Zephyrs return to 1st place with win at Iowa

The Iowa Cubs had runners on second and third with two outs in the eighth inning, but Ariquimedes Caminero struck out Ryan Kalish and retired the side in order in the ninth to preserve a 5-4 win Monday for the New Orleans Zephyrs at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Zephyrs also took a half-game lead over the Nashville Sounds for first place in the American South, as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox defeated Nashville 5-2.

The I-Cubs had already scored once in the eighth before Caminero came in for his sixth save of the year to replace Chaz Roe, who struck out two but also gave up three singles, including a run-scoring hit to center field by Chris Valaika that scored Matt Sczcur to trim the Z's lead to one run.

New Orleans had a 5-1 lead headed into the bottom of the seventh after Mark Canha doubled and scored on a single by Justin Bour in the top half of the frame, but the Z's other four runs came in the first two innings.

Jake Marisnick hit the second pitch of the game over the left-center field wall for a home run to spot Elih Villanueva (9-6) to a 1-0 lead. 

He had a four-run advantage after a second inning that featured a two-run home run from Zack Cox and a run-scoring single by Juan Diaz to drive in Marisnick after he hit a double to left field. The final run came against Kyuji Fujikawa after he came in relief of Dan Straily (4-5), who gave up four runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in six innings of work.

The only run Villanueva allowed in his six innings of work came in the third inning on a single by Brett Jackson that scored Lars Anderson, although the run was unearned because Jackson reached on a fielding error by Diaz on the first play of the inning.

Villanueva also snapped a three-game losing streak and finished with four strikeouts against one walk and three hits allowed.

Iowa closed the gap in the seventh when Grant Dayton gave up a two-run homer to Anderson before striking out pinch hitter Manny Ramirez to end the inning.

Marisnick, Cox and Bour all had two hits to account for two-thirds of the Z's nine hits in the team's fifth win in its last six games and fourth of the five since the All-Star break.

The Zephyrs will take their lead in the division into the second contest of the four-game series with Iowa that is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Principal Park.