Huge Second Inning Fuels Cubs Past RedHawks

Des Moines, IA - The Iowa Cubs (50-44) scored six runs in the second inning, and Chris Rusin struck out nine as the Cubs beat the Oklahoma City RedHawks (48-48) 7-4 before 10,029 fans at Principal Park on Friday night. The Cubs evened the season series at two games apiece. They are the fourth team in the PCL to get to 50 wins.

The RedHawks got the game's first run in the opening inning against Rusin on a Domingo Santana RBI single, but the Cubs responded by scoring seven times in their first two at-bats, including sending 10 batters to the plate in the six-run second inning. Javy Baez tied the game in the first inning with a run-scoring ground out to plate Logan Watkins, who had doubled and stole third base.

Iowa's offense exploded an inning later off RedHawks RH Paul Clemens, getting three hits and three walks to produce six runs. Rafael Lopez got the rally started with a walk and Chris Valaika followed by blasting a two-run homer, his ninth of the season. The Cubs then loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and two walks, and Watkins cleared the bags with a double into the left-center field gap. Watkins tied his season-high with three RBI, and he had two doubles in a game for the first time this year, and just the fifth time of his career. Baez drove in the final run with a laser double off the center field wall to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. He hasn't registered a multiple hit game in that span, but is hitting .280 (14-for-50) with six doubles, three homers and 10 RBI in his last 14 games. The six-run outburst was the second-most runs they have scored in an inning this year, and the Cubs batted around in a frame for the ninth time this season.

Rusin was the beneficiary of the Cubs' offensive attack as he cruised over his seven innings of work to register his third consecutive victory, and seventh of the year. The southpaw allowed two earned runs on five hits and a walk in picking up his 11th quality start of the season. His nine strikeouts were the second-most of his career and the most since he punched out a career-high 11 on August 8, 2011. Rusin's 3.87 ERA (46ER/107IP) is the lowest it's been since June 11, and his 107 innings pitched on the year is fifth-most in the PCL.

RH Alberto Cabrera pitched a perfect eighth inning, but surrendered two runs in the ninth inning on a two-run single by Jonathan Villar, the first runs he's given up in his last 13 innings. Cabrera got Carlos Perez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

The Cubs walked eight times in the game, with Valaika and Kris Bryant each drawing two. Valaika is second on the team having walked 27 times this year. The I-Cubs entered play Friday ninth in the league with 297 walks on the season.

Clemens took his first loss of the year for the RedHawks despite pitching a season-high six innings. He retired 11 of the 14 he faced after the second inning, and allowed five hits, five walks and struck out five in his 97-pitch outing.

The Cubs and RedHawks will play two seven-inning games Saturday with the first contest scheduled for 1:05 and the second one slated for 7:05. RH Dan Straily (4-4, 4.37) will make his Principal Park debut in the first game against LH Rudy Owens (4-4, 5.47), while the RedHawks' Tommy Shirley (7-3, 1.88) makes his triple-A deubt in the nightcap. Both games will be broadcast live on AM 940 and streamed live at iowacubs.com with the On-Deck Circle Pre-Game Show starting at 12:45 p.m. for game one and 6:45 p.m. for game two.