Game Notes - 7.29.17 at Albuquerque

Iowa Cubs (48-55) vs. Albuquerque Isotopes (54-52)
RHP Aaron Brooks (5-8, 6.11) vs. LHP Sam Howard (3-2, 5.13)
8:05 p.m. CT | Isotopes Ballpark | Albuquerque, NM

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and Albuquerque meet in the series opener tonight at Isotopes Ballpark. The I-Cubs are coming off a 3-1 series win over El Paso. That series win was their first road series win in over two months. Righty Aaron Brooks (5-8, 6.11) will get the ball for Iowa, looking for his first win since July 3.
OH HEY, IT'S JEI: After a 3-for-5 performance, with two homers last night, Jeimer Candelario seems to have found his groove. The switch hitter had struggled since being sent to Iowa from Chicago. Dating back to July 19, he has reached base safely in all nine games, hit safely in eight of the nine games and is batting at a .382 (13-for-34) clip since that time. To go with that, Candelario has scored seven runs, hit four doubles, hit two home runs and has knocked in 10 runners. In addition, he has walked seven times and struck out seven times. His .488 on-base percentage over that stretch is sixth-best in the PCL.
ONE-RUN IS JUST ENOUGH: Iowa played in its fourth straight one-run game last night, defeating El Paso 9-8. The I-Cubs have now played in 34 one-run games this season, tied for most in the PCL with Sacramento. Iowa owns a 19-15 record in one-run contests, with its .559 winning percentage ranking sixth-best in the PCL. Iowa owns a record of 3-1 in its last four one-run games. With last night's game, Iowa played in its fourth straight one-run game for the first time since May 16-19 this season, winning all four of those games by one run. If Iowa plays in another one-run game tonight, it will be the first time they have played in five straight one-run contests since June 25-28, 2016 at Oklahoma City, where they captured the 3-2 series win over the Dodgers.
ROAD SERIES DROUGHT SNAPPED: With their win last night, the I-Cubs won their first road series in over two months, when they took three of four from Las Vegas in mid-May. Since that series, Iowa had played in six road series, going 0-3-3. It was the longest drought between Iowa road series victories in terms of days since the 2013 season, when Iowa's final victory in a road series that season came on June 27-30 in Omaha. The I-Cubs would not win another road series that season, going 0-6-2 in their remaining eight road series.
AGAINST ALBUQUERQUE: Iowa and Albuquerque will meet for the first and only time this season for a four-game series at Isotopes Ballpark. Last season, Iowa swept the Isotopes at Principal Park, outscoring them 27-to-8. Iowa is looking to win back-to-back road series for the first time since last season when they won three of four from both Fresno and Sacramento from August 13-19, 2016.
GET OUTTA MY YARD X4: Last night, Iowa hit four home runs in a game for the second time this season. Jeimer Candelario (12), Jemile Weeks (2) and Jacob Hannemann (3) all went deep for the I-Cubs, with Candelario hitting two. The I-Cubs also hit four home runs in a 6-5 loss at Memphis on May 29. In that game, John Andreoli, Bijan Rademacher, Ali Solis and Chris Dominguez all went deep for Iowa.
TAYLOR'S TURN:Taylor Davis has been a workhorse for Iowa this season. After Victor Caratini was called-up to Chicago, Davis has taken on the majority of the catching duties, while also being a force at the plate. He has caught fire in his last eight games, and has hit safely in seven of them. Over this stretch, he is hitting an outstanding .452 (14-for-31), and has an on-base percentage of .471, good for seventh in the league over that time, and second on the team behind Jeimer Candelario (.488)
STRUGGLES FROM THE 'PEN: Last night, Iowa's bullpen gave up seven runs and barely held on to win the game. A night after allowing just two runs in 6.2 innings of work, the bullpen faltered, allowing seven in three innings. Pierce Johnson, Dillon Maples, Jack Leathersich and Matt Carasiti were dominant on Thursday, allowing just two runs and four hits, while striking out 16 batters. Last night was a different story, as Félix Peña and Justin Hancock allowed seven runs on six hits in 2.2 innings before Matt Carasiti came to the mound to get the final out and the save.
SHORT HOPS: Jen-Ho Tseng has won his first four starts since being promoted from Double-A, making him the first I-Cub since Austin Bibens-Dirkx in 2010 to accomplish that feat...Matt Carasiti notched his league-leading 18th save last night, and his fifth with Iowa.