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August 20 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Louisville Bats

August 20, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (68-48) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (62-55)

Sunday, August 20 - 1:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Nick Neidert (5-5, 5.38) vs. LHP Nick Lodolo (0-0, -.--)

TODAY'S GAME: Iowa and Louisville will play the sixth and final game of their series today, with Iowa currently holding a 3-2 lead. The I-Cubs will send Nick Neidert to the mound looking for the series win, as the righty will make his second start of the series and his team-leading 20th start of the year. Neidert enters today's game with a 5-5 record and a 5.38 ERA, allowing 54 earned runs on 103 hits and 32 walks while striking out 71 batters over his 90.1 innings pitched. For the second straight start, opposite of Neidert will be a major league rehabber getting the start for Louisville. Nick Lodolo is set to make his first start with Louisville after starting with Double-A Chattanooga back on Tuesday. In that outing, he spun three scoreless, hitless innings, allowing two walks while striking out six. The southpaw has spent time on the injured list this year with a strained lower back and now left calf tendinitis. In seven starts with Cincinnati, Lodolo is 2-1 with a 6.29 ERA, allowing 24 earned runs on 50 hits and 10 walks, striking out 47 batters in 34.1 innings pitched.

TOP TWO: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yonathan Perlaza were at the top of the order for Iowa last night, and the two produced from their respective roles. For the eighth time this year, Crow-Armstrong led things off for Iowa, as the 21-year-old went 2-for-5. He scored a run, had a double, a triple and also drove in two runs out of the leadoff spot. Perlaza followed him and collected two hits of his own. The switch hitter went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs batted in and a walk. Together, the two had three of Iowa's four extra-base hits and drove in four of their seven total runs scored. Crow-Armstrong's triple in the fourth inning extended his hitting streak to a season-high 13 games while Perlaza's double gave him a league-leading 34 on the year.

TIGHTEN IT UP: Despite having a chance to win the series this afternoon, Iowa very well could be undefeated entering the finale today. Their two losses have both come with late leads, a category in which Iowa has been very good this year. On Thursday night, Iowa allowed four runs after the fifth inning, losing 6-5 in extra-innings. They followed that up allowing three in the ninth to lose 5-4 on Friday night, their 22nd and 23rd blown saves of the year. Last night's two-run victory was also in danger, as Iowa once again allowed three runs to score in the ninth. They surrendered a two-run home run and then walked four batters to plate a third run before recording the final out. The six runs allowed in the ninth inning the last two nights combined account for 12% (6-of-50) of the 50 runs Iowa has allowed in the ninth inning all season.

START NUMBER TWO: Nick Neidert is set to make his second start of the series against Louisville, looking to get over the .500 mark on the season. Neidert has been stuck with a 5-5 record since suffering back-to-back losses on July 28 at Memphis and August 3 against Toledo. His last win came on July 18 against Indianapolis. In Tuesday's game against the Bats, the right-hander spun 4.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits including one home run. He hit and walked one batter while striking out four. Neidert won his first matchup against Louisville back on April 29, as he tossed 5.2 innings of two-run ball. He allowed seven hits while walking one and striking out six in that game.

THREE-FOR-THREE: Samuel Reyes has been a great addition to Iowa's bullpen, as the righty has given the I-Cubs three impressive outings so far. The 27-year-old earned a promotion to Iowa back on August 12 after spending the beginning of the 2023 season with Double-A Tennessee. He pitched in 23 games for the Smokies, going 3-1 with a 2.72 ERA. Over that span, he allowed 12 earned runs on 28 hits and 19 walks, striking out 44 batters while limiting opponents to just a .197 batting average against him. Since his promotion to Iowa, Reyes has pitched in three games, spanning 7.2 innings. The Dominican Republic native has yet to allow a run, surrendering three hits while walking four and striking out six. He has held opponents to a batting average of just .080 against him, earning the win in each of the three games he has pitched. He started with three scoreless innings against Omaha on August 12, followed by 2.1 hitless frames against the Bats on Wednesday. Last night, he was great again, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three over his 2.1 innings pitched.

KEEP IT ROLLING: With a fourth inning triple last night, Pete Crow-Armstrong extended his hitting streak to 13 games. His 13-game streak is the new season long streak for any I-Cubs player this year and a hit today could tie the season-long 14-game hitting streak by Dixon Machado last year. Crow-Armstrong's hitting streak is creeping up on his career long 15-game streak which came from April 22 to May 10, 2022, when he played with Single-A Myrtle Beach. His triple not only extended his hitting streak to 13 games, it also grew his on-base streak to 15 games, reaching base in every game he has played with Iowa. The No. 1 prospect in the Cubs system is now hitting .306 in those 15 games and has an on-base percentage of .411 with Iowa. Over his 13-game hitting streak, Crow-Armstrong is hitting .339 (19-for-56) with four doubles, a triple, four home runs, 11 runs batted in and nine walks compared to 12 strikeouts. He is also a perfect five-for-five in stolen bases, proving to be a problem on the base paths once he does get on.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: Iowa earned at least a series split with their win last night but look to get the series victory with a win in the finale today. Iowa won their first series this year against the Bats back from April 25-30 four games to two, winning each of the final two games in that series to secure the win. They enter today's finale with a 7-4 record against Louisville this year. Their 7-4 record at home and overall this year gives them 20 wins compared to 12 losses at home all-time, going 29-24 all-time overall against Louisville.

SHORT HOPS: The bottom three hitters in Iowa's lineup last night scored five of the seven total runs for Iowa in their 7-5 win... Tyler Duffey's two-out save marked the first save of the year for the righty and his first in over a year, since August 6, 2022...Anthony Kay's scoreless outing last night made it five straight games (6.2 innings) with Iowa that he has not surrendered an earned run dating back to June 11... Caleb Kilian's outing last night put him back in qualification for International League leaders, as he moved to third in ERA (3.87), tied for fifth in batting average against (.256), fourth in WHIP (1.28) and second in winning percentage (.875).




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