June 2 Game Notes: Iowa @ Omaha

IOWA CUBS (9-14) @ OMAHA STORM CHASERS (17-7)

Wednesday, June 2, 2021 • 7:05 PM • Werner Park • Papillion, NE

RHP Alec Mills (0-2, 11.12) vs. RHP Jackson Kowar (5-0, 1.01)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The I-Cubs look to break their season-long nine-game losing streak tonight against Omaha. Righty Alec Mills will take the ball in his third major league rehab appearance with the I-Cubs. For Omaha, Jackson Kowar takes the hill, looking to get his sixth win in as many starts. Kowar leads the Triple-A East in wins (5), is third in strikeouts (36), fourth in ERA (1.01), fifth in innings pitched (26.2), sixth in batting average against (.183) and eighth in WHIP (0.98).

LEAVE ‘EM ON: Despite their recent struggles, the Iowa bullpen has remained excellent at stranding inherited runners. With Dakota Mekkes leaving Ryan McBroom at second base last night, the bullpen has now prevented 14 of the 16 runners they’ve inherited so far this season from scoring. That makes just 12.5% who have scored. Both of the inherited runners who reached home came in games against St. Paul - one on May 12, when Michael Rucker allowed Ben Holmes’ run to score on a double, and one on May 26, when Kyle Ryan allowed Trevor Megill's run to score on a sacrifice fly.

ROSTER SWAP: Iowa’s lineup is expected to feature three players on Major League rehab tonight in starting pitcher Alec Mills and outfielders Jason Heyward and Jake Marisnick. Mills was placed on the 10-day IL on May 16th with a lower back strain and will be making the third start of his rehab assignment, which began on May 23. Marisnick and Heyward were placed on the 10-day IL on May 11 and May 20 respectively, both with hamstring strains, and both are expected to join the I-Cubs for the first time tonight in Omaha. With the three rehabbers and Tony Wolters, the I-Cubs now feature four players from Chicago’s opening day roster. The Chicago Cubs, on the other hand, currently hold eight players from Iowa’s opening day roster, including one starter, two relievers and five position players.

WRONG KIND OF HISTORY: After last night’s loss, the I-Cubs have now lost a season-long nine straight games. The current streak is the longest skid since the 2013 I-Cubs lost nine straight. Before that, the 2006 team also lost nine in a row and the 2000 I-Cubs dropped 12 straight games from April 12-23. That team held a 57-87 overall record, including a 14-25 mark in one-run games (3-13 on the road), a 4-66 record when trailing after six innings, and a 6-17 record in the month of April. The 2021 I-Cubs finished the month of May at 9-13, with a 6-10 mark at Principal Park.

AT LAST: Trayce Thompson hit a solo shot in the sixth inning last night to tie the game at 3-3, his second home run with the I-Cubs. For Iowa, it was the team’s first long ball since Jacob Olson hit one in the seventh inning on Sunday, May 22, against Omaha. Since that home run, Iowa has played six complete games and parts of two others, spanning 224 at-bats as a team before Thompson hit his last night. In all the time it took Iowa to hit one home run, the pitching staff surrendered 12 home runs.

WALK OFF WOES: After last night’s loss, Iowa has now been walked off twice this season, and both winning runs have come via the long ball. Ryan O'Hearn's two-run homer for Omaha joins Ryan Jeffers' May 15th solo shot for St. Paul. While those are the only two walk-off home runs, Iowa’s bullpen has been troubled by the long ball late in games. Of the 34 homers the pitching staff has allowed, ten of them - or nearly 30% - have come in the ninth inning. They’ve also given up five in the seventh inning and two in the eighth, meaning half of all the home runs Iowa has allowed have come in the final three frames.

DIFFERENT ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM: Since Iowa and Omaha met on Saturday, May 22, the two teams have gone in completely opposite directions. Omaha won that game 7-1 over Iowa, and hasn’t looked back since. The Storm Chasers have won nine straight games, climbing into first in the division with a 17-7 record. On the other hand, Iowa hasn’t won since that game on May 22, dropping their last nine games. They have fallen to 9-14 and are 7.5 games out of the division lead, currently sitting in fifth place. After last night, Omaha is 11-2 at Werner Park this season, and Iowa is 3-4 on the road.

STRIKEOUT STREAK: Despite the loss, Iowa’s pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts last night. That marks the 17th double-digit strikeout game this season and the ninth straight for the I-Cubs. The double-digit streak began May 22 against Omaha, meaning the pitchers have racked up at least ten punch outs in each of the games in their nine-game losing streak. Overall, the staff has registered 250 strikeouts on the season, accounting for 40.7% of the total outs they’ve recorded. On the other side of the ball, the I-Cubs hitters struck out only five times last night, which marks a season low. The performance replaces their previous low of six, which also came against Omaha on May 20.

NEW APPROACH: Dakota Mekkes tossed two more innings of scoreless relief last night, lowering his ERA on the season to 2.19 (3 ER / 12.1 IP). The righty has become more of a long-relief pitcher than he has ever been previously in his career. In 2019, he pitched in 43 total games for Iowa, throwing more than one inning in 16 of those 43 games. In six of the 43 games, Mekkes failed to complete a full inning, something he has yet to do this year. This season, he has tossed at least two innings in five of his six appearances for the I-Cubs. The only game he didn’t complete two or more innings was in his first outing of the year, when he spun 1.1 innings on May 6 against Indianapolis. In two games with Double-A Tennessee, Mekkes also tossed 1.1 innings in his first outing, and two innings in his second game. On May 28, against St. Paul, Mekkes threw three innings of relief for just the second time in his career. The first was on April 10, 2017, with South Bend. In his three innings last Friday, the reliever allowed just one hit and struck out four.

AGAINST OMAHA: The Storm Chasers’ win last night gave them an early 1-0 lead in the six-game set and evened the season series at three a piece. Iowa took the first three games at home and Omaha has won the three games since, including the last two at Principal Park. In 2019, Iowa was 7-1 against Omaha at Werner Park.

JUNE STRUGGLES: With their loss last night to Omaha, Iowa fell to 9-14 overall and 0-1 in the month of June, marking their fourth straight season losing on June 1. In games on June 1 since 2017, the I-Cubs have been outscored 22-9, losing by one, two, three and seven runs. The last time Iowa won on June 1 was in 2016, when they beat Oklahoma City 5-4. On June 2, 2017, Iowa lost 12-3 and in 2018 lost 14-11, but broke the streak with a 8-5 win over Round Rock in 2019. Tonight, the I-Cubs will look to break their season-long nine-game losing streak and follow Iowa’s 2019 team with a win on June 2.

SHORT HOPS: With last night’s loss, the I-Cubs are now 0-4 when they score three runs and 1-10 when they score three or less...Trayce Thompson's home run was the first long ball for Iowa ha since May 23rd, breaking a six-game homer-less streak...Iowa’s nine-game losing skid is the longest current streak in all of Triple-A baseball...Alec Mills’ 11.12 ERA is the highest of any pitcher on Iowa’s roster.