IL Iowa Cubs

June 22 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Memphis Redbirds

Published on June 22, 2023 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (40-29) vs. MEMPHIS REDBIRDS (38-33)

Thursday - 6:38 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Riley Thompson (2-4, 5.87) vs. LHP Zack Thompson (1-2, 8.64)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Memphis will take the field at Principal Park for game three of their scheduled six-game series tonight. The matchup on the mound will be the battle of the Thompson's as Riley Thompson is slated to be Iowa's starting pitcher and Zack Thompson is set to take the ball for Memphis. For Iowa, Riley Thompson will be facing the Redbirds for the first time in his career and is coming off one of his better starts of the 2023 season. In his last time out, Riley earned his first win since April 20 after tossing five innings, which tied his longest outing of the year, of scoreless baseball versus the Indianapolis Indians. The 26-year-old will look to have a repeat performance versus Memphis and improve upon his 2-4 record and 5.87 ERA. On the Memphis side, Zack Thompson holds a record of 1-2 and an ERA of 8.64, which ranks last on the Redbirds pitching staff. Zack has split time between Memphis and St. Louis this season, with 11 appearances out of the bullpen for the Cardinals. In his time up in the big leagues, the lefty tossed 11.2 innings, allowing six earned runs on 12 hits and nine walks to go along with 18 strikeouts, good for a 1-2 record with a 4.63 ERA. Zack has previously squared off against Iowa one time in his career, which came last year on May 25 in Memphis. In that contest, he was credited with a no decision after spinning 5.0 innings and allowing one earned run off two hits to go along with four walks and six strikeouts.

6-9, DOING FINE: The bottom half of Iowa's lineup had themselves a day in yesterday's shutout win over the Memphis Redbirds. The six through nine hitters of Jake Slaughter, Chase Strumpf, Sergio Alcántara, and Bryce Windham paced the Iowa offense and combined to go 8-for-14 at the dish with six runs scored, two doubles, a triple, three home runs, and six RBI. Slaughter, Strumpf, and Alcántara were the I-Cubs with the home runs and Windham recorded the triple. Hitting out of the No. 8 spot was Alcántara, who had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 and was just a triple shy of the cycle. In total, the quartet of hitters accounted for 80-percent of Iowa's hits and 75-percent of Iowa's runs in yesterday's contest.

PALENCIA'S PERFORMANCES: Relief pitcher Daniel Palencia seems to be taking over as a late inning arm to come out of the Iowa bullpen. The hard-throwing right-hander was brought in during the top of the eighth in yesterday's contest and had another impressive outing, spinning 1.1 scoreless, hitless innings with one walk allowed and one strikeout. Palencia was bringing the heat as well, topping out at 101 miles per hour on the radar gun. Over his last three outings, Palencia has put up numbers that are exactly what the I-Cubs want to see from a shutdown reliever. During this stretch, Palencia has tossed 3.2 innings without allowing a hit or a run to go along with six strikeouts and just one walk. He also earned the first two saves of his Triple-A career over those three games.

PROVIDING OFFENSE: Both of Iowa's primary catchers sustained injuries this year, with Dom Nuñez going on the IL with a hamstring strain and Bryce Windham a fracture in his hand. The two have returned to Iowa's lineup and made their presence felt recently, providing a big spark offensively for the I-Cubs. Since Nuñez returned on June 6, he is hitting .379 (11-for-29) with six runs scored, four doubles, a home run, six runs batted in and five walks in nine games. Since June 7, Windham is hitting .450 (9-for-20) with two doubles, a triple, eight runs batted in and five walks in seven games. Nuñez has at least one hit in eight of his nine games since returning, while Windham has four two-hit performances since June 7.

STILL A SECOND HALF: With Norfolk's win last night, they officially clinched the International League division title for the first half. Entering tonight's game, Norfolk has a record of 46-23, sitting at the top of the International League East Division with a 7.5 game lead. In the IL West Division, Iowa enters tonight's game 0.5 games out of first place with a record of 40-29, trailing St. Paul who has a record of 41-29. Norfolk will now host a best-of-three series from Tuesday, Sept. 26-Thursday, Sept. 28 (if necessary) with a winner playing in the single-game Triple-A National Championship Game on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Las Vegas. The I-Cubs still have a chance to play in the National Championship Game, as the winner of the second-half will travel to Norfolk to take on the Tides. The second-half begins on June 28 and will go through the end of the year on Sept. 24.

QUALITY FROM KILIAN: Yesterday's starting pitcher, Caleb Kilian, had his good stuff going on the mound for the I-Cubs. The right-hander was dominant in his performance against the Memphis lineup, as he tossed 6.0 innings of shutout baseball, gave up just three hits, allowed just one walk, and struck out four batters. Kilian was credited with the win for his efforts and improved his record on the year to 4-1, dropping his ERA from 5.08 coming into the contest down to 4.55. Kilian's outing yesterday also marked a quality start for the 26-year-old. It was the second time in his last four outings in which Kilian has recorded a quality start and he now leads the Iowa pitching staff with two quality starts on the year. He has also now spun 6.0 innings in three out of his last four starts.

BOTE IS BRINGING IT: David Bote has come around to be another reliable option as of late for the Iowa offense. Bote is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and the utility man kept his streak alive by hitting a sharp line drive back up the middle for a single in the bottom of the eighth in yesterday's victory versus Memphis. Bote's hitting streak is currently the longest active hitting streak on Iowa's active roster. During this stretch, which started on June 11, Bote has slashed numbers of .375/.429/.781 with four doubles, three home runs, and 10 RBI. In nearly one month's time, Bote has improved his batting average by 46 points. After the series opener against Nashville on May 23, Bote's hitting clip was at a mark of .222. Now it sits at .268, which ranks eighth on Iowa's active roster.

AGAINST MEMPHIS: The I-Cubs and Redbirds are back in action for game three tonight with the series currently tied at 1-1 following Iowa's shutout victory yesterday. By defeating Memphis yesterday, Iowa is now 1-1 on the year versus the Redbirds and 149-183 all-time against Memphis, going 94-74 all-time against the Redbirds at home. With the win yesterday, Iowa broke its three-game losing streak to the Redbirds, which dated back to last season.

SHORT HOPS: Despite going 0-for-3 at the plate yesterday, Yonathan Perlaza kept his on-base streak alive and extended it to 29 games after drawing a walk in the bottom of the seventh...the I-Cubs have been successful when playing on Thursday this season, as they are 5-0 at Principal Park and 11-2 overall coming into tonight's game...Catcher Dom Nuñez has been on fire throwing out runners, as he is currently on a four-game streak of catching at least one runner stealing... Jake Slaughter leads the team in multi-hit games with 16 on the year with all 16 multi-hit performances going for two hits.

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