IL Iowa Cubs

August 3 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Toledo Mud Hens

Published on August 3, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (44-55) vs. TOLEDO MUD HENS (50-48)

Wednesday - 12:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

Game One: LHP Brandon Leibrandt (2-1, 5.13) vs. RHP Elvin Rodriguez (4-3, 4.73)

Game Two: LHP Wade Miley (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Cody Sedlock (1-0, 2.70)

TODAY'S GAMES: Brandon Leibrandt will take the ball for Iowa in game one of their doubleheader, set to make his fifth start of the year for Iowa. The southpaw is 2-1 with a 5.13 ERA through nine games with the I-Cubs, allowing 19 earned runs on 36 hits over 33.1 innings pitched. Leibrandt has walked 10 batters compared to 22 strikeouts while allowing opponents to hit .281 against him. Today will mark his first start since June 21, making four relief appearances since his last start. Opposite of Leibrandt will be Elvin Rodriguez toeing the rubber for the Mud Hens. Rodriguez is 4-3 with a 4.73 ERA through 13 games including 12 starts for Toledo this year, allowing 28 earned runs on 63 hits. He has walked 23 batters while striking out 48 over his 53.1 innings, allowing opponents to hit an even .300 against him. The right-hander is set to make his first appearance of the year against Iowa in game one today. Game two of the doubleheader is expected to see Major League rehabber Wade Miley take the ball for Iowa against Cody Sedlock for Toledo. Miley was placed on the 15-day injured list back on June 11 with a left shoulder strain and has since made one rehab appearance with the South Bend Cubs on July 29. The southpaw has been dealing with arm injuries all season, pitching in just 19.0 innings for Chicago all season. Sedlock is set to pitch in his third game with Toledo today, making his second start. Through his first two games, the righty is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA, allowing just three earned runs on eight hits over 10.0 innings pitched. He began the year with Triple-A Norfolk, where he went 4-1 with a 5.47 ERA in 14 games before getting designated for assignment on June 7 and traded to Detroit on July 11.

STARTING NOW: Brandon Leibrandt returns to the rotation today after making four consecutive relief appearances for the I-Cubs. Starting with his Iowa debut on May 28, four of Leibrandt's first five outings were starts. Since then, he has made one start for Double-A Tennessee, but has pitched exclusively in long relief for Iowa. He struggled a bit in his first chance in the rotation, going 1-1 with a 7.45 ERA (16ER/19.1IP) in the four chances, but has been dominant in the bullpen. In five relief outings, Leibrandt has allowed earned runs in just one of them, earning a 1-0 record and a 1.93 ERA (3ER/14.0IP). In his brief return to the Smokies on July 4, Leibrandt made a three-inning start and was nearly perfect, walking just one batter while striking out five. He enters today with a 5.13 ERA for Iowa and 4.23 combined season mark.

MOVING ON UP: As yesterday's Major League trade deadline passed, the Cubs' moves affected Iowa's roster, too. Two pitchers - Anderson Espinoza and Michael Rucker - were promoted to fill spaces left by Chicago's trades. Both Espinoza and Rucker have seen time with the Cubs already this season, with Rucker starting the season in the big leagues and Espinoza making his MLB debut in May. The promotion concludes Rucker's second stint with the I-Cubs this year, which started when he was optioned on July 10. He appeared in three games for Iowa over the last three weeks and allowed just one earned run in five innings during that span. Espinoza made his Triple-A debut with Iowa on July 24 and made his first Triple-A start a week later, on July 30. He went 0-1 in the two outings, pitching four scoreless innings in the first appearance, but allowing six runs in one inning during the second. He joins Chicago's roster for the third time this year.

HICKS FOR POWER: John Hicks collected his fourth three-hit game of the season last night, using a double and two homers to contribute to three of the four Iowa runs. The home runs were Hicks' tenth and 11th of the season, putting him third on the active roster in home runs, just three behind second-place Jared Young. He is the fifth Iowa player to hit two home runs in a game this year and one of three on the active roster alongside Young and Narciso Crook. For Hicks, it was the seventh multi-home run game of his career and the first since August 26, 2021, when he accomplished the feat with Triple-A Round Rock.

SNAPPED: Narciso Crook had his 11-game hitting streak snapped last night, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The outfielder hit .372 (16-for-43) with four doubles, a triple, six home runs, 16 runs batted in and three walks over his 11-game streak. In that span, he recorded four multi-hit efforts and home runs in five different games. He leads the team with 17 home runs and 49 runs batted in, tied for the team-lead with 26 free passes on the year. Crook's recent hot streak moved him onto the leaderboards in the International League, where he ranks third in slugging percentage (.551) and sixth in OPS (.907). The 27-year-old is hitting .269 (66-for-245) on the year with Iowa after starting the season hitting just .154 (10-for-65) in his first 23 games.

HOT AND COLD: Jackson Frazier had a piping hot start to the month of July, recording a hit in 17 of his first 18 games in the month, including hitting streaks of five and 12. He reached base in all 18 games, and his 12-game hitting streak tied his career high. The streak was the second longest by any I-Cubs player all year, just two shy of Dixon Machado's 14-game streak from May 29-June 15. Frazier started his I-Cubs career with a .195 average (8-for-41) through his first ten games, but went 21-for-67 through the first 18 games in July, collecting 19 runs batted in over that span. Since his streak ended on July 24, however, the outfielder has gone from red hot to freezing cold. He has been held without a hit in his last six games, going 0-for-21 with 11 strikeouts since July 26. In 24 plate appearances, Frazier has walked twice, been hit by a pitch once, and struck out 11 times while not recording a single hit. He has a batting average of .000 and an on-base percentage of .125.

IN A GROOVE: Reliever Dakota Mekkes has had an up-and-down year with Iowa, starting the year on the injured list. The 27-year-old was activated on May 12 and pitched in eight games, going 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA over that stretch. In those 9.1 innings, he allowed 10 earned runs on 12 hits, walking nine while striking out six. Opponents hit .324 against him with an on-base percentage of .468. After those eight games, Mekkes was placed on the developmental list on June 14. He spent three weeks working out some kinks in his mechanics and was re-activated on July 6. Since coming back, he has pitched in six games and has yet to allow a single run. After another 1.1 scoreless innings last night, he has allowed just six hits over those 6.2 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out six.

AGAINST TOLEDO: Iowa and Toledo will play games two and three of their seven game series tonight, with Iowa currently trailing the series 1-0 after last night's loss. They dropped to 5-7 on the year against Toledo including going 4-2 here at Principal Park against the Mud Hens. With the loss, they fell to 8-16 all-time against Toledo including 5-7 all-time at Principal Park. Toledo now leads the season scoring by three runs, at 60-57.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa's loss yesterday put their record at 24-24 here at Principal Park this season, while going 20-31 on the road...Trent Giambrone led off for the first time this year in last night's game, marking the eighth different I-Cubs player to leadoff this year...the loss in last night's game put Iowa at 1-4 in the first game of a month this year, winning their first game in June...Iowa surrendered their 500th run of the year last night, allowing 502 runs compared to the 466 they have scored.

Check out the Iowa Cubs Statistics

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



International League Stories from August 3, 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