IL Iowa Cubs

July 23 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Omaha Storm Chasers

Published on July 23, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (40-50) @ OMAHA STORM CHASERS (46-44)

Saturday - 5:05 PM - Werner Park - Papillion, NE

RHP Caleb Kilian (2-1, 3.95) vs. RHP Carlos Hernandez (1-4, 4.38)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Caleb Kilian is scheduled to make his team-leading 15th start of the year for Iowa tonight, entering the game with a 2-1 record and a 3.95 ERA. The righty leads the team with 70 strikeouts over his 57.0 innings pitched, walking 25 and allowing 60 hits over that span. He will look to get into the fourth inning tonight for the first time since July 2, throwing just 3.0 innings in each of his last two starts with Iowa. On the other side, Carlos Hernandez will be taking the ball for the Storm Chasers. Hernandez is 1-4 with a 4.38 ERA through eight starts with Omaha this year, allowing 19 earned runs on 30 hits over 39.0 innings pitched. He has walked 18 batters while striking out 36 and opponents are hitting .205 against him. Hernandez started the year with the Royals, making seven starts with Kansas City before getting optioned to Omaha. He pitched four innings of relief for Kansas City in his last outing on July 15 against Toronto.

IN A GROOVE: Right-hander 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 the 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 four games and has yet to allow a single run. After last night's scoreless 1.1 innings of work, the righty has now allowed just six hits over his 4.1 innings. He has walked one batter and struck out two, throwing 64% of his 83 pitches for strikes.

SECOND-HALF MOVES: Iowa had 129 roster moves in the first half of the season before the All-Star break, and since the second half started yesterday have already had six moves. Right-hander Aneuris Rosario was released to free agency after going 3-3 with a 6.00 ERAA and two saves in 23 games played. The other five transactions have all been additions to the I-Cubs' roster, adding pitchers Nicholas Padilla, Anderson Espinoza and Mark Leiter Jr. and infielders Matt Mervis and Nick Madrigal. Padilla and Mervis were each promoted from Double-A Tennessee, while Espinoza and Leiter Jr. were optioned from the Cubs. Padilla was 1-1 with a 2.82 ERA in 15 games with the Smokies, striking out 25 batters in 22.1 innings. In 53 games with Tennessee, Mervis hit .300 (61-for-203) with 16 doubles and 14 home runs, driving in 51 runs along the way. Espinoza has yet to pitch for the I-Cubs, but has played in 13 games with the Smokies and now three games with the Cubs. In those three games, he is 0-1 with a 2.79 ERA, allowing three earned runs on four hits and nine walks while striking out 10. Leiter Jr. has pitched both with Iowa and Chicago this year, going 2-4 with a 5.35 ERA in 14 games with the Cubs. He has allowed 23 earned runs on 35 hits and 14 walks while striking out 41. Madrigal was added on Major League rehab yesterday for the third time this year and the second in the month of July. The infielder is hitting .222 (24-for-108) in 31 games for Chicago this year.

ROUGH PATCH: It has been a rough go for Cam Sanders so far in Triple-A, going 1-6 with a 6.65 ERA in 11 starts now. Last night marked his shortest start of the year with Iowa and the fourth time he has thrown less than three full innings. He has allowed three four or more earned runs in four of his last six starts, walking three or more batters in four of the six as well. His six losses lead the team, while no other pitcher on Iowa's roster has more than three. Sanders has shown the ability to dominate at the Triple-A level, throwing five or more innings and allowing two or less earned runs four times.

DOING HIS THING: Dixon Machado has been a huge part of Iowa's success this year, finding his way among the International League leaders in batting average (.311), on-base percentage (.404) and hits (97). The shortstop has been slotted into the leadoff spot in 81% (73-of-90) of Iowa's games this year, setting the tone for the rest of the lineup. After going 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a run batted in on Sunday before the break, the infielder contributed with a 2-for-5 game last night as well. He scored the lone run for Iowa and both of his hits were doubles, giving him 19 on the year, good for the team lead. He leads the team in games played (80), hits (97), doubles (19), walks (45) and on-base percentage (.404).

JACKSON IN ACTION: Jackson Frazier extended his hitting streak to a season-high ten games last night with a double. The streak is his longest streak since 2016, when he hit in 11 straight with Double-A Akron, and is just two games away from his career high of 12, last reached in 2015. Frazier's streak also ties with Darius Hill for the second-longest streak by an I-Cub this year, and is just four games shy of Dixon Machado's season-high 14-game streak. Frazier has now hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games, boosting his season average with Iowa to .246, and reached base in all 16. After starting his I-Cubs career with a .195 average (8-for-41) over his first ten games, the outfielder has turned it on. Since the calendar flipped to July, he has gone 19-for-58 through 16 games. That has given him a .328 average and a team-leading .621 slugging percentage this month. He has also collected 18 RBI over that span, which is the most by an I-Cub this month, and accounts for over a quarter of Iowa's total run production (18-of-70) in July.

AGAINST OMAHA: Tonight will mark game two of four between the I-Cubs and Storm Chasers, with Omaha currently up 1-0 in the series after their 9-1 victory last night. It was the first game of the year between the two teams at Werner Park, after Iowa went 9-3 in the 12 games between the two teams at Principal Park this year. Iowa is now 9-4 against the Storm Chasers on the season and 318-293 overall. They have struggled on the road against Omaha, going 141-158 entering tonight's game.

SHORT HOPS: Caleb Kilian enters tonight's game with 199 career minor league strikeouts... Cam Sanders 0.2 innings last night marked the shortest start of the year for any I-Cubs player...Iowa gave up four or more home runs for the fifth time this year last night.

Check out the Iowa Cubs Statistics

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



International League Stories from July 23, 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