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May 27 Game Notes: Iowa at Memphis

May 27, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


TONIGHT'S GAME: After losing game three of the series last night via a walk-off home run, Iowa will look to even the series at two games apiece tonight. Tasked with keeping the Redbirds off the board first will be Alec Mills taking the ball for Iowa. Mills is set to make his third Major League rehab start of the year with Iowa. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA through his first two starts, going 3.0 innings against Louisville on April 23 and 2.1 frames on Sunday against Columbus. Opposite of Mills will be righty Aaron Brooks toeing the rubber for Memphis. Brooks enters tonight's contest with an 0-2 record and an 8.22 ERA. He has walked and struck out three batters in his 7.2 innings pitched, allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits over that span.

TWO BAGS AWAY: Catcher John Hicks went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a triple, a home run and two runs batted in in the second game last night. Hicks ended the game just a double shy of the cycle, trying to become the first player since Ryan Court back on July 20, 2018, to hit for the cycle for Iowa. The three-hit day marked Hicks' first of the season with Iowa, having recorded two two-hit games entering last night. He was doing it all last night, not only hitting for power but also stealing a base to get into scoring position. It was the second stolen base of the year for the catcher, after doing so on April 16 against Toledo.

A NEW LEADER: Since Iowa's second game of the year on April 6, Dixon Machado has led the team in stolen bases. The shortstop swiped two in that game against Buffalo, and one in each of the next two games. Machado then stole three bases in one game on April 14 against Toledo and one on April 30 against Indianapolis. Since that one on the 30, he has not stolen a base, sitting in the team-lead with eight for the last 18 games. In Wednesday's game that was completed last night, Trent Giambrone stole a base, giving him eight on the year to tie Machado. Then in the second game of the night, Zach Davis surpassed both Machado and Giambrone with his pinch-run stolen base in the ninth inning. Davis moved to a perfect nine-for-nine on the year, sitting just outside the top-ten in the International League in stolen bases.

BREAKING OUT: Dixon Machado has been Iowa's primary leadoff hitter since the second game of the season, getting 35 starts in the leadoff spot. The next highest player is Ildemaro Vargas with five starts and Greg Deichmann with three. Aside from those three players, Zach Davis has one start hitting leadoff and that is it for Iowa all year. Since May 20, Machado was in his first slump of the season, going back-to-back games (May 20-21) without a hit for the first time this year. He recorded one hit on Tuesday, but again went 0-for-4 on Thursday, bringing his average over his last four games to just .071 (1-for-14). In last night's scheduled game, Machado led off again, and broke out of his four-game slump, going 3-for-5 with a run batted in. The shortstop is second on the team with three, three-hit games this year now, bringing his average on the season to .293.

COMING OFF THE BENCH: After Jared Young's pinch-hit RBI double and Carlos Sepulveda's two-RBI single in the suspended game yesterday, Iowa is now hitting .556 (5-for-9) in pinch-hit efforts this year. Robel Garcia joins Young and Sepulveda with one pinch-hit hit while Trent Giambrone has gone 2-for-2 in pinch-hit at-bats this year.

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT: In Wednesday's game that was completed last night, Brendon Little tossed two scoreless innings of relief for the I-Cubs, earning his first win of the year. It marked his first win since August 22, 2019, with Double-A Tennessee. With the two scoreless frames, Little has now started his year with Iowa throwing eight consecutive scoreless innings. The southpaw has pitched in six games for the I-Cubs, limiting his opponents to just a .120 batting average against him. He has surrendered just three hits while walking eight and striking out eight. In game two of the series, he did not allow a hit over his two innings, but did walk one batter while striking one out as well. In 13 games with Iowa last year, Little threw to the tune of an 0-1 record and a 3.44 ERA over 18.1 innings pitched. He has walked more batters so far this year (8) in eight innings than he did all of last year with Iowa (7) in 18.1 innings. The 25-year-old is the only active pitcher on Iowa's roster that has pitched in five or more games and has yet to allow an earned run.

LEAVING THEM OUT THERE: In both games completed yesterday, Iowa tied their season high leaving 11 runners on-base. In the first game that started on Wednesday, the I-Cubs went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position, followed by going 3-for-15 in the second game Thursday night. In game two, Iowa lost by two runs on a walk-off home run in the 10th inning, after leaving 11 men on-base.

KNOCKING IN TWO: In the first completed game last night, Carlos Sepulveda came in clutch with a pinch-hit bases loaded single that drove in two runs in the eighth inning to pad Iowa's lead. It was the infielder's first multi-RBI effort for Iowa this year in just his fifth game with the team. In game three of the series, Narciso Crook also registered his first multi-RBI game for Iowa, going 2-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in out of the nine-hole.

AGAINST MEMPHIS: After dropping game one of the series 9-4, Iowa came back and won game two 8-5 but then dropped game three 7-5 in extra-innings. The two teams will meet for game four of their six-game series tonight, with just three games left between the two teams at AutoZone Park this year. Iowa is now 145-176 all-time against Memphis and 55-106 on the road against the Redbirds.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa moved to 20-5 on the year when scoring four or more runs in a game this year after winning Wednesday's contest and dropping Thursday's game...in the suspended game that was started on Wednesday, the I-Cubs notched their 12th comeback win of the season, and their first such win on the road...the win in game two of the series marked Iowa's fourth win of the year when trailing after the seventh inning, moving their record to 4-12 when trailing after seven innings...with the loss on Thursday, Iowa fell to 2-2 in extra-innings this year; it also marked just the second time an opponent has walked-off against Iowa this year...Iowa tied their season high for stolen bases in a game with four in the second game played last night; 16% (8-of-50) of their stolen bases this year have come in the first three games of this series so far...Clint Frazier took three free passes last night, marking the sixth time a player has done that for the I-Cubs this year.

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