Iowa Takes Series Victory Over Nashville In Wild Finale

NASHVILLE, TN – The Iowa Cubs (29-19) took the series win over the Nashville Sounds (25-25) after winning the series finale on Sunday afternoon by a score of 14-9 from First Horizon Park.

It was the Sounds who got on the scoreboard first in the Sunday matinee with one run in the first inning. Following a double from Luis Urías, who is on a Major League Rehab assignment, fellow Major League rehabber, Luke Voit hit a single to left field to plate the first run of the game. Nashville added another run in the second inning to go up 2-0 from a sacrifice fly by Eddy Alvarez after Alex Jackson tripled to lead off the frame.

The I-Cubs responded with a big third inning, however, to jump out in front. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Darius Hill singled to bring in one run and cut the deficit in half. A couple of batters later, Jared Young brought the score even with a sacrifice fly. Iowa kept the inning going thanks to the bat of Nelson Velazquez, which laced a two-RBI single back up the middle making it a 4-2 ballgame.

In the top of the fifth, Iowa increased its lead to 5-2 when Nick Madrigal scored Hill on sharply hit single. Hill placed himself in scoring position the at-bat prior to Madrigal with a double off the wall in right field for his second hit of the afternoon.

The Sounds got one run back in the bottom of the frame on a single by Patrick Dorrian to return it to a two-run lead for Iowa after five innings. Iowa’s starter Caleb Kilian's day was done after the fifth and the right-hander finished with a final line of 5.0 innings pitched, three runs allowed on seven hits, two walks, and six strikeouts.

It was in the sixth inning when Nashville reclaimed the lead from Iowa. With Keegan Thompson on in relief, the Sounds scored four runs on four hits to put the score at 7-5. Cam Devanney started the scoring for Nashville with a RBI double, while Michael Reed and Urias followed with a pair of RBI groundouts. Voit drove in the final run of the frame on an RBI single.

The back and forth actioned continued in the seventh with Iowa scoring four runs in a frame for the second time in the contest. Hill kept his hot day at the plate going with an RBI single scoring Yonathan Perlaza. Velázquez tacked on another RBI to his stat line with an RBI ground-rule double and Jake Slaughter immediately followed with a two-RBI double of his own. With the four runs scored, the I-Cubs found themselves back in front by a score of 9-7.

The theme of the game continued with Nashville getting a run back in their turn of at-bats in the seventh cutting Iowa’s lead to one at 9-8. With two runners in scoring position, Devanney recorded a sacrifice fly. That would be all for the Sounds, however, with Tyler Duffey recording a strikeout to stop the threat.

Iowa’s offense wasn’t done when the game moved into the eighth inning. The I-Cubs tallied their third four-run frame of the game to provide some breathing room with the score now being 13-8. Perlaza brought in the first run on an RBI double and later scored on a wild pitch. Madrigal slapped a triple to right field to score another and Young knocked in two with a double.

Despite Nashville scoring one run in the eighth off a Voit double, it was Iowa to score the last run of the game. In the top of the ninth, Perlaza took a pitch from Robert Stock over the right field fence for a solo home run. It was Perlaza’s third hit of the afternoon and his third home run of the season. Brendon Littlewas brought on in relief and secured the win for the I-Cubs.

POSTGAME NOTES:
• Iowa racked up 14 hits in the contest and Darius Hill tallied four of them. It marked the fourth time this season an I-Cub totaled four hits in a game and the second time it was achieved by Hill this season.
• Miguel Amaya and Brennen Davis were the only to I-Cubs to not record a hit in the game. Amaya went 0-for-5 and Davis went 0-for-3 with two runs scored.
• Yonathan Perlaza extended his hitting streak to nine games with a three-hit performance today. Perlaza’s nine-game hitting streak is the longest currently active streak for Iowa and is tied for the third-longest hitting streak by an I-Cub in 2023.

Iowa will now return home for the first time in two weeks and is slated to play a six-game series versus the Columbus Clippers. The series opener between the I-Cubs and the Clippers is scheduled for Tuesday, May 30, with first pitch at 6:38 PM CT. You can listen to all Iowa Cubs games on Hope AM940 and stream them for free on the Bally Live App. For more information and tickets, visit www.iowacubs.com.