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June 15 Game Notes: Iowa vs. Omaha

June 15, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (27-33) vs. OMAHA STORM CHASERS (29-30)

Wednesday - 12:08 - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (0-3, 7.71) vs. LHP Drew Parrish (0-1, 7.71)

TODAY'S GAME: Mark Leiter Jr. will take the ball for Iowa looking to give them their second win of the series and his first win of the year. Through four starts with the I-Cubs, Leiter Jr. is 0-3 with a 7.71, surrendering 12 earned runs on 16 hits including three home runs. The righty has walked four compared to 21 strikeouts over 14.0 innings and will face Omaha for the first time this season. Toeing the rubber for the Storm Chasers will be Drew Parrish, set to make his second start at the Triple-A level today. Parrish started the year with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and went 4-3 with a 2.13 ERA over 10 starts. In those 10 games he allowed just 13 earned runs on 31 hits over 55.0 innings. He struck out 48 batters compared to 14 walks and opponents hit just .160 against him. In his first start with Omaha, the southpaw took the loss, allowing four earned runs over 4.2 innings. He struck out seven and walked just one, but allowed five hits including a three-run home run to hand him the loss.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK: After Jared Young led off the second inning with a home run last night, Narciso Crook and Greg Deichmann added long balls of their own on each of the next two pitches. The three straight blasts made the trio the first I-Cubs to go back-to-back-to-back since July 3, 2013, when Brad Nelson, Junior Lake and Ty Wright hit three straight against Memphis. With those homers included, Young (10), Crook (8) and Deichmann (6) are now first, second and tied for fourth, respectively, on Iowa's active roster.

MR. CONSISTENT: With his leadoff single last night, Dixon Machado extended his hitting streak to a season-long 13 games. His 13-game streak marks the longest streak for any I-Cubs hitter this year, and for any I-Cub dating back to 2019, when first baseman Jim Adduci had a hitting streak of 19 games spanning over a month from May 20 to June 24. Machado has led off for Iowa in 46 games this season, 41 more than any other player. Through 52 games this year with Iowa, the infielder is hitting .302 (60-for-199), scoring 29 runs with nine doubles and a home run. His .302 average is good for 10th in the International League. He has also driven in 18 runs and stolen nine bases. Machado has more walks (31) than strikeouts (27), boosting his on-base percentage up to .403, good for fourth in the International League. His ability to take walks has been a big part of what makes Machado such a great leadoff hitter for Iowa. His single last night not only extended his hitting streak to 13 games, but it also extended his on-base streak to 27 games, reaching base in every game he has played dating all the way back to May 12 against these Omaha Storm Chasers. Over his 13-game hitting streak, the 30-year-old is hitting .333 (18-for-54) with three doubles and a home run. He has driven in six while walking seven times compared to just five strikeouts. His 13-game hit streak sets a new career long for the shortstop, with his previous long of 12 set back on August 15-29, 2014, with Double-A Erie.

OFFENSE ON FIRE: Iowa's offense has been on a tear in their last four games, record 14 or more hits in all four of them. In their final three games at Toledo over the weekend, the I-Cubs recorded six runs on 16 hits on Friday, tied a season high with 17 hits on Saturday and scored nine runs on 15 hits in the series finale on Sunday. Last night against Omaha, they scored 11 runs on 14 hits, making it four straight games with double-digit hits. Before this crazy hot streak started on Friday, the team ranked 11th in the International League with a .248 team average. With 62 hits over their last four games, their team average is now .258, good for second in the IL and ninth in all of Triple-A. They were also ranked 11th in hits with 460 entering Friday's game and are now fourth with 522. Their team average in the month of June is up to .310 and they are slugging .514 through 12 games this month. Over the four games in which they have 14+ hits, they are 2-2 and are 2-4 in games in which they have 15+ hits this year.

FOUR IN A ROW: Through the first 23 games of the season, outfielder Narciso Crook hit just .154 (10-for-65) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and six runs batted in. Over that span, he had nine walks compared to 28 strikeouts and just one multi-hit game. After those first 23 games, starting back on May 26, the outfielder has caught fire, recording at least one hit in 10 of his 12 games played. Over those 12 games, he has six multi-hit efforts including three, three-hit games. Since May 26, Crook is hitting .388 (19-for-49) with three doubles, a triple, six home runs and 15 runs batted in. He has a home run in each of his last four games from June 10-14, marking the third Iowa Cubs player to hit home runs in four straight games this year. With five walks in his last 12 games, he has an on-base percentage of .455 and is slugging .857, good for a 1.312 OPS since May 26. His hot stretch has raised his average on the year to .254 (29-for-114) in 35 games, tallying five doubles, eight home runs and 21 runs batted in this year.

STILL NUMBER ONE: Jared Young hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning last night, starting a stretch of three straight home runs for Iowa hitters. For Young, it was his 10th home run of the year, good for the team lead. The 26-year-old had been stuck on nine home runs for over a month, with his last home run also coming against Omaha back on May 13. Young seems to hit home runs in bunches, hitting his first five over a seven-game stretch back on April 9-19 and his next four over a nine-game stretch from May 4-13. His 10 home runs and 32 runs batted in are both good for the team lead, while his 52 hits trail only Dixon Machado.

CONNECT FOUR: Narciso Crook went yard in the second inning last night, marking his fourth game in a row with a home run. The streak started on June 10 in Toledo and is the third such streak by an Iowa player this season. After the I-Cubs went all of 2021 without a player hitting a home run in more than two games in a row, Robel Garcia started the action this year from May 10 to May 13, a stretch where he hit five home runs in four games. Two weeks later, Greg Deichmann became the second I-Cub this season to homer in four straight games, racking them up from June 1 to June 4. None of the streaks have extended past four games this year, and if Crook manages to do so, he'd be the first I-Cub to homer in more than four straight since at least 2000.

AGAINST OMAHA: Iowa and Omaha are set to play game two of their six-game series today, with Iowa currently holding a 1-0 lead. With their win last night, the I-Cubs moved to 6-1 against their I-80 rivals this season, with all seven games so far coming at Principal Park. Iowa is just one win away from matching their win total at home against Omaha last season, when they were 7-15. Against Omaha all-time at Principal Park, Iowa holds a 174-133 record, while going 315-290 overall since 1998 against the Storm Chasers. Through their seven games this year, the I-Cubs are doubling Omaha in runs, scoring 42 compared to Omaha's 21. The current series is the second and last series between the two teams at Principal Park this year, as the final two series between the two teams will be at Werner Park from July 22-25 and September 20-24.

SHORT HOPS: Despite starting four games for Iowa, today will be Mark Leiter Jr.'s first start at Principal Park; his four starts this year have come in Buffalo, St. Paul, Memphis and Toledo...both starting pitchers enter today's game with the same exact ERA, at 7.71...Iowa has scored twice as many runs as Omaha through their first seven games this year, putting up 42 runs compared to the Storm Chasers' 21 runs...today is reliever Ben Leeper's 25th birthday.

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