IL Iowa Cubs

September 6 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Omaha Storm Chasers

Published on September 6, 2023 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (72-58) vs. OMAHA STORM CHASERS (59-69)

Wednesday, September 6 - 12:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Caleb Kilian (7-1, 4.18) vs. LHP Drew Parrish (4-6, 7.19)

TODAY'S GAME: Iowa and Omaha are set to play game two of their six-game series today, with the Storm Chasers holding a 1-0 series lead after last night's victory. Iowa will look to even the series, sending Caleb Kilian to the mound. Kilian enters today's game with a 7-1 record and a 4.18 ERA, allowing 48 earned runs on 104 hits and 30 walks. The righty has struck out 81 batters in his 103.1 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .263 against him. In his lone start against the Storm Chasers this year, Kilian is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA, allowing two earned runs on three hits and three walks, striking out four over 5.1 innings. Opposite of Kilian will be lefty Drew Parrish taking the ball for Omaha. Parrish comes into today's contest with a 4-6 record and a 7.19 ERA in 17 games with the Storm Chasers. The southpaw has surrendered 53 earned runs on 78 hits and 50 walks, striking out 51 batters in his 66.1 innings pitched. He has allowed opponents to hit .302 against him, as Iowa has hit .417 against Parrish in two games. Over those two starts, the 25-year-old is 0-1 with a 21.21 ERA, allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits and four walks, striking out seven batters over his 4.2 innings pitched.

HAVE A DAY, P.J.: Last night, catcher P.J. Higgins had himself a ballgame hitting out of the three-spot in the lineup. Higgins went a perfect 5-for-5 at the dish with a run scored and four doubles. His five-hit performance marked the most hits in a game for an I-Cub this season, the 26th five-hit outing in franchise history, and his four two-baggers are also the most hit by a player in a game this year. Ironically, the last Iowa player to record five hits in a contest was Higgins when he did so last season on May 8 against the St. Paul Saints. In that outing Higgins was again perfect going 5-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored, just one double this time, and an RBI. With his five hits, Higgins was just one shy of the franchise record of six, which is held by Jeff Small and Tony LaRussa. The 30-year-old did however tie the franchise record for doubles in a game. Higgins now shares that honor with Bryan LaHair and Jake Fox. After his impressive performance last night, Higgins is now hitting at a clip of .314 (27-for-86) with seven doubles, four home runs, and 17 RBIs over the course of 23 games with Iowa this season as he was acquired via trade on July 15.

PINCH ME: Iowa has been one of the top hitting teams in the International League this season, but one category in which it has not had success in this year is in pinch hitting. In last night's loss to Omaha, Yonathan Perlaza was called on to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, two runners on, and the I-Cubs down by just a run. Unfortunately, Perlaza couldn't keep the rally going and struck out to end the game. Pinch hitters have had a rough for the I-Cubs in 2023 as they have just hit at a clip of .120 (3-for-25) with three runs scored, one double, a home run, three RBI, and nine strikeouts. When making a comparison to last season's pinch-hitting numbers the difference is noticeable. In 2022, I-Cub pinch hitters hit at a clip of .333 (8-for-24) with seven runs scored, three doubles, three RBI, and 10 walks drawn compared to five strikeouts.

CLOSE BUT NO DICE: The I-Cubs have had a number of close games as of late. Last night, Iowa battled back from an eight-run deficit and pulled within a run in the bottom of ninth but came up just short and fell to Omaha by a score of 10-9. They have played in a total of seven one-run games over their last 13. Unfortunately for Iowa, it has not fared well in those games going 1-6 in those contests. This has been a little out of the ordinary for Iowa this season as it has posted a good record of 22-13 in one-run games this season. That does mean, however, that nearly half of those losses have come in the past two weeks.

JARED BEING JARED: Another player that had a nice offensive showing for Iowa last night was Jared Young. In the game Young continued his recent power surge and went 2-for-5 with two home runs and two RBI. His two-home run performance marked the second time in just six days that he went yard twice in a game as he did so on August 30 against Toledo. Young has had a knack for hitting a pair of home runs in one game this season as last night was the fourth time he has achieved that feat in 2023. The Canadian national has gotten back on track after a little bit of a slump when he saw his average dip below the .300 mark at the Triple-A level for the first time since June 7. Over his last seven games, Young has slashed .370/.485/.889 with eight runs scored, two doubles, four home runs, and 11 RBI. When looking at his season stats, Young is back to hitting over .300 at .301 with 13 doubles, 17 home runs, and 63 RBI.

ONE BAD INNING: The I-Cubs haven't been playing their best lately, which is not what you want to see when trying to make a playoff push. Over the course of the past two weeks, Iowa has amassed a record of just 4-9 after going 4-8 in its two-week road trip against Toledo and Indianapolis and dropping the series opener to Omaha at home last night. A possible reason for the recent struggles has been opponents putting up a crooked number in a single inning. Last night, Omaha posted five runs in the second inning, which forced Iowa to try and climb out of a big deficit. In fact, over this recent 13-game stretch Iowa has allowed five or more runs in an inning on five different occasions (five runs in the 2nd last night, five runs in the 2nd on Sept. 1 against Toledo, five runs in the 5th on Aug. 29 against Toledo, seven runs in the 3rd on Aug. 24 against Indianapolis, and six runs in the 8th on Aug. 23 against Indianapolis). This will be something the I-Cubs have to clean up if they hope to secure a potential playoff spot.

AGAINST OMAHA: The I-Cubs and Storm Chasers will play game two of their six-game set today, with Iowa trailing in the series after their one-run loss last night. The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak against Omaha, moving their record on the year to 11-5 against the Storm Chasers. Despite leading the season series by six games, Iowa now has a losing record against Omaha at home this season, at 2-3. They went 9-2 on the road against the Storm Chasers in 11 games. In their 16 games played this year, Iowa is outscoring Omaha by 47 runs, at 123-76. They enter today's game 334-300 all-time against Omaha, going 179-138 at home all-time.

SHORT HOPS: In their last 13 games, Iowa has played in seven one-run games, going 1-6 in those games; they are now 22-13 this year in one-run games this year...the top four hitters in Iowa's lineup last night collected all nine of their hits as a team, while the other six players to get an at-bat went 0-for-18 with six strikeouts...Iowa went just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position last night, leaving nine men on base... Samuel Reyes suffered his first loss of the year with the I-Cubs, tying a career-high five earned runs; the only other time the 27-year-old has allowed five earned runs was on August 25, 2018, in the South Atlantic League against the Rome Braves as a member of the West Virginia Power...Iowa dropped to fourth place in the International League West division for just the fourth time this season; each time prior to today, they were in fourth for just one day...the I-Cubs are currently on a four-game losing streak, one shy of tying their season-long five-game losing streak back on June 2-7...Iowa is 8-1 in Wednesday home games this year entering today's game, going 14-5 overall on Wednesday's this year; their 14 wins is tied for second for any day of the week while their five losses are the least losses on any day of the week this year.

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