Game Notes for April 15

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and New Orleans Zephyrs play the first game of a four-game series. The Zephyrs are the Pacific Coast League affiliate of the Miami Marlins. This is the first game of an eight-game home stand. The Round Rock Express will follow the Zephyrs into town for a four-game series starting on Saturday.

POSTPONED: The Cubs had their game in Memphis postponed by rain last night. It was the team's first postponement of the season. The game will be made up as part of a double-header on Wednesday, May 28 at Auto Zone Park.

SUPER BREAKOUT: Redbirds' starter Boone Whiting limited the Cubs to just one hit and struck out nine in five scoreless innings on Sunday, but the Cubs broke through with two runs in the sixth to knock Whiting out of the game and scored four in the seventh on their way to a 6-3 victory. The four-run outburst is the Cubs' biggest inning of the year.

HAIL SZCZUR: OF Matt Szczur capped off the Cubs' four-run seventh inning with a two-run homer off Redbirds' reliever Lee Stoppelman. It was Szczur's first triple-A home run and it extended his hitting streak to four games. That matches his season-high. Szczur has four of his six RBI in the last two games.

Z-FORCE: LH Zac Rosscup pitched two scoreless innings on Sunday and was credited with his second hold of the season. Rosscup has not allowed a run in 5.2 innings over four appearances this season and has not allowed an earned run in 13.1 innings over 13 career appearances with Iowa going back to last year. Rosscup also came through with a two-run single and scored in the Cubs' four-run seventh inning. It was his first career hit, RBI, and run scored. Prior to Sunday, he had four career plate appearances and was 0-for-2 with two sacrifice bunts.

HIGH FIVE: IF Arismendy Alcantara was 1-for-4 with an RBI double on Sunday. That hit drove in the Cubs' first run of the game and extended his hitting streak to five games. He has the longest hitting streak for a Cubs' player this season. During the last five games, Alcantara is batting .333 (6-for-18) with two doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored. He has hit safely in all nine games he has started this year.

VS. ZEPHYRS: This is the first of 16 scheduled meetings between these two clubs this season. The Zephyrs will return to Principal Park for another four-game series, July 21-24. The Cubs will visit Zephyr Field in Metairie, May 6-9 and July 29-August 1. Last year, the Zephyrs won the season series 11-5, including five of eight at Principal Park. The Zephyrs have won the season series and the series at Principal Park in each of the last two seasons. The Zephyrs lead the all-time series 110-108, but the Cubs hold a 64-50 all-time mark at home.

NO BULL FROM PEN: After allowing 14 runs (13 earned) in 13.2 innings over the first three games of the season, the Cubs bullpen has settled in. Over the last eight games, the relievers have allowed just five runs in 23.2 innings for a 1.90 ERA and allowed just three walks while recording 24 strikeouts.

FEEL THE FLO: C Luis Flores recorded his first multi- hit game on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Flores has played five games this season and has drawn eight walks while going 4-for-10 at the plate for a .667 on-base percentage. He is one of four players tied for fifth in the league in walks and his on-base percentage would lead the league if he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the leaderboard.

A SIXTH SENSE: The Cubs got on the board with two runs in the sixth inning on Sunday. The team has scored at least one run in the sixth inning in five straight games and six of their last seven. This streak includes a three-run inning three times in this stretch. The Cubs have scored 13 of their 39 runs for the year in the sixth inning.

WADA PERFORMANCE: The PCL recognized Cubs' pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada as the league's Pitcher of the Week for the season-opening period of April 3-13. In two starts, Wada has allowed one run in 13.1 innings while recording 18 strikeouts. He ranks second in the league in ERA (0.68), WHIP (0.60), and opponents' batting average (.149). He is tied for second in strikeouts. The last Cubs pitcher to receive the award was Chris Rusin, May 7-13, 2012.