IL Iowa Cubs

August 5 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Toledo Mud Hens

Published on August 5, 2023 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (60-44) vs. TOLEDO MUD HENS (45-60)

Saturday, August 5 - 6:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Michael Rucker (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Ashton Goudeau (1-5, 7.28)

TONIGHT'S GAME: After Iowa's first win of the series last night, they will look to keep the winning going as they send Michael Rucker to the mound. Rucker was added to Iowa's roster on August 1 after getting optioned from Chicago. In 34 games with the Cubs, the righty is 2-1 with a 5.03 ERA, allowing 22 earned runs on 39 hits and 17 walks in his 39.1 innings pitched. Over that span, he has also struck out 39 batters, allowing opponents to hit .262 against him. In one game with Iowa back on June 2, Rucker tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out one batter. Tonight will mark his first start September 2, 2019, when he allowed one run on three hits and one walk while striking out three over 2.0 innings with Iowa against Memphis. He has 42 total starts in his minor league career, pitching in 126 games overall. Opposite of Rucker will be Ashton Goudeau taking the ball for Toledo as they go for the series win. Goudeau enters tonight's game with a 1-5 record and a 7.28 ERA, allowing 45 earned runs on 68 hits and 29 walks. He has also recorded 46 strikeouts in his 55.2 innings, starting in 13 of his 17 total games with the Mud Hens this year.

BACK ON TRACK: Infielder Luis Vazquez had been struggling at the plate coming into the series versus Toledo and his struggles continued over the course of the first three games of the series. Coming into last night, Vazquez had been in a slump at the dish with a six-game hitless streak from July 27 through August 3. It marked his longest streak without a hit since his promotion to Iowa this season and over that span he had gone 0-for-17. Despite not recording a hit for a few games, the overall numbers were not too bad for Vazquez, however, as he also tallied an RBI, four walks, and just three strikeouts in that time frame. The slump was hopefully broken in the victory over Toledo last night though as Vazquez went 1-for-1 with an RBI and two walks drawn. Just before his recent skid, Vazquez went on a seven-game hitting streak, which was his longest of the season as an I-Cub, so hopefully the 23-year-old is back on track.

PITCHING TURNAROUND: After allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits and 16 walks in seven innings of their second game on Thursday night, Iowa's pitching staff locked in last night. Four pitchers combined to allow just one run on three hits and three walks, striking out 10. Highlighting the performances from the pitching staff was starter Jordan Wicks. The young left-hander was impressive in his outing and earned his third victory at the Triple-A level after he spun 5.0 innings with one run allowed off one hit, two walks, and three strikeouts. Wicks, the No. 5 ranked prospect in the Cubs' system, has had himself quite a 2023 season owning a perfect record of 7-0 and an ERA of 3.64 over 18 starts between Double-A Tennessee and Iowa. In total, the Conway, Arkansas native has tallied 81.2 innings of work this season and has 87 strikeouts compared to just 30 walks all while holding opponents to a hitting clip of .221. Another impressive showing in last night's contest was from hard-throwing right-hander, Cam Sanders. Sanders was called into the game in the ninth inning to secure the victory for Iowa and the 26-year-old did just that by only allowing one hit and striking out the side. For his efforts, Sanders was credited with his fourth save of the year. The closer role appears to be the newish spot in the Iowa bullpen for Sanders after typical closer Manuel Rodriguez was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, along with Adrian Sampson, for Josh Roberson during the trade deadline.

FIRST HIT, FIRST HOME RUN: It may have taken three games, but the Cubs No. 1 prospect, Pete Crow-Armstrong, finally recorded his first hit at the Triple-A level in last night's 3-1 win over Toledo. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Crow-Armstrong took a fastball that was left middle-in by Will Vest 396-feet over the left-center field fence. The ball was hit on a rope and recorded an exit velocity of 102.5 miles-per-hour off the bat. Crow-Armstrong's solo home run was a key insurance run for Iowa in the game as it proved to be the final run of the game and pushed the score to 3-1. It marked the second time this season that a player's first hit donning an I-Cub jersey came via a home run. Infielder Chase Strumpf also had his first hit as an I-Cub go for a homer, which happened on May 31 versus the Columbus Clippers off pitcher Zach Plesac. With his solo shot last night, Crow-Armstrong has tallied a total of 15 long balls over the course of his entire season.

FAMILIAR FACES: The Iowa Cubs have made two additions to its roster recently with some familiar faces in pitchers Tyler Duffey and Stephen Gonsalves. Duffey, who originally started the season with Iowa but then was released on June 3 and then re-signed on June 16, made his return to the Principal Park mound last night. In his outing he tossed 1.2 innings with one hit allowed, no runs, no walks, and two strikeouts. Before his release earlier in the season, Duffey was one of the more commonly used arms out of the bullpen for Iowa logging 21.1 innings with a record of 4-0 and a 4.43 ERA over the first two months of the season. Gonsalves is back in Iowa after starting the 2023 season on the 60-day injured list for Double-A Tennessee. Since his return to action this year, he has made nine appearances with Single-A Myrtle Beach and Advanced-A South Bend combined, allowing seven earned runs in 9.1 innings for a 6.75 ERA with a 1-1 record and 15 strikeouts compared to three walks. In 2022, Gonsalves played in eight games for Iowa before being placed on the injured list on May 9. In that time he recorded a 1-0 record with a 4.26 ERA after allowing six runs in 12.2 innings, struck out 21 hitters.

AGAINST TOLEDO: Iowa earned their first win of the series last night by holding Toledo's offense to just one run. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Mud Hens and a four-game losing streak overall. The two teams meet for game five of their six-game series tonight, with Iowa now trailing the series 3-1, having to win the final two games of the series to earn a series split. The I-Cubs and Mud Hens enter tonight's game tied 5-5 in the season series, while Iowa trails the all-time series 17-26, going 14-17 here at Principal Park all-time against Toledo.

SHORT HOPS: Manager Marty Pevey enters tonight's game with 1,299 career wins as a Manager, meaning the I-Cubs longest tenured skipper could get win number 1,300 of his career with an I-Cubs win tonight...last night was Iowa's 60th win of the year, a mark they have failed to reach in an entire season eight times since 1969 and twice in their last five seasons...Iowa's victory snapped a four-game losing streak, putting them in a four-way tie for first place in the International League West division second-half standings, at 17-14...after allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits and 16 walks in seven innings of their second game on Thursday, Iowa's pitching staff combined to allow just one run on three hits and three walks, striking out 10 in last night's victory.

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