June 25 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Louisville Bats

IOWA CUBS (33-36) @ LOUISVILLE BATS (25-44)

Saturday, June 25, 2022 • 6:05 PM CT • Louisville Slugger Field • Louisville, KY

RHP Luke Farrell (2-1, 4.44) vs. RHP Robert Dugger (0-1, 6.26)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa will send Luke Farrell to the mound set to pitch for the second time this series. The righty is 2-1 with a 4.44 ERA through seven games with Iowa this year, including four starts. He has allowed 12 earned runs on 22 hits, walking 13 batters compared to 21 strikeouts. On the other side, Robert Dugger will toe the rubber for the Bats. Dugger is 0-1 with a 6.26 ERA through five starts with Louisville this year, after going 0-2 with a 3.94 ERA in five starts with Triple-A Durham to start the year. With the Bats, he has allowed 16 earned runs on 30 hits over 23.0 innings, walking nine while striking out 17. The 26-year-old is coming off of his longest start of the year against his former team, throwing 5.2 innings despite allowing four runs on 10 hits on Sunday. Dugger is set to make his first appearance of the year against the I-Cubs.

QUITE THE ROLLERCOASTER: This season has been an up-and-down year for Louisville’s starter, getting designated for assignment three times already in the first two months of the year. Robert Dugger was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays on March 20 this year and was assigned to Triple-A Durham the following day. He pitched the first month of the season with the Bulls before getting his contract selected on May 1. The righty was then designated for assignment by Tampa Bay on May 2 and claimed by Cincinnati on May 4. Four days later, he was designated for assignment by the Reds on May 8 and cleared waivers, getting outrighted to Louisville on May 10. Just two days later on May 12, Cincinnati selected his contract yet again and designated him for assignment on May 14. He was outrighted to Louisville on May 16 and has now pitched with the Bats for the last month. He is set to make his fifth consecutive start for the Bats, tying his longest stretch of starts without a transaction all year.

GET ONE OUT: Iowa is currently on a stretch of five games without hitting a home run, dating back to June 19 against Omaha. In those five games they have combined to hit 13 doubles and one triple, including two games with four doubles and one three double game, but haven’t been able to get one to fly over the wall. Their current five-game stretch set their longest of the year without hitting at least home run. The previous long was four straight games, done back on April 29-May 3 when they played four games against Indianapolis and St. Paul. Luckily for Iowa, the lack of home runs hasn’t cost them wins this stretch, as they are 4-1 over their last five games. Entering the game that started their current streak on June 19th they ranked 12th in the International League in home runs with 67 and are now tied for 13th in the league with the same number of long balls. 12 of the team’s 14 hits yesterday were singles, while the other two were doubles.

BACK TO THE START: Luke Farrell is set to make his first start since June 4 when he spun 4.1 innings against St. Paul. Since that start, the righty hit the injured list on June 8 and wasn’t activated until June 21. He pitched the following day, in game two of the current series against Louisville. It was his shortest outing of the season, throwing just one inning of relief. In the outing he walked one batter and struck out two, throwing 13 of his 22 pitches for strikes. Farrell will make his fifth start of the season and first against the Bats tonight, looking to earn his third win of the year and Iowa’s fourth of the series.

GAVE IT HIS ALL: Wyatt Short took the ball for Iowa yesterday in just his third career start. Although he didn’t earn the win due to only throwing four innings, the southpaw did his part in giving Iowa their third win of the series. Short spun four innings of one-run ball, allowing just a solo home run in the second inning as the only damage done against him. The four-inning start marked the longest of his professional career, surpassing his previous long of 3.1 innings. Short has been great for the I-Cubs in the month of June, going 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA over six games. His three strikeouts last night gave him 13 this month and 22 in his 10 games since joining Iowa’s roster on May 19.

OLD FRIENDS: Narciso Crook has been on quite the tear over his last 20 games, hitting .392 (31-for-79) with five doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 20 runs batted in over that stretch. In this current series against his former team the outfielder has a hit in all four of the games he has played, recording a two-hit game on Wednesday and three-hit performances on each Tuesday and last night. After starting the year hitting just .154 (10-for-65) in his first 23 games of the year, Crook has completely turned it around in his last 20, raising his average on the year to .285 (41-for-144). Over his last 20 games, he has recorded at least one hit in 17 of the games, while adding nine multi-hit performances.

EXTEND THE STREAK: Darius Hill didn’t waste any time extending his hitting streak to a season-long 10 games last night, knocking a two-out single to start a rally in the first inning. His single was followed by a single and double, giving Iowa an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Hill ended up going 3-for-5 with two runs scored in his first game hitting out of the three-hole for Iowa. The three-hit game marked already his fifth game with three or more hits as a member of the I-Cubs through his first 17 games with the club. He has now recorded six games with two or more hits and five with three or more over his 10-game stretch, hitting .489 (22-for-45) in those games. Hill is just one game shy of his career long when he had an 11-game streak over two levels back on July 28-August 9. The first seven hits came with Eugene and the final four hits were with South Bend; this 10-game stretch is the longest stretch he has had with one team. Of Hill’s 17 games at Triple-A so far, he has hit safely in 14 of them and did not record an at-bat in one, leaving just two hitless games with the I-Cubs.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: Iowa took a 3-1 series lead and has the chance to earn their second consecutive series win with a victory tonight. Their win last night put their record against Louisville at 6-4 this year, moving it to 9-10 all-time against the Bats here at Louisville Slugger Field. Through their first 10 games this year, Iowa is now outscoring Louisville by 17, at 51-34. In the two seasons the two teams have played, Iowa is four games above the .500 mark against Louisville, going 19-15.

SHORT HOPS: Bryan Hudson spun two perfect innings last night, recording three strikeouts along the way; it marked his third straight game throwing 2.0 innings, as the lefty lowered his ERA to 2.70 with Iowa… Darius Hill ranks seventh on the active roster in hits (29) despite playing in just 17 games with Iowa; all six players in front of him have played 40 or more games with Iowa this year.