July 20 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Columbus Clippers

IOWA CUBS (26-37) @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (28-36)

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 • 6:05 PM CT • Huntington Park • Columbus, OH

RHP Mike Hauschild (0-3, 4.50) vs. RHP Zack Godley (0-1, 8.44)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Columbus will kick-off their six-game series with a 6:05 pm CT first pitch tonight, at Huntington Park. Mike Hauschild will take the ball for Iowa, in his first game of the season against the Clippers. He is coming off of his second quality start of the year against Toledo, tossing six innings of two-run, two-hit ball. The righty allowed one home run and three walks compared to three strikeouts in his last outing on July 13. Hauschild is still in search of his first win with Iowa, currently holding an 0-3 record with a 4.50 ERA on the year. Toeing the rubber for Columbus will be former Chicago Cubs 10th round draft pick, Zack Godley. Godley is 0-1 with an 8.44 ERA in three starts with the Clippers this year, after starting the season with Nashville, where he was 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA in six games. The righty has allowed at least one home run in each of his last five starts at the Triple-A level.

MANNY SAYS NO: Since joining the I-Cubs’ roster on June 27, Manuel Rodriguez has yet to allow an earned run in 5.1 innings pitched. The righty has allowed three hits and walked two while striking out six. Opponents are hitting just .176 against him, after hitting just .178 against him in 13 games with Double-A Tennessee prior to his call-up. Overall this year, he is 1-1 with a 1.45 ERA (3ER/18.2IP) allowing 11 hits, 12 walks and striking out 25.

BROOKS AGAIN: Last time Iowa and Columbus met, outfielder Trenton Brooks made his debut series with the Clippers one to remember. Brooks joined Columbus in Iowa after spending the first month of the season with Double-A Akron and immediately had an impact. He went 1-for-5 with a double and a run scored in his first Triple-A game on June 8, and he didn’t stop there. Brooks also hit his first two Triple-A home runs against the I-Cubs, both on June 10, and opened his Clippers tenure with a five-game hitting streak. The streak - which is tied for longest against the I-Cubs this season - spanned the first five games of the series at Principal Park and saw Brooks go 7-for-19 with eight RBI and five runs scored. Even though he finished the series with an 0-for-3 day, he still left Des Moines with a .318 average (7-for-22) and a .636 slugging percentage. Brooks has been with the Clippers since that series, and though he’s taken only 18% of his Triple-A at-bats against the I-Cubs this season, he’s hit half of his home runs and collected nearly half of his RBI (8-of-19) against Iowa.

WHO WILL SHOW UP: Tonight’s starter for Iowa, Mike Hauschild, has made five starts with the I-Cubs this season from June 18 against St. Paul to his most recent start on July 13 when he faced Toledo. In those five games, Hauschild has registered two quality starts in which he combined to throw 12 innings, allowing just two earned runs on five total hits. He walked three, allowed one home run and struck out eight in those two games. In his other three starts, the righty hasn’t made it through the fourth inning, going 2.2 innings in his first start with the team, and 3.2 innings on June 24 and July 6. He has allowed 16 runs (nine earned) on 16 hits, eight walks and six home runs while striking out just six over those three games.

CAN’T TOUCH THIS: In his last three games from July 8-18, Trevor Megill has pitched a total of four innings, retiring 12 batters. Of those 12 batters, he has struck out 10 of them, including striking out the side in his first inning against St. Paul on July 8, and his most recent inning against Toledo on July 18. In those three games, he has allowed just two base runners, one base hit and one walk.

STAY HOT: From July 4 through July 13, Nick Martini was 1-for-19, hitting .053 with four walks and five strikeouts. On July 15 against Toledo, the outfielder put together his first three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-4 with a run, a hit by pitch and his first stolen base of the season. He followed the three-hit game with two more multi-hit games and on Sunday, collected another hit in his first at-bat, going 1-for-4. Since July 15, Martini is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with two runs scored and an on-base percentage of .647. Every one of his hits over his season-long four game hitting streak has been a single.

SNAPPED: Ian Miller had a season-long nine game hitting streak entering Iowa’s game on Sunday against Toledo. He went 0-for-3 with a walk from the leadoff-spot on Sunday, ending the streak. It was the longest streak by any player on the I-Cubs this year, while eight games had been accomplished twice, by Abiatal Avelino and Sergio Alcántara. Over the nine-game period, Miller went 12-for-36, hitting .333 with one home run, five runs batted in, four walks and four strikeouts. He also got hit by a pitch, raising his on-base percentage to .405. While he was on the bases, he was 3-for-3 in stealing bases.

AGAINST COLUMBUS: Columbus owned Iowa in their first six-game series this year at Principal Park, taking five of the six games the two teams played. The Clippers outscored the I-Cubs by 11 that series, 40-29 and scored six or more runs in every game except the one game they lost, only scoring two. Columbus is currently in fifth place of the Triple-A East Midwest division, 1.5 games ahead of Iowa who is sitting in last place. The Clippers are just 5-11 in the month of July, including 3-7 in their last 10, while Iowa is 8-8 this month, going an even 5-5 in their last 10 games coming into the series.

IT’S BEEN A WHILE: Adrian Sampson took the ball for Iowa in the series finale against Toledo on Sunday, suffering his first loss since June 12 against Columbus. Since that start against the Clippers, the righty had won four straight starts and lowered his ERA from 6.92 to 4.94 entering Sunday’s game. Against the Mud Hens, he gave Iowa five-plus innings for the eighth consecutive game, allowing three earned runs on six hits while walking two and striking out five. Sampson did allow a solo home run, allowing at least one long ball in seven of his last eight games.

SHORT HOPS: Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Toledo marked the team’s first loss on a Sunday since falling 6-3 to Columbus on Sunday, June 13...Matt Duffy went 2-for-3 with a double on Sunday and is now hitting .308 in four games on major league rehab with Iowa...52% of Columbus’ hits against Iowa were extra-base hits, including 19 doubles and nine home runs.