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June 24 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Louisville Bats

June 24, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (32-36) @ LOUISVILLE BATS (25-43)

Friday - 6:05 PM CT - Louisville Slugger Field - Louisville, KY

LHP Wyatt Short (1-0, 3.71) vs. RHP Randy Wynne (1-8, 4.87)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa will send Wyatt Short to the mound set to make his first start of the season and just the third start of his professional career. Each of his first two starts came in 2021 with Double-A Tennessee, as the lefty enters tonight's game with 180 career minor league appearances and just the two starts. He is set to face the Bats for the second time this series after throwing two scoreless innings of relief for the I-Cubs in game one of the series. Over those two innings, he allowed just one hit and struck out three. Short enters the game with a 1-0 record and a 3.71 ERA through nine relief appearances with Iowa. Opposite of Short will be right-hander Randy Wynne, who is 1-8 with a 4.87 ERA through 13 games with Louisville this year. He has allowed 35 earned runs on 79 hits including 15 home runs, while walking 19 and striking out 41. Opponents are hitting .304 against Wynne, who has faced Iowa twice already this year. In those two games back on April 19 and 24 he allowed seven earned runs on 11 hits including four home runs. He threw 9.2 innings, walking five while striking out four.

WHERE DID THE POWER GO: Iowa is currently on a stretch of four games without hitting a home run, dating back to June 19 against Omaha. In those four games they have combined to hit 11 doubles and one triple, including two games with four doubles and one three double game, but haven't been able to get one to fly over the wall. Their current four-game stretch is tied for their longest of the year without hitting at least home run, dating back to April 29-May 3 when they played four games against Indianapolis and St. Paul without hitting a deep fly. Over those four games, they were 1-3, while going 3-1 over their current four game stretch. Entering the game that started their current streak on June 19th they ranked 12th in the International League in home runs with 67 and are now 13th in the league with the same number of long balls. All six of Iowa's hits last night were singles, marking the first time since they were two-hit in a seven-inning game on June 9 that they didn't have at least one extra-base hit.

NOT THEIR DAY: Last night's loss marked the 36th loss of the year for the I-Cubs, putting their record entering tonight's game at 32-36. It also moved their record on the road on Thursday's to 0-6, accounting for 17% (6-of-36), of their losses on the season. Iowa is 3-3 at home on Thursday's, putting their overall record at 3-9 on Thursday's this year. It marks the only day they don't have at least four wins in total or two or more wins on the road this year.

EXTEND THE STREAK: With a single in the seventh inning last night, Darius Hill extended his hitting streak to nine games, the longest active streak for any I-Cubs hitter. Last night marked the first game this year with Iowa that Hill has hit below the two-hole, batting sixth. Prior to last night, he had made five starts out of the leadoff spot and nine starts batting in the two-hole. Over his nine-game streak, the outfielder has recorded five games with two or more hits and four games with three or more hits. The 24-year-old is hitting .475 (19-for-40) with six doubles, one run batted in and two walks compared to four strikeouts. He had a streak of 11 games back on July 28 to August 9 spanning over two levels, the first seven games came with Low-A Eugene and the final four with Single-A South Bend. Of Hill's 16 games at Triple-A so far, he has hit safely in 13 of them and did not record an at-bat in one, leaving just two hitless games with the I-Cubs. That compares to eight multi-hit games, including four with three or more hits. The performance is nothing new for Hill, who has collected more multi-hit games than no-hit games in each year of his professional career.

FILLING THE ZONE: Louisville's pitching staff did not walk a single batter last night, while Iowa walked just one in the eighth inning. That leadoff walk came around to score to give the Bats an insurance run. After walking five batters in the first game of the series, Louisville has walked just two batters over the last 18 innings the two teams have played. They walked two on Wednesday and none yesterday, while fanning 11 batters on Wednesday compared to 13 last night. Jared Young was the only batter in Iowa's lineup to not strikeout on Wednesday, but struck out four times in last night's contest. Three batters in Iowa's lineup struck out two or more times last night, while seven of the nine struck out at least once.

BACK ON TRACK: In his eighth start of the year for Iowa last night, Robert Gsellman looked like the pitcher the I-Cubs saw to start the year. The righty started the season with two perfect outings, his first game was just one inning of relief followed by a three inning start. Over his first five outings, he spun 15.1 innings, allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out 12. Opponents hit just .157 against him in 51 at-bats. The stellar start to the season earned him a month in the big leagues, as Chicago selected his contract on May 3. His role changed when he got to the Cubs, as he became a relief pitcher, making eight relief appearances while he was up. Gsellman went 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA, allowing eight earned runs on 17 hits while walking three and striking out nine. He was designated for assignment on May 30 and was sent outright back to Iowa on June 2. It took him some time to get reacclimated, as he lost his first three starts back with Iowa. In his first start back, he allowed five earned runs while throwing just one inning, following by a three inning start allowing two earned runs and a second three inning start in which he gave up five earned runs again. Over those seven innings, he surrendered 12 earned runs on 11 hits including three home runs, five walks and seven strikeouts. The 28-year-old bounced back last night, matching his longest start of the year, going five innings. He allowed just two base runners on a double and single, but worked around them to not allow a single run while striking out five. He threw 78% (45-of-58) of his pitches for strikes, needing just 58 pitches to get through five innings.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: After their loss last night, Iowa dropped to just one game above .500 against Louisville this year, at 5-4. They also dropped back to two games below .500 all-time at Louisville Slugger Park against the Bats, holding an 8-10 record entering tonight's game. Last night marked the first time all year that Louisville has beat Iowa by more than one run, as their three-run victory closed the run deficit to 11 runs on the season. Through their first nine games this year, Iowa is now outscoring Louisville 42-31. The loss last night ended Iowa's three-game winning streak against the Bats and put their all-time record against Louisville to 18-15. They were 10-5 at Principal Park last year and the I-Cubs are yet to have played a home game against the Bats this year, with their first and only series at Principal Park coming from August 9-14.

SHORT HOPS: The I-Cubs dropped to 26-9 when they are out-hit by their opponents this year...entering last night, Iowa was 3-0 when Narciso Crook was playing first base and 4-0 when he hit fourth, both of those records now have one loss...four of the six games in which Iowa has been shutout have come on the road this year, and Iowa is 0-4 in shutouts on the road while going 2-2 in shutouts at home; they have not thrown a single shutout in a road game yet this year.

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