July 25 Game Notes: Iowa @ Columbus

IOWA CUBS (29-39) @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (30-39)

Sunday, July 25, 2021 • 3:05 PM CT • Huntington Park • Columbus, OH

RHP Mike Hauschild (0-3, 5.96) vs. RHP Zack Godley (3-4, 4.63)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Columbus will match up for the sixth and final game of the series tonight at Huntington Park, with Iowa looking to take the series win. It will be a pitching re-match of the first game of the series, a game in which Iowa won 15-7. The I-Cubs will send out righty Mike Hauschild to the mound, in search of his first win of the year for the team. He will make his second start of the series, after allowing season highs in both earned runs (6) and home runs (4) in the first game. His four home runs allowed to the Clippers also set a career high. Zack Godley will toe the rubber for Columbus, also making his second start of the series. He suffered the loss in Tuesday’s game, allowing eight runs on two home runs through four innings of work.

TAKE THE SERIES: Iowa has the chance to win their first series since taking four-of-six from Indianapolis back on June 29 to July 4. Against the Indians, they won the first game, dropped the next two, and took the final three games, winning the series 4-2. They are in a situation to do the same thing now, after winning game one against Columbus, dropping the next two and now winning two in a row. The I-Cubs are no stranger to winning the later games of a series, taking the final three games from both Indianapolis in their series from June 29-July 4, and St. Paul from July 6-11.

EN FUEGO: With two more hits last night, Andrew Romine is now hitting .500 (9-for-18) this series against Columbus. He has two doubles, a triple, two runs batted in and one walk compared to two strikeouts. The infielder has registered five multi-hit games this year against Columbus, while playing in seven total games against the Clippers. He also extended his hitting streak to tie a season-long five games, set earlier this month, from July 9-14. Since July 9, the switch-hitter is batting .426 (20-for-47), tallying one hit in all but two games. He also has now registered multi-hit games in five of the 13 contests.

WALK THIS WAY: Alfonso Rivas extended his hitting streak to six games and his on-base streak to 24 games with a double last night. He also set a season high for an Iowa Cubs batter this year with four walks, reaching base in every plate appearance. His four walks last night made it eight total free passes he has now taken in this series against the Clippers. Over his 24 game on-base streak dating back to June 25, Rivas is hitting .306 (26-for-85) with six doubles, four home runs, 15 runs batted in and now 17 walks compared to 18 strikeouts.

FORGET ABOUT IT: With runners on second and third and the I-Cubs killer Nolan Jones stepping to the plate in the fifth inning, manager Marty Pevey turned to Jake Jewell out of the bullpen. Owen Miller had just given the Clippers a 3-2 lead with a two-out double, knocking starter Adrian Sampson out of the game. Jewell entered to face Jones, and retired Cleveland’s top prospect with a strikeout. He would go on to throw the sixth inning as well, striking out two of the three batters he faced in that inning. After stranding the two runners that were on-base when he entered the game, Jewell remained perfect at stranding inherited runners this year. He has now allowed zero of the 13 stranded runners he has inherited to come in to score.

HE’S BACK: In Thursday’s walk-off loss, Ben Leeper threw just five pitches in the ninth inning before allowing Trenton Brooks to hit the game winning home run against him. It was the first loss of Leeper’s Triple-A career, and the second consecutive outing allowing a home run after not allowing a hit in his first 11 games. Last night, the reliever bounced back, earning his second win of the season after throwing 2.0 clean innings. The two innings matched his longest outing of the season with the I-Cubs. The righty allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out four Clippers’ batters in the win.

LIMITING THE DAMAGE: Despite allowing a fair share of runners to reach base yesterday, Iowa did a good job of working around 12 hits, a hit batter and five walks. They stranded 11 Columbus runners on base, forcing the Clippers to go just 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position. The I-Cubs used two double plays and 11 strikeouts to limit Columbus to their five runs.

AGAINST COLUMBUS: After being down in the series two games to one, Iowa has rattled off two wins in a row, and now has the chance to take the series in tonight’s game. The I-Cubs lost five-of-six at home against the Clippers, so the season series is now sitting at a record of 7-4 in Columbus’ favor. Iowa is now out-scoring the Clippers 40-27 this series, and, for the first time all year, lead the season series by six runs, 71-65.

MAKING THE CLIMB: From May 22 to June 13, Iowa lost 18 of the 20 games they played, going on losing streaks of nine games and seven games. Over this span, they fell from second place, just one half of a game out of first, all the way to last place (seventh), 13.5 games out of the top-spot. With back-to-back wins in their last two games, Iowa moved 11.5 games back of first place in the Triple-A East Midwest division for the first time since June 9, towards the end of that losing stretch. Since June 13, Iowa has played above the .500 mark, going 18-16 in their last 34 games.

SHORT HOPS: Last night’s win marked the third win of the season for Iowa when allowing their opponent to register 10 or more hits, they are now 3-17 in that category on the year...the I-Cubs entered last night’s game with four runs in their first four extra inning games, doubling their total with four runs in the tenth inning last night...with back-to-back nine-run games, Iowa is now 6-0 when scoring nine runs this year...Nick Martini notched his fourth outfield assist last night, moving to second on the team with four, one behind fellow outfielder Ian Miller.