July 12 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Buffalo Bisons

IOWA CUBS (37-46) vs. BUFFALO BISONS (43-41)

Tuesday, July 12, 2022 • 6:38 PM • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

RHP Luke Farrell (2-1, 4.08) vs. RHP Andrew Moore (0-1, 14.54)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Buffalo will play game one of their six-game set at Principal Park tonight, with Luke Farrell squaring off against Andrew Moore. Farrell will take the ball for Iowa, scheduled to make his eighth start of the year. The righty is 2-1 with a 4.08 ERA, allowing 16 earned runs on 29 hits over 35.1 innings pitched. He won each of his first two starts of the year back on May 12 and 18 but hasn’t won a game since. On the other side, Moore will be pitching in just his third game and making his second start for Buffalo. The righty is 0-1 with a 14.54 ERA through his first two games, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits over 4.1 innings pitched. Moore pitched in just one game last year while dealing with injuries and was signed by Buffalo on June 14.

DON’T BLINK: Iowa played their fastest game in the last 10 seasons on Sunday, playing all nine innings in just one hour and 53 minutes. It marked their quickest game of the year by two minutes, beating out their one hour and 55-minute game back on June 16 against Omaha. Their game on Sunday is the quickest nine-inning game for Iowa since 2012, when they played a nine-inning game in one hour and 50 minutes against New Orleans on May 7. Prior to 2012, the I-Cubs played nine-inning games in under two hours regularly, with their shortest nine-inning game being one hour and 52 minutes in 2010, one hour and 55 minutes in 2009, one hour and 51 minutes in 2008, one hour and 59 minutes in 2007, one hour and 54 minutes in 2006 and one hour and 54 minutes in 2004. In Iowa’s 2-0 loss to Indianapolis on Sunday, just two runs were scored on a total of six hits between the two teams.

ADDING SOME LENGTH: Reliever Sean Newcomb came up in Atlanta’s system as a starting pitcher, starting 74 of his first 75 minor league outings and 49 of his first 50 major league appearances. In 2019, he went to a relief role, starting in just four of his 55 games played for the Braves. Since then, he has made 63 relief appearances compared to just four starts. In his first six outings with Iowa, the 29-year-old threw over one inning just once, going 1.2 innings on June 4. However, in each of his last three, he has thrown 2.0, 2.1 and 3.0 innings respectively. In his last series against Indianapolis, he combined to spin 5.1 innings without allowing a single hit. The southpaw walked two batters compared to eight strikeouts over those two games.

JACKSON IN ACTION: Jackson Frazier went 9-for-21 last week in Indianapolis, hitting two home runs and collecting nine RBI. One of the two homers was a grand slam - the first of Frazier’s professional career - and contributed to a career-high six RBI in Tuesday’s game alone. Frazier has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, boosting his season average with Iowa to .240. In the first ten games the outfielder played for the I-Cubs after being outrighted, he went just 8-for-41 with three doubles. That was good for a .195 average and a .268 slugging percentage. Since the calendar turned to July, however, Frazier has turned it on, going 12-for-32 with four home runs through nine games. That has given him a .375 average and a team-leading .781 slugging percentage this month. He has also collected 15 RBI over that span, which is the most by an I-Cub this month, and accounts for over a third of Iowa’s total run production (15-of-42) in July.

LONG TIME NO SEE: Iowa and Buffalo haven’t played each other since the very first series of the year back on April 5-10 in Buffalo. This will be the Bisons first trip to Principal Park since 1997, when Iowa went 8-1 against them here at home. The I-Cubs have played 13 series since they last played Buffalo. Of the 13 active position players on Iowa’s roster today, nine were active for the first series against the Bisons while just seven of the 19 active pitchers were on Iowa’s roster to start the year.

TURNED IT AROUND: The last time Iowa was at home, they lost five out of six games to the Columbus Clippers and got outscored by 30 runs, 62-32. Iowa’s pitching staff surrendered 62 runs on 77 hits and 40 walks. After winning game one and holding the Clippers to just two runs on five hits and one walk, they allowed Columbus to score double-digit runs in four straight games and score nine in the finale. Over the six-game series, the Clippers averaged 10.3 runs per game, 12.8 hits per game and 6.6 walks per game. That was all turned around in Iowa’s most recent series against Indianapolis, a series they split 3-3. The I-Cubs staff looked like a different unit in the series against the Indians, allowing just 19 runs on 47 hits and 17 walks over the entire six-game series. They allowed 43 less runs, 30 less hits and 23 less walks than they had the previous series, averaging just 3.2 runs per game, 7.8 hits per game and 2.8 walks per game. Buffalo currently ranks 18th in the International League in team average, 19th in hits, and 18th in runs.

A RARE OFF NIGHT: I-Cubs Manager Marty Pevey found his leadoff hitter in the second game of the year, when he put Dixon Machado at the top of the lineup. In that game, the shortstop went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a run batted in and three walks. His two hits and three walks put him on base in five of his six plate appearances, exactly what you need out of a leadoff hitter. Since then, Machado has been slotted into the leadoff spot in 81% (67-of-83) of Iowa’s games this year. The 30-year-old went 0-for-4 in Sunday’s finale against the Indians, marking just the 17th time all year he has been held without a hit. He has not reached base via a base hit, walk or hit by pitch in just seven of his 73 games this year. Machado leads the team offensively in multi-hit games (20), games played (73), hits (83), doubles (14) and walks (42). Entering tonight’s game, he ranks 10th in batting average (.291), fifth in on-base percentage (.388) and eighth in hits (83) among all International League players.

AGAINST BUFFALO: Iowa and Buffalo are set to play game one of their six-game set tonight, meeting at Principal Park for the first time since 1997. Iowa went 2-4 in the first series of the year against Buffalo at Sahlen Field and will play the final six games of the year between the two teams this week. Iowa is 60-43 all-time against Buffalo at home, while going 110-104 overall all-time against the Bisons.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa is looking for their first win at home in the month of July after starting the month 0-3 here at Principal Park; they split their first road series of the month and enter tonight’s game 3-6 in the month of July…last series against Indianapolis, Iowa’s relievers allowed just three earned runs in 27.1 innings pitched, walking seven batters compared to 43 strikeouts.