May 10 Games Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Columbus Clippers

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Columbus Clippers will take the field for the fourth game in their current six-game series...the I-Cubs will send right-handed pitcher Cade Horton to the mound for his second career Triple-A start...opposite Horton will be righty Xzavion Curry for Columbus, making his sixth appearance (fifth start).

YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The I-Cubs fell in 10 innings to the Clippers, 6-4, yesterday... it marked the sixth time Iowa has gone to extra innings this season and the second time this series...the I-Cubs fell to 2-4 in extra-inning games this season and have lost both extra-inning contests this series, following their 6-5 loss on Tuesday night (10 innings).

CADE DAY: Cubs’ No. 2 prospect and No. 22 prospect in all of baseball (MLB.com) Cade Horton is slated to make his second Triple-A start tonight after joining Iowa from Double-A Tennessee on April 30...despite being the losing pitcher in his first start on May 4, Cade pitched 4.0 innings and allowed two runs (all in the second inning) on two hits, four walks and six strikeouts...in four starts with Tennessee this season, Horton went 1-0 with a 1.10 ERA (2 ER in 16.1 IP) and 18 strikeouts...at the time of his promotion to Iowa, Cade was one of two pitchers in the Southern League to have thrown at least 15.0 innings and have an ERA under 1.15, along with Brendan McKay (1.00 ERA).

VS COLUMBUS: Iowa and Columbus are set to play their first series of the season and first since they played a three-game set from July 14-16, 2023 at Columbus in which the I-Cubs took two of the three games... the two teams played 20 games last season and they split the series 10-10...at home, the I-Cubs went 6-4 vs. the Clippers.

NO MAY FLOWERS: The I-Cubs finished April with a 14-10 record and batted .276 with a 4.24 ERA but have faltered in May winning just two of their nine games... Iowa is slashing .215/.344/.334 and have posted a 5.63 ERA in May...in April, Iowa’s 4.24 ERA was second-best in the International League and they scored the sixth-most runs with 130...the I-Cubs have scored just 40 runs this month which ranks 14th in the IL and their 5.63 ERA ranks 18th.

STREAK SNAPPED: The I-Cubs were able to snap their longest losing streak of the season at six games on Wednesday by defeating Columbus in an unconventional walk-off...down two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Clippers pitcher Franco Aleman was removed from the game and outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola was brought in to pitch...Cedrola proceeded to get one out, but then hit a batter and walk the next two...the last walk came with the bases loaded and pushed the winning run across the plate for Iowa...Wednesday’s game marked the fourth walk-off win of the season for Iowa and the sixth comeback win of the season...the I-Cubs also drew 12 walks in the game, which marked the most they have drawn in a game this season...it was also the second time this season that a position player came into pitch against Iowa ...the other occurrence of a position player pitching against Iowa came on April 26 against Buffalo with Max McDowellon the mound for the Bisons.

ROW THE BOTE: Iowa infielder David Bote led Iowa offensively for the second straight game yesterday...Bote went 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI, giving him his first multi-homer game since May 28, 2019 at Houston with the Chicago Cubs...Bote is the third I-Cub this season to have a two-homer game, following Luis Vazquez on April 9 at St. Paul and Matt Mervis on April 12 at St. Paul...on Wednesday, Bote went 4-for-5 with two doubles and it marked his first four-hit game since June 5, 2019 vs. Colorado with the Cubs.

WORKING DOWNHILL: Iowa outfielder Darius Hillhad his nine-game hit streak snapped on May 4 vs. Omaha as he went 0-for-4, but he has still reached base safely in 13 straight games dating back to April 21...it marks his longest such streak since he reached in 16 straight contests from June 5-25, 2021 with Double-A Tennessee...during his nine-game hitting streak, which went from April 21-May 4, he hit .429 (15-for-35) with five runs scored, four doubles and five RBI during that span...it marked the longest such streak by an I-Cub since Bryce Windham from Aug. 30-Sept 20, 2023 (10G).