May 27 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Nashville Sounds

IOWA CUBS (27-19) @ NASHVILLE SOUNDS (25-23)

Saturday, May 27, 2023 • 6:35 PM • First Horizon Park • Nashville, TN

RHP Ben Brown (1-2, 4.34) vs. RHP Caleb Boushley (2-1, 4.50)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Nashville will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with the series tied at two games apiece. Ben Brown will take the ball for Iowa, looking to break his two-game losing streak. Through his first two starts with Iowa, the No. 6 ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system was 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA, but has since allowed eight earned runs on nine hits over his last 8.0 innings pitched. In all with Iowa, he is 1-2 with a 4.34 ERA, allowing 10 walks compared to 25 strikeouts over his 18.2 innings. Caleb Boushley gets the call for the Sounds, set to make his 11th start of the season. Through his first 10 starts, the righty is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA, allowing 20 earned runs on 40 hits and 15 walks. He has struck out 34 batters, allowing opponents to hit .261 against him in his 40.0 innings pitched. Boushley leads the team in starts with two more than any other Sounds player and is third in innings.

AMAYA GOES YARD: Catcher Miguel Amaya has certainly found his groove with Iowa after making his major league debut and spending a week with Chicago earlier this month. After a slow start in his first couple of games at the Triple-A level when he went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts, the Cubs’ No. 14 ranked prospect was able to get back on the right track. The Panama native had himself a day in his third game as an I-Cub with a 4-for-4, two double, and one RBI performance versus Toledo. Amaya has since continued to show his offensive prowess. In Thursday’s 12-5 victory over Nashville the 24-year-old was a top producer going 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI. Last night, Amaya went 2-for-3 at the plate and hit his first career Triple-A home run. Amaya has now played in 10 games for Iowa and is hitting at a clip of .375 (12-for-32) with four doubles, one home run, and eight RBI.

MADRIGAL ADDITION: The Iowa Cubs in conjunction with Chicago announced the addition of Nick Madrigal to the roster this afternoon. The infielder has spent the entire 2023 season up in the big leagues with Chicago until this point and played in 34 games for the Cubs. In those 34 games with Chicago, Madrigal hit at a clip of .247 with 13 runs scored, nine RBI, and two stolen bases. The fourth overall pick from the 2018 draft last saw action when Chicago traveled to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in a three-game series back on May 19-21. Madrigal went 2-for-6 (.333) at the plate against Philadelphia with two runs scored, two RBI, one walk, and one strikeout. Madrigal has spent time with Iowa previously as the 26-year-old logged 12 games for the I-Cubs in 2022. In those 12 games for Iowa last season, Madrigal hit .308 (12-for-39) with one double and five RBI.

BROWN ON THE BUMP: Iowa’s starting pitcher for tonight’s contest against Nashville will be 23-year-old Ben Brown. The hard-throwing right-hander is currently the highest ranked prospect at No. 6 in the Cubs’ organization on Iowa’s roster and will be looking to get back in the win column with his outing tonight. Brown got off to an impressive start with the I-Cubs when he made his Triple-A debut back on May 4 in Columbus. In that contest, Brown tossed 5.2 innings and allowed just one run on three hits to go along with seven strikeouts and just to walks issued. The East Setauket, New York native followed that up with 10-strikeout performance, the most by an Iowa pitcher this season, where he didn’t allow a run over five innings of work in his Principal Park debut versus Toledo on May 10. The last two outings for Brown have not been so spectacular, however. On May 16 against Indianapolis, Brown suffered the loss and set new career-highs allowing seven earned runs off seven hits, three of which were home runs. Five days later, on May 21, Indianapolis handed Brown another loss although his outing was much better with Brown giving up just one run on two hits and striking six over four innings.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: In last night’s 7-4 loss the Iowa pitching staff gave up five doubles to four different members of Nashville. Luke Voit hit two while Jon Singleton, Payton Henry, and Blake Perkins all recorded one. Those five doubles from the Nashville offense proved to be costly as they drove in five of the seven runs scored by the Sounds. It also tied the season-high in doubles hit by an opposing team in a game against Iowa. The I-Cubs have now allowed an opponent to hit five doubles in a game four times this season.

AGAINST NASHVILLE: The series has gone back-and-forth with Iowa winning games one and three and the Sounds taking games two and four, to be even entering game five of their six-game series tonight. With last night’s three-run loss, Iowa is trailing the series scoring by four runs now, at 26-22. The enter tonight’s contest 30 games below .500 on the road all-time against Nashville at 75-105, while going 165-192 overall all-time against the Sounds.

SHORT HOPS: After a series split against Indianapolis and starting their current series tied 2-2 through the first four games, Iowa has played an even .500 on their 12-game road trip, going 5-5 through their first 10 games… Jon Singletonhas recorded a hit in each of the first four games this series against Iowa, becoming the fifth player to have a four-game hitting streak against the I-Cubs; no player has had a five-game streak against Iowa this year.