Iowa Game Notes - May 11 vs. Nashville

TODAY'S GAME: Iowa and Nashville meet for the second game of the four-game series today. Nashville won just its second game of the season against Iowa with a 8-5 win last night. The I-Cubs maintain a 3-2 edge vs. the Sounds in 2016. Both starting pitchers, RHP Drew Rucinski and LHP Dillion Overton, enter the game with a 1-3 record.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The game had the looks of a pitcher's dual when both teams went three up and three down in the first, but Arismendy Alcantara broke up the scoreless effort with his fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the second with a three-run blast over the right field wall. 

The Sounds' bats came alive in the top of the fourth when Max Muncy hit his sixth home run of the season. After a couple of base hits in the top of the fourth following Muncy's home run, Rangel Ravelo sent a ball over the left field wall to give the Sounds a 5-3 lead. Iowa starter Stephen Perakslis (0-1) allowed five earned runs on six hits in his four innings of work to take the loss. Iowa put two more runs on the board in the sixth, but Nashville ran away with the win.

SHUFFLE BOARD: Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs sent C Miguel Montero to Iowa as a part of an injury rehabilitation assignment. Montero has been out since April 25 with lower back tightness. In his first game in an Iowa uniform, Montero went 0-3 and caught six innings. 

FEELIN' HOT HOT HOT: Albert Almora Jr. recorded a hit in his seventh straight contest last night for a season best hitting streak. Over this span, Almora is hitting .324 with six runs scored, one triple and four RBI. Taylor Davis is also riding a season-long five game hitting streak. He is hitting .411 with four runs scored, two doubles and four RBI over this time period. Daniel Vogelbach and Juan Perez also boast active four game streaks. 

POWER HITTING: Daniel Vogelbach leads the I-Cubs roster with five homers this season. Vogelbach is well on pace to break his career high of 19 home runs, set in 2013 while with Kane County and Daytona. Vogelbach is slated to hit 25 homers if he continues this pattern. The last I-Cub to mash 25-plus homers was Brian LaHair in 2011. LaHair totaled 38 homers that year to win the Joe Bauman Home Run Award and break a 27-year-old Iowa single season home run record, previously held by Joe Hicks (37-1984). Arismendy Alcantara is also on pace for a personal-record year. With four homers, he is almost one third of the way to his career-high of 15 set in 2013 with Tennessee. 

AGAINST NASHVILLE: The I-Cubs traveled to Nashville just last week, May 2-5, and took three of four games from the Sounds. Although the team only hit .213, the Iowa pitching staff pitched to a 2.57 ERA to assist with the winning effort. Iowa outscored Nashville by just four runs through the four-game series. Iowa is 66-62 all-time against Nashville at home and 119-140 overall. 

PAIRED OFF: Daniel Vogelbach mashed two homers Monday, marking the second time this season that an I-Cub has knocked two long balls in a game. John Andreoli recorded the first multi-homer game of the season, the first of his career, with a pair against Oklahoma City on April 25. 

LOVE THE LEFTY: The I-Cubs are 5-3 on the season when facing a left-handed starter, though all three losses have come at Principal Park. Juan Perez has been particularly efficient against southpaws, batting .500 (14-for-28) against them with six doubles, one homer and five RBI. Perez's average drops to .122 (5-for-41) against righties with just two extra-base hits. Kristopher Negrón also boasts an improved bat against lefties with a .323 (10-for-31) average against them, while hitting .273 (15-for-55) against right-handers. 

FRONT RUNNER: Last night was just the third game Iowa has dropped when scoring first this season. The team is now 10-3 when getting the first run of the game. The I-Cubs also tallied 10 hits last night and lost just their second contest when recording double-digit hits and are now 9-2 on the season in that category. 

DOUBLE OR NOTHING: Juan Perez leads Iowa with eight doubles this season, with four of them coming in his last four games against Omaha. Almost half of Perez's 19 hits on the season have been doubles.

SHORT HOPS: Willson Contreras has reached base safely in 25 of 26 games played this season ... Daniel Vogelbach has reached base in 14 of his last 15 games ... Iowa is second in the league with 272 strikeouts and trails only Nashville (281) ... Iowa ranks third in the league with a .280 team batting average ... Ryan Williams leads the I-Cubs with four wins ... Spencer Patton has not allowed a run in 11 appearances (11.0 IP) with Iowa.