Cubs Shutout 51s, Earn First Series Win

Des Moines, IA - Chris Rusin and the Iowa bullpen pitched a shutout, and the Iowa Cubs (19-25) won 4-0 over the Las Vegas 51s (21-24) on Thursday afternoon at Principal Park. Iowa took three of four games from Las Vegas to record its first four-game series win of the season.

It took just two pitches for the Cubs to get on the board in the series finale with the 51s. Logan Watkins drove an 0-1 pitch just over the left field wall for the Cubs' first leadoff home run since Brett Jackson's homer against Albuquerque on July 20 of last season.

Jackson also scored in the first inning on Thursday, recording a single to right-center, and later scoring on an error to give the Cubs the early 2-0 advantage.

Rusin (3-4) pitched six scoreless innings to notch his team-leading fifth quality start of the season. The southpaw allowed six hits, walked two, and fanned four in his first scoreless start of the year. He threw five shutout innings in relief of Matt Garza on May 6 in a winning effort.

Rusin also helped himself offensively with a double to start the fifth inning, and scored on a Dave Sappelt single with two outs. The Cubs tacked on another run in the sixth inning. Josh Vitters drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on a two-out, pinch-hit single by Ian Stewart. Watkins recorded his second RBI of the day on a single to right-center to drive in Vitters and extend the Iowa lead to 4-0.

The four-run lead turned out to be more than enough as Yoanner Negrin and newly acquired Eduardo Sanchez finished what Rusin started. The two relievers finished the game allowing just two base runners over the final three innings and striking out two batters apiece, while preserving the shutout.

It is the Cubs' third shutout of the season.

The Cubs finish their current 13-game homestand with five games against the Oklahoma City RedHawks starting Friday night at 7:05. RH Nick Struck (2-3, 6.06 ERA) will start for Iowa against RH Brad Peacock (1-1, 3.94 ERA) for Oklahoma City. The game will be broadcast live on AM 940 and streamed live at iowacubs.com with the pre-game show starting at 6:45.