Iowa Cubs (31-41) at Round Rock Express (34-38)RHP Zach Hedges (0-1, 10.80) vs. RHP Clayton Blackburn (1-0, 4.67)7:05 p.m. | Del Diamond | Round Rock, TX
Iowa Cubs (31-41) at Round Rock Express (34-38)
RHP Zach Hedges (0-1, 10.80) vs. RHP Clayton Blackburn (1-0, 4.67)
7:05 p.m. | Del Diamond | Round Rock, TX
TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Round Rock square off in their third series of the season. Round Rock took the first two series of the season, one at Principal Park and one at Dell Diamond. The I-Cubs come into tonight's game having just won their first series since May 15-18 against Las Vegas at Cashman Field. They won three of their last four against the Omaha Storm Chasers. Round Rock comes into the four-game set having lost three straight games in a four-game series against the Memphis Redbirds.
ZAGUNIS GETS ZIGGY: Mark Zagunis has been an on-base machine throughout his minor league career, and this season has proven it further. While he has struggled to hit at times this season, one thing he has been consistent with is getting on base. Zagunis reached base three times in Tuesday's game game with two hits and his league-leading 48th walk. Zagunis has reached base safely in all but four games dating back to May 1. Zagunis' on-base percentage is tied for ninth in the league at .399. He has also seen an upsurge in his power as well. On Tuesday, Zagunis hit a deep shot to left field to hit his team-leading 11th homerun of the season. The homerun set his career-high for a season, with the previous high being 10 homers between Iowa and Tennessee last year.
LIGHT SHOW: Following a brief six-game stint in Chicago, Jeimer Candelario seemed lost at the plate. In his first 24 games back, Candelario was just 15-for-84 (.179) with seven runs scored, five doubles, two home runs, 12 RBIs and eight walks, all while striking out 19 times. However, in his last eight games, he has gone 9-for-32 (.281) with five runs, four doubles and two homeruns while knocking in six runners. Candelario's hot streak continued Tuesday when he hit a moonshot for his ninth homer of the season. The homerun soared far over the left field wall before clanging off the light post.
SHOWING SIGNS OF LIFE: With two more hits on Tuesday, Chris Dominguez continued to show some pop in his bat after having a rough 10-game stretch. Coming into Monday's game, Dominguez had been just 4-for-33 (.121) in his last 10 games. In those games, he had managed to score just two runs, hit one double and one home run and knock in three runners. In his last two games, he is 3-for-7 with two runs scored, a homerun, an RBI and just one strikeout.
CAN'T KEEP HIM DOWN: Hot-hitting Victor Caratini had a big game in the opening game of the series against Omaha, going 3-for-4 with one run scored and three RBIs. In the middle two games of the series, Caratini went 0-for-6 with a run scored, a walk, an RBI and a strikeout. On Tuesday, Candelario broke out of his short slump by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and a deep homerun to center field to score the first run of the afternoon for either club.
AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Iowa and Round Rock are meeting for the third of four series this season. In their first seven games this season, Round Rock has dominated Iowa, owning a 5-2 record against the I-Cubs. Going back to last season, Round Rock has won 19 of the last 23 games between the two clubs. The two teams haven't met since April 22-25 at Round Rock. Iowa won the first game of the series before losing the last three of the set.
BREAKING THE STREAK: With a win Tuesday, Iowa won their series against Omaha 3-1. Iowa had dropped seven straight series coming into the series against Omaha. The last time Iowa failed to win seven or more straight series was from June 30 to August 11, 2016 when they failed to win 10-straight series. In that span last season, Iowa had just a 13-28 record and were outscored 216 to 168. In the last seven series coming into the four-game set with Omaha, Iowa had lost four series and tied three. The I-Cubs had been outscored 146 to 95 in that time before outscoring Omaha 31 to 13.
MUCH NEEDED REST: Chesny Young had been one of Iowa's hottest hitters in mid-May. Since that time, he has slowed down slightly. In the last two games against Omaha, he went 3-for-6, snapping a streak where he had failed to reach base safely in 11 of his previous 12 at-bats with four strikeouts.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Lefty reliever Zac Rosscup is having a phenomenal bounce-back season after missing all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery. With the exception of a spot start on June 10 in which he gave up two runs in 3.0 innings, Rosscup has not surrendered a run in his last seven appearances. In those seven games, spanning 9.0 innings, Rosscup has allowed just four hits, while walking five and striking out nine batters. Rosscup owns a 2.19 ERA in 16 games as a reliever this season.
STARTING STRONG: Jacob Hannemann continued his hot start as an I-Cub with a 1-for-4 performance on Tuesday. Hannemann beat out an infield single in the third before Candelario crushed a homerun to left to bring him in. After hitting just .188 in Double-A Tennessee before being called up to Iowa, Hannemann is hitting .311 (19-for-61) in 16 games.
SHORT HOPS: Williams Pérez won his second straight start on Tuesday after starting the season with an 0-7 mark...Mark Zagunis leads the PCL with 48 walks...Five Iowa batters recorded multi-hit games Tuesday, with only two starters failing to get a hit (John Andreoli and Elliot Soto)...Manny Parra has allowed just three runs in his last seven appearances.
