestands last season. Iowa clinched their two series victories in a double-header in a later series, with one of those series victories coming against Indianapolis. Before their four wins against Indianapolis, the last series Iowa won outright in one homestand was back on August 30-September 2, 2019, when they took three of four games from Memphis.

DIALING IT IN: Catcher P.J. Higgins started the year without a hit through his first four games, going 0-for-13 with two walks and six strikeouts. In his fifth game of the year he recorded three hits, and through six games was hitting .150. Since then, Higgins has recorded a hit in each of his last five games. In his last two games the catcher has recorded six hits, knocking in four on Friday and two more on Sunday against Louisville. In five games since April 14, he is hitting .529 (9-for-17) with two doubles, a home run and seven runs batted in. Over that stretch, he has more walks (4) than strikeouts (3). He has raised his batting average on the season all the way to .324, good for the team lead.

IT'S WORKING: The pitch clock was first implemented in affiliated ball during select games in the 2014 Arizona Fall League season. Since then, it has grown throughout the game and fans have seen it at Triple-A parks for a couple of seasons now. This year, Major League Baseball made major changes to the rule, making it so the clock still runs on a dead ball, rather than stopping every time there is a ball in the dirt of fouled off. Also, there is a limit to pickoffs and step-offs the pitchers can use during any given at-bat. In previous seasons, if the clock was running down, a pitcher could just step-off and the clock would reset. This year, a pitcher can only step-off or pickoff three times during an at-bat when there is a runner on base, and if the runner is not out on the third pickoff attempt, it is a balk and the runner automatically advances to the next base. These rules were implemented on Opening Day of this season, but there was a 10-day leeway period where umpires would just warn players when they were violating the rule and what would be called because of that violation. Over that ten-day leeway period, Iowa played nine games, including two seven-inning games as part of a double header. If you include all nine games with the double header, their average time of game was two hours and 42 minutes. Without the double headers included, the I-Cubs played an average game time of two hours and 53 minutes in the seven nine-inning games. Since the leeway period ended on April 15, Iowa has played eight total games, including two that went into extra-innings. Their average game time over all eight games was two hours and 32 minutes, with their game time on just the six nine-inning games being two hours and 25 minutes. Over the first nine games, Iowa played two games over three hours long, at three hours and 34 minutes and three hours and 28 minutes, respectively. Since the pitch clock rule has been enforced, the I-Cubs haven't played a single game over three hours, including their two extra-inning games, at two hours and 51 minutes and two hours and 57 minutes, respectively. In the 13 nine-inning games Iowa has played, their average game time in the seven before the pitch clock rule was enforced was 28 minutes longer than their average game time of the six nine-inning games since the rule has been applied.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Iowa is set to play game one of 18 against Indianapolis this year, and the first of six at Principal Park. The two teams met 24 times last year, with Iowa holding a 13-11 advantage. In the four years (1995-97, 2021) Iowa and Indy have played, last year marked the first year that the I-Cubs were above .500 in the matchup. They went 6-6 at home last year and are 17-22 overall at home against Indianapolis, while holding an all-time record of 31-47 against Indy.

SHORT HOPS: Dixon Machado leads the team with stolen bases this year (7) and hasn't swiped a bag since he took three on April 14 against Toledo...Iowa allowed a season-high 15 hits on Saturday and followed that by allowing 14 more on Sunday, totaling 29 hits allowed in their last two games...the I-Cubs rank last in walks taken in the International League this season with 54...Iowa has turned 14 double plays this year compared to hitting into just five...Iowa's starting pitchers have allowed just one home run over the last two series (11 games, 45.2 innings)... Donnie Dewees and Ildemaro Vargas each extended their hitting streaks to six straight games, tied for the longest hitting streaks of the season so far.

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