I-Cubs Attacked By Aces, Series Tied at One

RENO, NV - A night after edging out an 8-7 victory in the series opener at Greater Nevada Field, the Cubs (25-39) fell behind early and lost to the Aces (31-36) by a score of 11-4 on Thursday night. 

Reno broke out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run double by outfielder Sócrates Brito and a pair of sacrifice flies against Cubs starting pitcher Duane Underwood (L, 3-6). 
Despite the early surge for the Aces, Underwood settled down and sent down the Aces order without a run in his next two innings of work. The 23-year-old righty worked five innings in total, giving up a pair of RBI singles by shortstop Illdemaro Vargas in the fourth inning and Brito again in the fifth inning. 
Both Brito and outfielder Christian Walker paced the Reno offense with four hits apiece. Walker, who was a triple short of the cycle, added his second two-run homer in as many games against the Cubs in the seventh inning. He finished 4-for-5 with two doubles. Vargas also chipped in with three hits, as Reno churned out 15 hits as a team. 
Offensively, Iowa chipped into their initial deficit starting in the second inning with a solo homer from second basemen David Bote and a RBI single by outfielder Lane Adams. With the solo blast, Bote became the first I-Cubs player this year to hit double-digit homers. His 10 home runs in 43 games played puts Bote at a 32-homer pace over the new PCL 140-season schedule format. 
Iowa doubled their offensive run output in the seventh inning with a two-run homer by outfielder Jacob Hannemann. The homer for Hannemann was his second in the last seven contests, after hitting just one round tripper in his first 44 games this year. 
Taylor Clarke (7-5) collected the win for Reno, giving up just four runs on four hits in seven innings of work. At one point, Clarke retired 14 straight Iowa Cubs hitters. Righty Randall Delgado relieved Clark and tossed 1.2 innings scoreless on a MLB rehab appearance and righty Joey Krehbiel recorded the final out for the Aces. 
Iowa and Reno play the rubbermatch of the three-game set tomorrow at 9:05 p.m. CT. Follow the action on www.iowacubs.com, AM 940, or MiLB.TV.