Game Notes for Tuesday, May 19

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and Oklahoma City Dodgers, Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, play the final game of a four-game series tonight at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. This is the 12th game of the season between the two teams. Iowa is in second in the American Northern Division, 7.0 games behind Oklahoma City. 

DONNY BOY: Arismendy Alcantara's RBI-single in the seventh inning helped Iowa sneak past Oklahoma City 3-2 last night. Donn Roach continued his scorching hot start with his seventh consecutive quality start, allowing one earned run on seven hits in 6.0 innings with two strikeouts to get his fifth win (5-0). Matt Szczur stole home as part of a double-steal in the first inning to put Iowa on the board. Mike Baxter added an RBI-single in the first as well.

ERROR CITY: Iowa made one error is last night's win. Iowa's 40 errors are tied with Sacramento for the most in the PCL. Iowa is also last in fielding percentage with a .972 clip. Iowa is 12-4 when committing zero errors, but 7-15 when making at least one mistake. Christian Villanueva leads both Iowa and the PCL with nine fielding errors this season. Javy Baez is tied for third in the league with seven errors.

SPEED DEMONS: Iowa stole two bases in last night's win. The team has now stolen 42 bases this season, third-most in the PCL. John Andreoli leads the Cubs in thefts with 15, and is second in the league. Javy Baez is second on the team with six steals. 

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Taylor Davis went 3-for-4 last night with two doubles, giving him five doubles in this series. He went 3-for-3 with three doubles the night before. Davis notched hits in five straight at-bats from Sunday to Monday. He had just four hits in the month of May coming into this series, but is now second on the team in doubles with six, despite only appearing in 21 games (49 at-bats). He leads the club with a .347 batting average (17-for-49) among those with at least 50 plate appearances.

HOME BURGLARY: An Iowa baserunner stole home for the second time this season last night, when Matt Szczur and Javy Baez successfully executed a double-steal in the first inning. John Andreoli has also stolen home for Iowa this season.

VS. OKLAHOMA CITY: This is the fourth game of a four-game series between the Cubs and Dodgers, and the 12th of 16 scheduled games in the season series. Oklahoma City has won eight of the first 11 games between the two clubs, winning two series at Principal Park 3-1 and taking two of three games so far this series. The Cubs head to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark again August 31-September 3. Last year, the Cubs won the season series 10-6, going 6-2 at Principal Park and 4-4 on the road. The Cubs lead the all-time PCL series 128-120. Iowa is 81-101 all-time against Dodgers Triple-A affiliates. 

TURN TWO: Iowa turned three double plays in last night's win. The team has turned 45 double plays this season, second-most in the PCL behind New Orleans' 46. Starter Donn Roach has been particularly adept at inducing twin-killings for Iowa. The righty has had 10 double-plays turned behind him. He has had at least two in four of his eight starts this year.

QUALITY CONTROL: Iowa had just four quality starts in 20 April games. So far in May, the Cubs have spun 10 in 18 contests. Righty Donn Roach leads the team with seven quality starts in his last seven outings. Left-hander Eric Jokisch has three this season. Left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada and right-hander Carlos Pimentel each have two each.

PITCH PERFECT: The Iowa Cubs pitching staff has been superb in May. The staff has a 2.59 ERA through 18 games, with 127 strikeouts and just 58 walks. The improvement has vaulted the staff to third in the league with a 3.41 team ERA. Oklahoma City is second with a 3.38 team ERA. Iowa has also allowed the fewest hits in the league (296).

TRANSACTIONS: The Chicago Cubs made a series of roster moves today affecting Iowa's active roster. Right-handed pitcher Felipe Paulino was added to Iowa from Extended Spring Training and will start tonight's game for the I-Cubs. Paulino participated in Spring Training with Boston was was released March 31. He signed a minor league contract with Iowa May 11. Furthermore, Michael Wagner was reassigned to Double-A Tennessee this afternoon. The right-hander went 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA (8ER/10.1IP) in six appearances for the I-Cubs after joining Iowa from Extended Spring Training on April 20.