Game Notes for Tuesday, July 28

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and Nashville Sounds, Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, play the first game of a four-game series at First Tennessee Park. Iowa is in third place in the American Northern Division, 9.5 games behind Oklahoma City. Nashville is in fourth place in the American Southern Division, 14.0 games behind Round Rock.

CLIPPED WINGS: Iowa got home runs from Mike Olt, Chris Valaika and Christian Villanueva and a quality start from lefty rehabber Tsuyoshi Wada en route to a 8-3 win over Memphis last night. The win snapped Iowa's season-high six-game losing streak and avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of the Redbirds. The win also clinched a season series win for the I-Cubs over Memphis (9-7).  

ROAD WARRIOR: Matt Szczur has excelled in hitting on the road this season. Away from Principal Park, he is batting .361 (35-for-97) with a .438 OBP in 25 games. At Principal Park, Szczur is batting just .252 (27-for-107) with a .302 OBP in 29 games. 

IF ONLY: Outfielder Junior Lake carries a .319 batting average (58-for-182) into tonight's action. If he qualified for batting leaders, he would rank fifth in the PCL.

PARTY OF FIVE: Five I-Cubs hitters have been particularly hot during the month of July. Christian Villanueva (.302, 6HR, 5 2B, 20RBI), Junior Lake (.351, 5HR, 12RBI, 17R, 11BB, 3SB), Rubi Silva (.327, 4HR, 12RBI), Matt Szczur (.333, 4 2B, 3HR, 10R) and Mike Olt (.299, 4HR, 5 2B, 13RBI, 13R, 9BB) have been raking this month.

TRENDING: Both Mike Olt and Matt Szczur carry eight-game hitting streaks into tonight's game. Olt is 13-for-29 with three home runs, seven RBI, seven runs and three walks on his season-high streak. Szczur is 15-for-34 with three doubles and three runs scored. On the other side of things, Arismendy Alcantara is two for his last 30 with six strikeouts and Adron Chambers is 1-for-19 in his last eight games with six strikeouts.

HISTORIC HURLING: Iowa's team ERA this season is 3.81 through 102 games, 0.03 ahead of its season-record mark of 3.84 set back in 1974. 

VS. NASHVILLE: Tonight is the first game of a four-game series, and the ninth of 16 scheduled games between the Cubs and Sounds this season. Nashville returns to Principal Park August 11-14. Last year, the teams split the season series 8-8. Each team won its home slate 5-3. Iowa is 6-2 against the Sounds in 2015, taking three of four in Nashville and three of four at Principal Park in May. The Sounds lead the all-time PCL series 135-112. Iowa is 45-47 all-time against the Oakland A's Triple-A affiliates. 

MAKE 'EM EARN IT: Iowa allowed three runs last night, all unearned. The I-Cubs lead the PCL in unearned runs allowed this season. Iowa has allowed 447 total runs, but only 371 have been earned. That's a difference of 76 runs. Iowa has been outscored 443-447 this year. Iowa has committed 98 errors, second-most in the PCL. 

ROWEN THE BOAT: Right-hander Ben Rowen has been stingy since joining the I-Cubs on July 5. In eight appearances, he is 2-0 and hasn't allowed an earned run in 9.1 innings. He has struck out six and walked just one.

K KINGS: Iowa leads the Pacific Coast League with 803 strikeouts this season. Arismendy Alcantara leads Iowa and is sixth in the league with 96 strikeouts, 63 short of Iowa's single-season strikeout record (159; Tom Quinlan - 1999). Since the start of June, Alcantara is tied for first in the PCL with 57 strikeouts. Nine I-Cubs have struck out at least 40 times already this season, led by Alcantara, Rubi Silva (65), Chris Valaika (59) and John Andreoli (55). Mike Olt joined the team on June 23 and already has 32 punchouts in 29 games.

STRINGING THEM TOGETHER: Mike Olt has hit a home run in three straight games dating back to Saturday. He is the third I-Cub to homer in at least three games in a row this season. Christian Villanueva (June 1-4) and Rubi Silva (June 17-21) each homered in four straight games earlier this season. Iowa has not had three players homer in four straight games in a season since at least 2003.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa is one of only three teams in the PCL without a grand slam this year, and haven't hit one since Aug. 5, 2014. ... Iowa is just 10 of its last 26 in stolen base attempts, but is still third in the PCL with 92 steals. ... Iowa has 32 outfield assists this season.