August 18 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Louisville Bats

IOWA CUBS (67-47) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (61-54)

Friday, August 18 • 7:08 PM • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

LHP Brendon Little (2-2, 4.82) vs. RHP Ben Lively (4-0, 4.23)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The I-Cubs and Bats will play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Brendon Little set to take the mound for Iowa. Little enters tonight’s game with a 2-2 record and a 4.82 ERA in 38 games this year, allowing 28 earned runs on 53 hits and 31 walks. He has struck out 56 batters in his 52.1 innings, while opponents are hitting .270 against him. The southpaw will be making his second start of the year and 41st of his minor league career tonight, as his last start came on July 29 against Memphis. In that outing, Little allowed three earned runs on five hits and struck out two in 2.2 innings pitched. Opposite of Little will be major league rehabber Ben Lively getting the nod for Louisville, set to make his seventh outing and sixth start with the Bats. In his previous six games, the righty is 4-0 with a 4.23 ERA, allowing 13 earned runs on 25 hits and 11 walks while striking out 16 batters in 27.2 innings pitched. Lively has had an up-and-down season, getting his contract selected by Cincinnati on May 9 but having two stints on the injured list since then. He was placed on the 15-day IL back on June 24 with a right pectoral strain, activated him on July 9 but placed him back on the injured list with the same injury on August 2. In his lone outing against Iowa this year, Lively earned the win, tossing five shutout innings while allowing just one hit and two walks, fanning three along the way.

KEPT IT ALIVE: With his single in the bottom of the fifth inning last night, Pete Crow-Armstrong kept his hitting streak alive, extending it to 11 games. The 11-game streak ties a season high for Iowa set by Christopher Morel back from April 8-22. Crow-Armstrong’s single not only extended his hitting streak to 11 games, it also grew his on-base streak to 13 games. The 21-year-old has now reached base in all 13 games he has played at Triple-A, taking a walk in his first game and getting hit by a pitch in his second game before the hitting streak began. In 13 games, the outfielder is hitting .302 (16-for-53) with three doubles, four home runs, nine runs batted in and 10 walks compared to 15 strikeouts. His 10 walks and one hit by pitch have bumped his on-base percentage to .422 to go along with a .585 slugging percentage.

FORMER FRIENDS: Jason Vosler and Nick Martini are familiar with playing here at Principal Park, as each of them called it home for over 60 games in previous seasons. Vosler, a 16th round draft pick of the Cubs in 2014, played in 63 games with Iowa in 2018. The 29-year-old hit .263 (62-for-236) with 11 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs and 47 runs batted in that year. Martini played more recently with Iowa, signing with Chicago in 2021. That season, he played in 78 games for the I-Cubs, hitting .267 (72-for-270) with nine doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 40 RBI. He took 42 walks compared to 70 strikeouts that year with Iowa, raising his on-base percentage to .387. So far this series, both players have done damage against Iowa, as Vosler is 2-for-8 with two home runs and six runs driven in. Martini is 3-for-11 after going 3-for-5 last night with a double and an RBI. Martini didn’t record a hit in the first two games of the series but took two walks in each game, while Vosler also has two walks in his two games played.

STARTING WITH THE BULLPEN: The I-Cubs have sent a bullpen arm to make the start seven times this season. Tyler Duffey and Michael Rucker have made two starts each while Anthony Kay, Brendon Little and Rowan Wick all have made one. The group of pitchers have combined for 112 relief appearances versus their seven starts. Iowa is 3-4 when they’ve given a reliever the starting nod. Across these seven starts, the pitchers have gone 17.2 innings where they’ve allowed 14 runs, 12 earned, for a 6.28 ERA. They’ve struck out 18 hitters and walked seven. The bullpen starters ERA is far above the average clip for starting pitchers of 4.65. The I-Cubs will send another reliever to start tonight with Brendon Little. In his only start this season, Little allowed three runs on five hits in 2.2 innings. The start came on July 29 against Memphis. The lefty has made five relief appearances since his last start.

PUT IT IN PLAY: Iowa struck out 16 times as a team last night in their one-run extra-inning loss, going just 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position. All but one of the nine starters had at least one strikeout, with six recording multi-strikeout games. Miles Mastrobuoni and Matt Mervis led the way with three strikeouts each coming from the two and three spot in Iowa’s lineup. The top five hitters in the lineup each had two or more strikeouts, combining for 12 of Iowa’s 16 as a team. All five of Louisville’s pitchers recorded at least one strikeout and they were led by their starter Lyon Richardson, who fanned seven over his 3.2 innings pitched.

START A NEW ONE: Iowa had their season-long seven-game winning streak snapped last night with their extra-inning loss to Louisville. The I-Cubs had won seven straight games, putting their season record at 67-46, a season-high 21 games above .500. Their winning streak also put them right in the playoff discussion, leading the International League West division and trailing the second-half leader by just one game. Their seven-game streak was the longest since 2018, when they won eight games from May 1-7.

AGAINST LOUISVILLE: After their loss last night, Iowa’s series lead dropped to one game, as they lead the current series 2-1 entering game four tonight. The I-Cubs are now 6-3 in nine games against Louisville this year, with all nine games coming at Principal Park. They moved to 28-23 all-time overall against the Bats, going 19-11 all-time here at Principal Park. Iowa and Louisville are set to play three more games at Principal Park this year before ending the season with a six-game series at Louisville Slugger Field.

SHORT HOPS: Richard Bleier made his Cubs organizational debut last night, allowing one run on two hits and a walk while striking out two batters in 1.1 innings pitched… Tyler Duffey suffered his first loss of the season last night, moving to 4-1 this year with Iowa…last night was just Iowa’s second loss when leading after seven innings, moving to 51-2 in those games…the I-Cubs dropped to 21-5 overall and 10-2 at home in one-run games with their 6-5 loss last night.