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September 8 Game Notes: Iowa vs. Toledo

September 8, 2021 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (45-64) vs. TOLEDO MUD HENS (63-46)

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

LHP Ryan Kellogg (1-3, 5.14) vs. RHP Pedro Payano (4-5, 4.63)

TODAY'S GAME: After dropping game one of the series last night, Iowa will look to bounce back in today's matinee. They'll put lefty Ryan Kellogg to the task, sending him out for his third straight start and his fifth this season for Iowa. He has gone 1-3 with a 5.14 ERA (20ER/35IP) for the I-Cubs overall and 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA (14ER/17.2IP) as a starter. He'll look to improve upon his last start, during which he allowed a season-high ten hits in Indianapolis. He'll face off with Pedro Payano, who has pitched to a 4-5 record and a 4.63 ERA (36ER/70IP) in 13 starts for the Mud Hens. Payano has been credited with the win in each of his last two outings and has completed at least five innings in all but three of his starts for Toledo this season.

ODD MAN OUT: Today's starter, Ryan Kellogg, is the most recent addition to the I-Cubs' starting rotation and the only member without a win in the last two series. Though Kellogg has been up and down between Iowa and Double-A Tennessee all season, he had not made two consecutive starts for the I-Cubs until last week, when he took over the injured Mike Hauschild's spot in the rotation. In the two starts he's made since then, Kellogg has pitched a combined 8.2 innings for Iowa and allowed ten runs on 18 hits and five walks in that span. The 10.83 ERA that has earned him is the highest for an Iowa starter over their last two stats, beating out Cory Abbott's 7.84 mark (9ER/10.1IP), which is the second highest. The two rough starts came after a string of effective bullpen outings for Kellogg. In the three relief appearances between his second Triple-A start on July 7 and his third on August 24, Kellogg pitched seven scoreless innings and allowed only two hits. Conversely, in his last start, Kellogg lasted five innings in Indianapolis but gave up four runs on ten hits, which tied the I-Cubs' season high for hits allowed by a starter.

SWEET REVENGE: Back on August 31, 2020, the Chicago Cubs traded infielder Zack Short to the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Cameron Maybin. Short had hit .235 across three different levels in 2019 including batting .211 (28-for-133) in 41 games with the Iowa Cubs. He was drafted by Chicago in the 17 round of the 2016 draft, along with current Iowa Cubs Dakota Mekkes, Matt Swarmer, Trent Giambrone and Zach Davis. Short has been up and down this year with Detroit, playing in 57 games with the Tigers and 31 games with Triple-A Toledo. After being optioned just four days ago on September 4, Short was set to make his debut as a visitor to Principal Park. He did just that last night, going 1-for-5 with his one hit leaving the yard for a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to extend the Mud Hens' lead to 8-1.

HE'S BACK: After coming off of the injured list on August 24, Tyler Ladendorf went 0-11 with five strikeouts in his first five games. Since then, the infielder has gotten in a rhythm, recording at least one hit in each of his last four games. He got two knocks on September 1 against Indianapolis, and has since recorded one hit in every game, including last night. Against the Mud Hens, Ladendorf went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly, accounting for both of Iowa's runs. It was his fourth home run of the year and first since July 15, which also came against Toledo. His four-game hitting streak marks his season long, getting a hit in three straight games twice, from June 9 to June 11 against Columbus and from July 7 to July 9 against St. Paul.

TOP DOGS: Each of the Detroit Tigers top two prospects are on the Toledo Mud Hens, Spencer Torkelson (No.1) and Riley Greene (No. 2). Last night, in their first games against Iowa, they showed why they are ranked as highly as they are. According to MLB.com, Torkelson is the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball; he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a solo home run, a walk and a hit by pitch. Greene, the No. 7 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com, went 2-for-4 with a two-run shot, a walk and a stolen base. Torkelson is in his first professional season after being taken number one overall by Detroit in the 2020 MLB draft. He has played just 20 games with the Mud Hens and is hitting .221 with seven home runs over that span. Greene, the fifth overall pick in 2019 by Detroit, has also played just 20 games with Toledo this year. The 20-year old is hitting .288 with three doubles, two triples and five home runs in his time in Triple-A.

SCORELESS AGAIN: Dakota Mekkes spun his 14th scoreless outing of the year for Iowa last night, striking out one batter in his inning of work. The 6-foot-7 righty has not had back-to-back scoreless outings since August 5 and 7 against Indianapolis. At one point this year, he went five consecutive outings without allowing a run from May 28 to June 12. He also has not thrown more than one inning since July 28, after starting the year throwing one or more innings in each of his first 12 games. In his last 13 games, Mekkes has thrown more than one inning just once, while going less than one complete inning three times.

TURN IT AROUND: Trent Giambrone had a stretch of six games from August 26-September 2 in which he hit just .056, going 1-for-18. His one hit was a double and he drove in one run, but had just one walk compared to four strikeouts over that span. Since then, he has had success in his last four games, recording at least one hit in each game. The infielder is hitting .385 (5-for-13) with two doubles, one RBI and three walks compared to three strikeouts over those four games. His partner in the middle infield, Abiatal Avelino, is also trying to break out of a slump. After recording two hits in three consecutive games from August 20-22, Avelino hit just .061 (2-for-33) in his following 11 games. He recorded one double and three runs batted in, while walking nine times compared to six strikeouts, giving him an OBP of .262. He has walked five times compared to just two strikeouts in his last five games, and in the second game of the doubleheader against Indianapolis on Sunday, broke out in a big way. The shortstop went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double, home run and three runs batted in. It marked his first multi-hit game since his stretch of three straight ended on August 22. Avelino went 1-for-4 again last night, raising his average on the year with Iowa back up to .260.

SIT 'EM DOWN: Blake Whitney not only pitched two scoreless innings last night, he did it by striking out five out of ten batters he faced. That doubled his Iowa strikeout total on the season, as he had collected just five strikeouts in his four outings before last night's game. While the strikeout numbers have just started to accumulate for Whitney in Iowa, his career numbers have always been in good shape; out of his three professional seasons, the lowest K/9 rate he has ended with was in 2019, when he finished up with a 10.48 mark after striking out 66 batters in 56.2 innings. This year is no different. Between his time in Single-A Myrtle Beach, Advanced-A South Bend, and Triple-A Iowa, Whitney has already struck out 52 batters in just 35 innings pitched. That's good for an average of 13.37 strikeouts per nine innings, which would be a career high for Whitney.

FIRST AGAINST WORST: Toledo and Iowa's seasons have gone in very different directions this year, with Toledo owning a two-game lead in first place of the Triple-A East Midwest division, and the I-Cubs 18.0 games behind them in last place of the division. The Mud Hens hold a 63-46 record with a winning percentage of .578, good for third in the Triple-A East. They are 38-16 when playing at their home field, just seven wins shy of Iowa's total on the year. With a win last night, the Mud Hens are just five games under .500 at 25-30 when playing on the road. Iowa on the other hand, is 45-64 overall, going 20-35 at home and 25-29 on the road. Toledo has a run differential of +95 compared to the I-Cubs, who have scored 47 less runs than they have allowed.

AGAINST TOLEDO: After last night's 8-2 loss, Iowa trails the season series five games to two, with Toledo out-scoring the I-Cubs by nine runs, 28-19. After hitting just five home runs the entire six-game series against Iowa the first time the two teams met, the Mud Hens hit three just in game one of the current series last night. Last night was the first time since at least 1998 when Iowa started playing in the Pacific Coast League that Toledo, or a Detroit Tigers affiliate had played a game at Principal Park.

SHORT HOPS: All but two of Iowa's hitters last night recorded a hit, but none of them recorded more than one... today will be the first weekday day game the I-Cubs have played since May 26... Taylor Gushue caught his 300th inning for the I-Cubs this season in last night's game.

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