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August 16 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Indianapolis Indians

August 16, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (50-61) @ INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (54-55)

Tuesday - 6:05 PM CT - Victory Field - Indianapolis, IN

LHP Wade Miley (0-0, 4.09) vs. RHP Johan Oviedo (0-0, 0.00)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Indianapolis are set to play the first of a six-game series tonight, with Major League rehabber Wade Miley scheduled to take the ball for the I-Cubs. Miley has made three rehab starts with Iowa already this year, going 0-0 with a 4.09 ERA in those games. His first came back on May 5 against St. Paul on a different rehab assignment, but each of the last two have been on his current assignment, coming on August 3 against Toledo and August 10 against Louisville. Over those two starts, the southpaw has allowed five earned runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out seven in 7.0 innings pitched. Opposite of Miley will be Johan Oviedo, set to pitch in just his third game with the Indians. The 24-year-old started the season with the St. Louis Cardinals, pitching in 14 games with the Cardinals while making 10 starts for Triple-A Memphis prior to getting traded to Pittsburgh on August 2. In three innings with the Indians, he has allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out one. Iowa faced Oviedo once as a member of the Redbirds, back on May 28. In that game, he allowed five earned runs on five hits over 5.1 innings pitched, hitting two and walking three while striking out eight.

SAVE THE DAY: Ben Leeper earned his team-leading sixth save of the year on Sunday, recording the final five outs of the game to preserve a one-run win. Leeper entered the game with one out in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and just a one-run lead. He went on to strikeout the first two batters he faced to get out of the jam and stayed in for the ninth inning. The 25-year-old struck out the first two batters of the ninth inning as well and used a groundout to keep the Bats off the board and earn Iowa a series split against Louisville. It marked his fourth save of five or more outs this year and his second in as many outings against the Bats last week.

LOOKIN' GOOD: Since joining Iowa's roster on Major League rehab on August 12, Steven Brault has yet to allow a hit in his two games. The southpaw was placed on the 10-day Covid-19 injured list back on August 2 and started his rehab back from that on August 12 against Louisville. He hit one batter in the game, but that was the only base runner he allowed, striking out one to throw a scoreless inning. Brault pitched again on Sunday against the Bats and earned the win, tossing 1.1 perfect innings of relief with a strikeout along the way. The win gave him two on the year with Iowa, moving to 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in five games with the I-Cubs.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Iowa will play the first game of their six-game series against Indianapolis tonight at Victory Field. It will mark the first game away from Principal Park in the month of August for the I-Cubs, after starting the month with a 13-game homestand. Iowa is 11 games under .500 away from home this year, going 20-31.

WALK DOWN THE LINE: Iowa took six walks on both Saturday and Sunday, marking just the second time all year in which they have walked six or more times in back-to-back games. The first time they did so was back on May 31 and June 1 against St. Paul. Taking free passes is not something Iowa has done a lot of this year, and the six they took on Saturday was the first time the I-Cubs had taken six or more walks since July 3 against Columbus, when six different players each took one walk. After doing so in back-to-back games, Iowa has taken six or more walks just 17 times this year.

HITTING MACHINE: Darius Hill went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a triple and two runs batted in on Sunday in Iowa's 5-4 win over Louisville. It marked his sixth game with Iowa in which he has recorded three or more hits and his 24th multi-hit game of the year with the I-Cubs. His 24 games is good for the team-lead among active players and he has now recorded two or more hits in 44% (24-of-54) of his games with Iowa. Hill now has twice as many multi-hit games (24) as he does hitless games in which he had at least one at-bat (12). The outfielder has hit all season long, starting with Double-A Tennessee and continuing after his promotion to Iowa. He ranks third among all Minor League players this year with 128 hits across the two levels, just three hits shy of the leader. Despite playing in 38 less games than Jared Young who leads the team with 80 hits, Hill is now just nine hits behind Young for the team lead with 71 hits in his 54 games with Iowa. His .340 (71-for-209) average on the year with Iowa is second among all active players on the I-Cubs roster.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Iowa and Indianapolis are set to meet for game one of their six-game set at Victory Field tonight, with Indianapolis leading the season series by two games, at 7-5. The Indians took four of six from Iowa at Principal Park and split their first six-game set here at Victory Field back on July 4-10. Through the first 12 games between the two teams, not only is Indianapolis leading Iowa by two wins, they are also leading the I-Cubs in runs scored by three, at 44-41. Iowa enters tonight's game 11 games under .500 all-time on the road against Indianapolis, going just 17-28.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa is hitting just .202 (79-for-391) in 12 games against Indianapolis this year, their worst average against any opponent all season...with their win on Sunday against Louisville, Iowa earned a series split with the Bats, meaning they have now not won a series since June 14-19 against Omaha...after today's start, Wade Miley will have made as many starts for Iowa as he has for Chicago this year, throwing 19.0 innings for the Cubs and 11.0 innings for the I-Cubs entering tonight.

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