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July 25 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Memphis Redbirds

July 25, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (56-38) @ MEMPHIS REDBIRDS (49-47)

Tuesday - 7:05 PM - AutoZone Park - Memphis, TN

RHP Ben Brown (5-6, 5.24) vs. RHP Michael McGreevy (6-1, 3.84)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Memphis will play game one of their six-game series tonight, with two top-five pitching prospects facing off. For Iowa, Ben Brown will toe the rubber, set to make his 14th start of the year for the I-Cubs. Through his first 13 starts, the righty is 5-6 with a 5.24 ERA, allowing 32 earned runs on 46 hits and 34 walks. He has fanned 83 batters in his 55.0 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .224 against him. The No. 3 ranked prospect in the Cubs system is looking for his first win in his third start against the Redbirds. Through two outings, he is 0-2 with a 15.19 ERA, allowing nine earned runs on eight hits and five walks in 5.1 innings pitched. Opposite of Brown will be Michael McGreevy getting the start for the Redbirds, set to make his team-leading 15th start of the year. The righty is 6-1 with a 3.84 ERA through his first 14 starts with Memphis, allowing just 33 earned runs on 94 hits and 22 walks, striking out 58 batters in his 77.1 innings pitched. McGreevy has made one start against Iowa, allowing just two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out eight over 5.2 innings pitched. The No. 5 prospect in the Cardinals system has spun five or more innings in 13 of his 14 starts, reaching six innings six times.

WHOA, NELLY: Outfielder Nelson Velazquez sure had himself a series versus Indianapolis last week and capped it off on Sunday by going 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBI at the plate. Velázquez played in all six games versus the Indians and provided some big-time offensive production for the I-Cubs offense slashing numbers of .292/.393/.833 with a double, four home runs, nine RBI, and he also collected two multi-hit games in the series. After hitting a total of four home runs over the course of 19 games between June 15-July 1, the 23-year-old has matched that total by launching four long balls in his last five games. On the year, the Puerto Rico native is hitting at clip of .261 and ranks in the top-five on Iowa's current roster in doubles (5th-15), home runs (T1st-16), and RBI (5th-43).

NEW PLACE, NO PROBLEM: The most recent addition to the I-Cubs roster was the addition of catcher P.J. Higgins who was acquired via trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 15. Higgins, who was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2015 in the 12th round, has logged time with Iowa previously both in 2021 and 2022 and has fit right in coming back in 2023. The 30-year-old has played in four games for the I-Cubs since being traded and is hitting .333 (3-for-9) with two runs scored, one run batted in, and a .455 on-base percentage. His best outing at the plate came in his most recent game this past Sunday in the series finale versus Indianapolis with a 1-for-3 performance, a run scored, and an RBI. On the defensive side, Higgins has already caught one runner stealing and has a stolen base percentage of 0 over his four games played with Iowa. Before coming to Iowa, Higgins was having a stellar year at the Triple-A level playing for the Reno Aces slashing .317/.407/.473 with 15 doubles, a triple, six home runs, and 46 RBI.

YONNY TWO-BAGS: There has been no doubt that Yonathan Perlaza has had a knack for hitting doubles over the course of the 2023 season. The outfielder was at it again in the series finale this past Sunday versus Indianapolis going 2-for-5 at the dish with both hits going for doubles. In total, Perlaza has racked up 25 doubles on the season, which ranks first on the I-Cubs and is tied for third in the International League. A big reason leading Perlaza to being one of the top double hitters in the league this year is that he has gone on two four-game streaks of hitting a double. The first streak happened from May 18-23 and the second streak occurred from June 15-18. All these doubles have helped power Perlaza to a total of 40 extra-base hits this season, which is tied for sixth in the league. When comparing his numbers from this season to his past two seasons, the Venezuelan has already surpassed his total of 24 in 2021 when he was playing in South Bend, and he is currently on pace to beat his 2022 total of 36 when he was a Tennessee Smokie.

JENSEN ON A ROLL: Relief pitcher Ryan Jensen has been on a good stretch recently and it continued in most recent outing versus the Indianapolis Indians. Jensen was called into the game this past Sunday and tossed 1.0 inning following starter Jordan Wicks where he held the Indians bats scoreless with no hits or walks allowed to go along with one strikeout. Currently, the 25-year-old is riding a six-game no-hit streak, which is the longest active streak in the International League. Over those past six outings, Jensen has a record of 0-0 with 2.70 ERA and has logged 6.2 innings of work with two earned runs, five walks, six strikeouts, and a WHIP of 0.75.

BACK IN TOWN: The Chicago Cubs announced on July 22 that Jared Young has been optioned to Iowa with the return of Dansby Swanson from the injured list. Just one day later, he was in the lineup for Iowa and went 1-for-5 at the plate. Young, who has spent most of the 2023 season with Iowa, received a promotion to Chicago on June 27 after his stellar play over the first three months of the season. The Canadian national appeared in 52 games with Iowa before his promotion and slashed numbers of .326/.426/.605 with seven doubles, a triple, 13 home runs, and 45 RBI all of which were near the top of the team rankings for Iowa. In particular, Young was tearing the cover off the ball during the month of June. In 21 games last month, the 28-year-old hit at a clip of .395 (30-for-76) with four doubles, eight home runs, and 25 RBI. He racked up six games with multiple hits and went on his two longest hitting streaks of the season at nine games from June 6-14 and seven games from June 18-25. While up with Chicago, Young appeared in 13 games and hit .171 with two triples, a home run, and five RBI. In his season debut he went 1-for-2 with a home run and followed up by going 3-for-7 with two triples and three RBI in his next two games.

AGAINST MEMPHIS: The I-Cubs and Redbirds are set to start their second and final six-game series this year, with Iowa taking four of the first six games the two teams played at Principal Park. Despite winning the series four games to two, Iowa outscored Memphis by just three runs throughout the six games, at 42-39. This was largely due to their 10-run loss in the finale on Sunday, a game that Memphis won by a final score of 16-6. Both offenses showed up last time the two teams met, as Iowa averaged seven runs per game with their lowest output being five runs in the series opener, while Memphis averaged 6.5 runs per game including being shutout once. Iowa will look to keep the winning ways against Memphis going but come to a place where they have had trouble winning games. In their all-time history against the Redbirds, the I-Cubs are just 109-152 on the road, going 152-184 all-time overall against Memphis.

SHORT HOPS: Entering tonight's game, Iowa is 43 games below the .500 mark against Memphis on the road all-time, at 109-152...Iowa is outscoring opponents by 55 runs in the first three innings this year, using 75 runs in the first, 72 runs in the second and 71 runs in the third inning to score 38% (218-of-568) of their total runs scored this year in the first three innings...with their record of 56-38, the I-Cubs are 18 games over the .500 mark for the third time this season, a win tonight would put them at a season-high 19 games over .500...Iowa is down to just four players that have been on their active roster all season after Sergio Alcántara was released yesterday, with David Bote, Darius Hill, Brendon Little and Yonathan Perlaza staying active since March 31...in six games against Memphis this year, Jared Young is hitting .360 with a triple, three home runs and eight RBI, Bryce Windham is hitting .385 with three doubles and a triple in four games, and Yonathan Perlaza is hitting .308 with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI in six contests; on the pitching side, Cam Sanders is 1-0 with 4.0 hitless innings in three games against Memphis this year, striking out eight with just one walk allowed, he is one of three pitchers on Iowa's active roster to have pitched against the Redbirds and not allowed an earned run.

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