IOWA CUBS (12-6) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (7-13)
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 • 6:38 PM • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA RHP
Javier Assad (0-0, 6.75) vs. RHP Levi Stoudt (0-1, 4.09)
IOWA CUBS (12-6) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (7-13)
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 • 6:38 PM • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA RHP
Javier Assad (0-0, 6.75) vs. RHP Levi Stoudt (0-1, 4.09)
TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Louisville open their scheduled six-game series tonight at Principal Park. The I-Cubs send Javier Assad to the mound for his second start this year. He tossed 2.2 innings on April 14 against Omaha where he allowed two runs on two hits, two walks and one hit by pitch. Assad has made three appearances with Chicago this year as well. In those outings, he holds a 9.82 ERA with eight strikeouts and four walks and a 0-1 record. Righty Levi Stoudt will make the start for Louisville tonight. In three starts for the Bats, he has struck out 10 while walking nine. Stoudt has allowed five runs on eight hits in 11.0 innings for a 4.80 ERA. He made his Major League debut on April 19 for the Cincinnati Reds against Tampa Bay. In 4.0 innings, Stoudt gave up seven runs on nine hits while striking out three. Tonight will be his first game back with Louisville after his start with Cincinnati.
AT THE TOP: The Louisville Bats come to town for a six-game series against Iowa this week, bringing with them one of the top prospects in the game of baseball right now. Elly De La Cruz is ranked by MLB.com as the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 1 overall prospect and the No. 8 overall ranked prospect in all of baseball. The 21-year-old was signed by Cincinnati is July of 2018 and played in 43 games in the Dominican Summer League in 2019. He had to wait until 2021 to make his United States debut, where he hit .400 with the Rookie-League Reds before getting promoted to Single-A Daytona. The infielder hit .302 in 73 games with Advanced-A Dayton in 2022 earning a promotion to Double-A Chattanooga, where he hit .305 in 47 games. De La Cruz started the 2023 campaign on the injured list, recovering from a left hamstring strain suffered in Spring Training. He has played in just three games prior to this series, hitting .077 (1-for-13) with a double and seven strikeouts.
TURNING THINGS AROUND: Heading into last week’s series in Buffalo, Brennen Davis had just a .121 average. Entering the series tonight, he now has a .228 average. Through his six games he went 9-for-24 (.375) with three runs, one double, a home run and four RBI. In that stretch, Davis had three multi-hit games, including back-to-back three-hit games on Saturday and Sunday. Before the series, he had recorded a hit in just two of his nine games. Against Buffalo, he had at least one in four of six. Another impressive improvement for Davis last weekend was in the strikeout category. Through his first nine games, he struck out ten times, averaging 1.11 per game. In six games, Davis struck out just twice. Both came in the first game of the series on Wednesday night. He is now on a five-game streak with zero punchouts. He enters tonight on a two-game hitting streak, his longest on the year is three.
RUNS AND WALKS: In Sunday afternoon’s contest, the I-Cubs pitching staff combined to walk the Bisons ten times. Rowan Wick, Anthony Kay and Ryan Borucki each delivered two, Cam Sanders walked three and Nick Burdi allowed one. Buffalo scored four of their 11 runs on walks. In the fifth, two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for the Bison. Iowa then walked two more hitters which plated two runs. In the seventh, a walk, single and hit by pitch loaded the bases again for the Bison. Iowa then walked another two hitters to score two additional runs. The four runs from walks proved costly for the I-Cubs as they lost 11-6. The ten walks matched a season-high for Iowa’s pitching staff. The last time it happened was on April 6 in St. Paul.
FAMILIAR FACES: Nick Martini is set to make his return to Principal Park after playing the majority of the 2021 season with Iowa. In 2021, the outfielder hit .267 (72-for-270) with 56 runs scored. He had nine doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 40 RBI in his 78 games, walking 42 times compared to 70 strikeouts. The Crystal Lake native also had four different stints with Chicago that year, hitting .270 in 25 total games for the Cubs. Martini spent the 2022 season in the KBO as a member of the NC Dinos, hitting .296 with 34 doubles and 16 home runs in 139 games. He signed a minor league contract with Cincinnati on February 3, 2023, and has played in 14 games with Louisville entering tonight’s contest.
DO IT AGAIN: Iowa dropped the series finale to the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday by a final score of 11-6. They had already won the series, taking four of the first five games, but Sunday’s loss gave Iowa six on the year, moving their record to 12-6, good for third place in the International League West Division. After each of their first five losses this year, Iowa has come back with a victory in their next game, not yet losing back-to-back contests. In those five games following a loss, Iowa is 5-0, outscoring their opponents by 30 runs.
AGAINST LOUISVILLE: Tonight marks the first game of this week’s scheduled six-game series and the first of 18 games set between Iowa and Louisville. The I-Cubs lead the all-time series 22-20 and lead 13-8 in games at Principal Park. Iowa is on a one-game win streak against the Bats, that victory came on Aug. 14, 2022.
SHORT HOPS: Three I-Cubs had three-hit games on Sunday afternoon, Matt Mervis, David Bote and Brennen Davis, the most of any game this year … Christopher Morel recorded an 11-game hitting streak from April 8 – April 22 … Morel has reached base in all 18 games this season, the second longest streak in the International League.
