Long and Pérez Lift Iowa Over Omaha 8-5

PAPILLION, NEB. – The Iowa Cubs won their third straight against the Omaha Storm Chasers as Jonathon Long went 3-4 with two RBIs and Carlos Pérez drilled his second grand slam of the season for an 8-5 win.

In the third game of this week’s series against Omaha, the I-Cubs scored first again for the third consecutive game as Moises Ballesteros hit a sac fly into center field and scored Hayden Cantrelle for the 1-0 lead. Jonathon Long followed with an RBI-single, his 42nd RBI of the season, and scored Dixon Machado as the lead was extended to 2-0.

Heading into the fourth inning, Iowa opened the game and grew the lead 8-0 as bases were loaded with a Cantrelle single and back-to-back walks drawn by Machado and Christian Franklin, Ballesteros knocked in an RBI-single to score Cantrelle again for a 3-0 lead.

Continuing in the inning, Long drew the team’s sixth walk of the game as bases were loaded and scored Machado for a 4-0 lead. As the bases were still loaded, Carlos Pérez crushed his second grand slam of the season, his ninth homer on the year, as the lead was up to eight runs.

Omaha finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI-double from Diego Castillo. Then, Tyler Tolbert ripped a three-run shot to left field and the Iowa lead was cut down to 8-4.

Starting pitcher Will Sanders earned his second win of the season in his second Iowa Cubs start as he worked 6.0 innings, allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out three for his third career quality start and his second of the season.

The Chasers cut the lead again as a forced out to first plated another run for a 8-5 lead still in favor of Iowa.

Luke Little entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and ninth inning and struck out three to earn his first save of the season and give the I-Cubs an 8-5 win.

The Iowa Cubs continue this week’s seven-game series against the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday, June 6 as the second doubleheader of this week begins at 5:05 p.m. CT. Game two will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.