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September 6 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

September 6, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (59-70) @ JACKSONVILLE JUMBO SHRIMP (69-59)

Tuesday - 6:05 CT - 121 Financial Ballpark - Jacksonville, FL

RHP Adbert Alzolay (0-1, 12.27) vs. RHP Elieser Hernandez (3-1, 4.02)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Jacksonville are set to meet for game one of their six-game series tonight, the first and last six games of the year between the two teams. Adbert Alzolay is scheduled to make his third start on Major League rehab with Iowa, going 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA through his first two. In those two starts, he has allowed five earned runs on five hits and four walks over 3.2 innings, striking out six over that span. Opponents have hit .313 against the righty in that time. On the other side, Elieser Hernandez will take the ball for the Jumbo Shrimp, set to make his eighth start of the year for Jacksonville. The righty has pitched in 19 games for Miami this year, going 3-6 with a 6.33 ERA over that span. He started the year with the Marlins and has been optioned twice while also spending time on the injured list from July 21 to August 6. Through seven starts with the Jumbo Shrimp, the 27-year-old is 3-1 with a 4.02 ERA, allowing 14 earned runs on 30 hits in 31.1 innings pitched. He has walked 10 batters compared to striking out 43, holding opponents to an average of .248 against him.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Esteban Quiroz extended his hitting streak to a season-high five games with a 1-for-3 performance in game two of Sunday's doubleheader. After missing three months on the injured list, Quiroz got off to a slow start in his return last month, going 1-for-18 in the first seven games he played. Since then, however, he has started heating up. In his last eight games played, Quiroz has hit .304 (7-for-23) with a double, five walks and three runs scored. His current hitting streak is his longest of the season with Iowa and - combined with the walks - it has boosted him to third on the active roster in on-base percentage, at .342. Despite ranking 10th among position players on the active roster in games played, Quiroz ranks sixth in walks taken, with 20.

HE JUST KEEPS HITTING: Darius Hill collected one hit in each game of the doubleheader on Sunday, giving him 87 on the year with Iowa. His 87 hits with the I-Cubs is good for the team-lead, despite playing in 22 less games than the player with the second-most hits. Since joining Iowa's roster on May 31, all Hill has done is hit, recording 27 multi-hit games this year with Iowa, good for the lead on the active roster and just one shy of tying the most for any Iowa player this year. The 24-year-old started the year with Double-A Tennessee where he recorded 57 hits in 44 games, giving him a total of 144 hits this year. His 144 hits across the full season is tied for fourth among all Minor League players, just four shy of the lead. The outfielder is hitting .322 (144-for-447) on the full season, putting him at 14th in batting average among all Minor League players this year.

SAVE THE DAY: After earning the save in Friday's comeback win, Ben Leeper did the same thing in game one on Sunday for the I-Cubs, shutting down the Clippers offense in the final inning. Leeper entered the game with a two-run lead, earning him his eighth save of the year. His eight saves are good for the team-lead as he is the only player on Iowa's active roster with more than one save. It was the 14th straight game in which Iowa has thrown a scoreless final inning, not allowing a run in the final inning since back on August 11 against Louisville. The previous long for scoreless ninth innings was just six for Iowa, done twice from June 30-July 6 and July 15-26.

GET BACK ON TRACK: Adbert Alzolay is scheduled to make his third start for Iowa on Major League rehab today, looking to improve on his last outing against Columbus. Alzolay started his rehab back on August 27 against St. Paul, allowing just one earned run while striking out all six batters he retired. The righty had a shaky first inning, allowing a leadoff single, stolen base, walk and another stolen base before balking to allow the Saints only earned run against him. After that he walked another batter but then struck out the next three batters he faced and in the second inning struck out the side as well, recording all six of his outs via the strikeout. His second outing didn't go as smoothly as his first start, allowing four earned runs on four hits in just 1.2 innings against Columbus on Thursday. He hit one batter and walked two in the outing while not fanning a single batter.

JUST FELL SHORT: Matt Mervis has been a hitting machine for Iowa since joining their roster, hitting .306 (41-for-134) in 37 games. He went 2-for-3 in game one of the doubleheader on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. His 13-game streak tied his career long set back on April 20-May 7 with High-A South Bend this year. Not only did he extend his hitting streak to 13 games, he also hit a home run for the third straight game in game one. Over the streak, the first baseman hit .417 (20-for-48) with 12 runs scored, four doubles and six home runs. He drove in 12 runs and walked five times compared to eight strikeouts. Unfortunately for Mervis, he didn't set his new career long, with the streak ending after he went 0-for-3 in game two against Columbus. Mervis ranks tops among all Minor League players in home runs with 30 (T-4), runs batted in with 106 (T-2), slugging percentage with .613 (6), hits with 137 (T-13), doubles with 37 (T-4), extra-base hits with 69 (T-1) and total bases with 268 (2).

COMEBACK KIDS: Iowa and Columbus split their six-game series, with Iowa taking two victories down to their final at-bat. The I-Cubs won game one of the series by a score of 4-0, then lost each of the next two games. They were down to their final strike on Friday night and rallied to score four runs, winning by three to tie the series at two games apiece. Saturday's game got postponed and Iowa won in the same fashion in game one on Sunday, entering the seventh inning down by one and scoring three runs to go up by two. Their two comeback wins gave them 29 on the year and allowed them to split the series with the Clippers.

AGAINST JACKSONVILLE: The I-Cubs and Jumbo Shrimp will meet for the first time of the year and the two teams' history tonight, playing game one of their six-game series. This six-game series will be the first-ever meeting between Jacksonville and Iowa and the last for at least the next season, as the Jumbo Shrimp are not on Iowa's 2023 schedule.

SHORT HOPS: Game one on Sunday marked Iowa's 29th comeback victory of the year and just their fourth win of the season when trailing entering the final inning... Esteban Quiroz drew a leadoff walk as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning in game one on Sunday, moving pinch-hitters to 8-for-21 with 10 walks this year for Iowa...the I-Cubs struck out 67 times against Columbus last series, setting their new series-high for strikeouts in a single six-game series (64 @ St. Paul May 3-8); they also struck out the Clippers just 35 times, marking a season-low for strikeouts in a six-game series this year (39 @ Memphis May 24-29).

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