PCL1 Iowa Cubs

Express Beat Cubs to Even Series

Published on May 16, 2014 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Iowa Cubs News Release


Des Moines, IA - LH Ryan Feierabend handcuffed the Iowa Cubs (21-17) for the second time in as many starts, allowing one run in seven innings, as the Round Rock Express (20-20) evened the series with a 5-1 win in front of 6,173 fans on Friday night at Principal Park.

Feierabend surrendered six hits and struck out three in picking up his fifth victory of the season. He registered his fifth quality start in nine outings, and his first in in his last three. The southpaw has a sparkling 1.80 ERA (3ER/15IP) and two victories against Iowa on the season.

The Express broke open a 1-1 game by scoring three times in the sixth and seventh inning on two Cubs errors. With runners on first and second and one out in the sixth, DH Jared Hoying hit a ground ball to first base that Chris Valaika fielded and threw to SS Javy Baez to retire Donnie Murphy at second. The return throw back to first from Baez went wide of the bag and bounced off the dugout rail, allowing 1B Adam Rosales to score. An inning later, the first two Round Rock hitters reached off LH Eric Jokisch. LF Daniel Robertson hit a fly ball to right field that Brett Jackson corralled for the first out. C Brett Nicholas tried to take third and the throw by Jackson sailed past the base allowing Nicholas to score. That ended the night for the Cubs starter. RH Marcus Hatley entered and gave up a double to SS Josh Wilson that made it 4-1 Express. It was just the second hit Hatley has surrendered to a right-handed batter in 27 at-bats on the campaign.

Jokisch delivered his fifth quality start of the season, and his second against the Express. He gave up seven singles, three earned runs, one walk and struck five over 100 pitched in 6.1 innings. Jokisch has given up just seven walks in 47.1 innings in his first year at triple-A.

Round Rock got a run in the opening frame off LH Eric Jokisch on a pair of infield singles. LF Daniel Robertson led off the contest with a hit to short, advanced to second on a wild pitch, stole third, and scored on Rosales' smash off of 3B Christian Villanueva's glove. Rosales added two more singles and is hitting a team-best .396 (19-for-48) over his last 10 games with eight RBI.

The Cubs played small ball to score their only run of the game in the fifth. RF Brett Jackson started the frame with a double into the left field corner, moved to third two pitches later on a bunt and scored when 1B Jonathan Mota hit a long sacrifice fly to left. Jackson's hit snapped a 3-for-23 skid, and it just his second two-bagger of the season after hitting 42 in his first 215 games with Iowa, covering parts of the last three seasons.

Round Rock had a season-high six stolen bases by five different players on the night. Robertson swiped his second and third bags of the season, while Nicholas, Hoying, Brent Lillibridge and Ryan Strasborger all added one. Lillibridge had his team-high ninth. The Express came into play tied for 10th in the league with 23 stolen bases on the year. It was the most stolen bases against the Cubs since Las Vegas swiped that many on May 23, 2011.

The Cubs had three errors on the evening and have committed 39 in 38 games this year. They are 7-15 when they have at least one error in a game, compared to 14-2 when they play error free.

Eight different Cubs had a hit, but Villanueva was the only one to register two. It was his seventh two-hit game of the season. 2B Arismendy Alcantara went 1-for-3 with a walk and has hit safely in eight of his last 10 games.

The Cubs and Express do battle again Saturday night at 7:05 from Principal Park in game three of a four-game series. RH Dallas Beeler (1-0, 10.00) makes his third triple-A start for the Cubs against RH Daniel McCutchen (0-2, 4.50). These teams have split the first six games this season, with all of them coming at Principal Park. The game will be broadcast live on AM 940 and streamed live at iowacubs.com with the On-Deck Circle Pre-Game Show starting at 6:45.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 16, 2014


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