Game Notes for Thursday, April 16

APRIL SHOWERS: Tuesday's game was washed out by rain. There will be two seven-inning contests tonight as part of a doubleheader. Game one will start at 5:00 p.m. CT. Game two will begin approximately 30 minutes following the end of game one. 

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and New Orleans Zephyrs, Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, play the third and fourth games of a four-game series today at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La. These will be the third and fourth games of the season between the two clubs. Iowa is currently third in the American Northern division, 1.5 game behind Oklahoma City. New Orleans is fourth in the American Southern Division, 1.5 games back of Nashville.

LET'S PLAY TWO: Today marks the first doubleheader of the season for the I-Cubs. Last season, Iowa went 7-9 in doubleheader contests. They split the two games with their opponent three times, were swept three times and "took two" twice. 

VS. NEW ORLEANS: Tonight are the third and fourth games of a four-game series between the Cubs and Zephyrs, and third and fourth games of 16 scheduled games this season. The Zephyrs travel to Principal Park April 21-24 and again June 26-29. Iowa heads back to New Orleans July 4-7. Last year, Iowa won the season series 11-5, going 5-3 at home and 6-2 in Metairie. In 2013, New Orleans won the season series 11-5. The teams split the first two games of this series, meaning they are 17-17 against one another since 2013. The Cubs lead the all-time PCL series 120-116.

LATE-INNING LURCH: The I-Cubs dropped yesterday's day game 3-2 in 10 innings. Iowa held a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but New Orleans plated a run in the eighth inning on a home run and both the ninth and tenth innings on sacrifice flies. Right-hander Donn Roach tossed 6.0 scoreless innings on one hit and three strikeouts, but Blake Parker blew his first save of the year. Iowa is now 3-1 when leading after eight innings in 2015. They went 61-3 in the same situation last season.

QUALITY START: Right-hander Donn Roach had a no-hitter going in last night's game until the fifth inning when New Orleans' Cole Gillespie doubled to lead off the fifth inning. It was the only base-runner Roach allowed on the day. Roach made the start on five days rest. It was the first quality start of the season for Iowa.

STREAK BROKEN: In last night's game, Zephyrs second baseman Derek Deitrich's eighth inning home run off Blake Cooper snapped a 15.2-inn. scoreless streak by the Iowa bullpen dating back to April 10. Iowa's pen allowed three runs last night, tying a season-high set on opening night in Memphis. Overall, the bullpen is 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA (7ER 24.2IP) with 17 strikeouts to eight walks.

PARKER PATROL: Yesterday's blown save for Blake Parker was his first since August 24, 2014 against Tacoma. In that game, he was plagued by three walks in a three-run 14th-inning loss. Yesterday, Parker walked three batters as well in his first blown save of 2015. He is 0-for-1 this season. 

SAVE SAVANTS: The current bullpen for Iowa has significant experience in the later innings on their careers. In total, the current pen has 148 combined minor league saves [Blake Parker-91, Joe Ortiz-32, Blake Cooper-17, Armando Rivero-13, Gonzalez Germen-10, Drake Britton-5]. In addition, James Russell has three major league saves with Chicago and Parker has one on his resume. Earlier this season, Iowa had both Brian Schlitter (81 minor league saves) and Zac Rosscup (8 minor league saves) in the late innings as well. 

MEET THE MANAGER: Marty Pevey returns for his third season as Iowa's manager. He is the first manager to lead the I-Cubs for three consecutive seasons since Mike Quade (2003-06). Pevey joined the Cubs in 2009 as the manager for Single-A Peoria in the Midwest League and led the Chiefs to an 81-57 overall record, a second-half division title, and was named the league's co-Manager of the Year. He spent three seasons as the organization's catching coordinator before returning to the dugout with Iowa last year. Pevey managed and coached in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization from 1996-2008. He was the South Atlantic League Manger of the Year in 1998 with Hagerstown, won the award in the Florida State League with Dunedin in 2000, and in the Eastern League with New Haven in 2003. Including 2015, Pevey has a 787-768 (.506) career record in 13 seasons as a manager.