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August 31 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Columbus Clippers

August 31, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (57-67) @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (71-51)

Wednesday - 5:15 PM CT - Huntington Park - Columbus, OH

RHP Anderson Espinoza (0-2, 13.50) vs. LHP Logan Allen (1-4, 8.07)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Columbus will play game two of their six-game set tonight, with Anderson Espinoza set to take the mound against Logan Allen. Espinoza will make his second start for Iowa in his fourth game with the team, entering tonight's contest with a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 13.50. He has allowed nine earned runs on seven hits over just 6.0 innings, walking nine batters compared to just three strikeouts. Espinoza has had an interesting season, starting the year with Double-A Tennessee where he has made 12 starts in 13 games before getting promoted to Chicago. With the Cubs, the right-hander has pitched in seven relief appearances, going 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. From Chicago he then got optioned to Iowa where he has pitched in three games with just one start entering tonight. On the other side, Allen will make his ninth start of the year for the Clippers, entering tonight's contest with a 1-4 record and an 8.07 ERA. Allen has allowed 26 earned runs on 36 hits over 29.0 innings pitched, walking 20 batters compared to 37 strikeouts over that span. Opponents are hitting .303 against the southpaw through his first eight starts with Columbus. Allen made his Triple-A debut against the I-Cubs back on June 30, allowing five earned runs on six hits and one walk through just 0.2 innings. He started the year with Double-A Akron where he went 5-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 13 starts.

JUST FOUR MORE: After going 1-for-4 with a walk last night, Darius Hill now has 82 hits this year with Iowa in his 65 games played. His 82 hits put him tied for second on the active roster with Jared Young who has played 33 more games than Hill (98) and just four hits away from team-lead in 23 less games than Narciso Crook (88). Hill started the year with Double-A Tennessee and knocked 57 hits in 44 games for the Smokies before getting called up to Iowa, giving him 139 hits over the two levels this year. His 139 hits is tied for second among all minor league players for hits in the 2022 season, just three behind the leader Deyvison De Los Santos who recorded 104 hits in Single-A and has 38 in High-A in the Arizona Diamondbacks system.

LOOKING LIKE AN ACE: In just his third start of the year for Iowa last night, Wyatt Short spun five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five. It marked his second consecutive start of five scoreless innings, allowing just seven hits and three walks while striking out 10 over his last two games and 10.0 scoreless innings. In his first start of the season for Iowa back on June 24 at Louisville, Short went four innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits while walking one and striking out three. All told, the 27-year-old has a 0.64 (1 ER/14.0 IP) as a starter for Iowa this year. He is now 4-1 with a 3.67 ERA in 21 games, allowing 20 earned runs on 41 hits and 26 walks over 49.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 43 batters while holding opponents to just a .222 batting average against him. His four wins are good for second on the active roster, just one behind Caleb Kilian who has made 21 starts for Iowa this year.

BEEN HERE BEFORE: With their win last night, Iowa enters tonight's game with a 1-0 lead over Columbus in the series. The I-Cubs were in the same situation the last time the two teams met, taking the first game over the Clippers and then going on to lost the final five games. In that series at Principal Park from June 28-July 3, Columbus hit .333 as a team against Iowa, registering 77 hits and 40 walks. The Clippers scored 60 runs over the final five games of the series, including double-digit performances in four of the five games while bringing in nine runs in the series finale.

MAKE THEM COUNT: After going 7-for-21 with runners in scoring position and leaving 14 men on-base in Sunday's 13-12 loss to St. Paul, Iowa stranded 11 more on-base last night. They scored four runs in their 4-0 shutout victory, but stranded a lot of baserunners, going just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position as a team.

A NEW ROLE: Hayden Wesneski is expected to come out of relief tonight for Iowa, marking his first relief appearance of the year. So far in 19 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and four with Iowa, Wesneski has started in all 23 games, accumulating 105.1 combined innings pitched. The right-hander is tops in the International League with a 4.10 ERA (7th), 103 strikeouts (7th), 23 games started (T-1), a .233 batting average against him (T-6) and a 1.20 WHIP (5th). He has made 25 straight starts dating back to last year when he made one relief appearance for the RailRiders back on September 22, 2021. He spun 1.2 innings allowing just one hit while striking out two in the outing, then made each of his next two starts to end the year. Prior to that relief appearance last year, the 24-year-old made seven starts with High-A Hudson Valley and 15 starts with Double-A Somerset to begin the 2021 season. Aside from his first season in Rookie ball with the Pulaski Yankees when he made all 18 relief appearances back in 2019, Wesneski has started in 47 of his last 48 games.

PUT IT IN PLAY: As a team, Iowa struck out 16 times in last night's win, just one shy of their season-high 17 set back on May 8 at St. Paul. Just two of Iowa's starters did not strikeout last night while the other seven each had multi-strikeout games. Both Narciso Crook and John Hicks struck out three times, leading the way while the other five each had two.

A FLARE FOR THE DRAMATIC: Brennen Davis joined Iowa's roster for the first game since May 3 and his first game since being placed on the injured list back on May 7. The outfielder started the year and hit just .195 (15-for-77) with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted in in 22 games with Iowa before going on the IL. He ended up having back surgery and started his rehab earlier this month on August 15 with the ACL Cubs before heading to South Bend on August 22. In his first game back last night, Davis clubbed a solo home run in the seventh inning to extend Iowa's lead to 4-0, giving him three home runs on the year and his first long ball since April 19 at Louisville.

AGAINST COLUMBUS: The I-Cubs and Clippers are scheduled to play game two of their six-game series tonight, with just five games left between the two teams this year. Through the first 13 games of the year, Iowa is 5-8 against Columbus. Each of the first 12 games between the two teams were played at Principal Park where Iowa went just 4-8, but now lead their current series 1-0 after the victory in their first game of the season at Huntington Park. Iowa was 3-3 here on the road against the Clippers last year, moving to 4-3 all-time here at Huntington Park. They are just 5-13 at Principal Park all-time, putting their overall all-time record against the Clippers 9-16. With a shutout win last night, Iowa cut their deficit in the season scoring down to 19 runs through the first 13 games played against the Clippers this year, trailing Columbus 85-66.

SHORT HOPS: Last night marked Iowa's 50th win when they score four or more runs this year, moving them to 50-29 in such games; 88% (50-of-57) of Iowa's wins this year have now come when they score four or more runs, going just 7-38 when they bring in less than four runs...last night marked Iowa's seventh shutout of the year, just one shy of the number of times they have been shutout, going 7-8 in shutout games this year...with the win last night, Iowa is now 40-42 on the year against American League affiliates...last night was the first time all year that Brennen Davis was the designated hitter for Iowa, he started four games in left field, 13 games in center field and four games in right field before his injury back in May...Iowa enters tonight's game at an even 13-13 in the month of August; a win tonight would give the I-Cubs their first winning month of the season.

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