May 25 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Nashville Sounds

IOWA CUBS (26-18) @ NASHVILLE SOUNDS (24-22)

Thursday, May 25, 2023 • 6:35 PM • First Horizon Park • Nashville, TN

RHP Hayden Wesneski (1-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Robert Gasser (2-0, 4.74)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The I-Cubs and Sounds will play game three of their six-game series tonight, with a pair of highly touted pitchers facing off. For Iowa, righty Hayden Wesneski takes the mound looking to give Iowa some length after using six pitchers in last night’s loss. Wesneski is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA through his lone start with Iowa this year after beginning the season with Chicago. In his only outing on Saturday against Indianapolis, the 25-year-old spun five no-hit innings, walking four batters while striking out five. On the other side will be the Brewers No. 7 overall prospect, Robert Gasser taking the ball for Nashville. Gasser is the second-ranked pitching prospect in Milwaukee’s system and has started the year going 2-0 with a 4.74 ERA in eight games for the Sounds. He has made seven starts, allowing 20 earned runs on 28 hits and 25 walks while striking out 47 batters over his 38.0 innings pitched.

ALL THE ERRORS: Shortstop Sergio Alcántara committed the lone error in last night’s loss to the Sounds with a throwing error in the eighth inning. It marked the eighth time this season Alcántara has committed an error, which now has him leading the International League. With his eight errors on the season, Alcántara is also leading the team and has five more than the next I-Cub. In total, Iowa has committed 34 errors in 2023 and nearly one-quarter (24-percent) of them have been by Alcántara.

KEEGAN GOT KNOCKED: Relief pitcher Keegan Thompson made his season debut for Iowa last night after being optioned by Chicago on May 19. It was a short outing for the 28-year-old as he lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowed four earned runs on three hits - one of the hits being a home run - issued three walks, and failed to record a strikeout. The damage set his ERA to 54.00. Thompson started the 2023 season up with Chicago and appeared in 15 games out of the bullpen for a record of 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA. In 21.1 innings of work with Chicago the right-hander recorded three holds, 14 walks, 16 strikeouts, and held opponents to a hitting clip of .187.

SILVER LINING: While the overall pitching numbers were not great in last night’s contest from Iowa as it tied its season-high with six pitchers being used and three of the six arms giving up four earned runs, relief pitcher Codi Heuer did have a solid outing in the continuation of his Major League Rehab assignment. Heuer tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, his longest outing in 2023, and allowed just one hit and one walk to go along with two strikeouts over his seven batters faced. The right-hander also topped out on the radar gun reaching 98.9 MPH with his fastball, a good sign after he missed all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 26-year-old has appeared in seven games with Iowa during his rehab and owns a record of 0-1 with a 9.95 ERA. Over just 6.1 innings, he has totaled eight strikeouts and seven walks with seven runs allowed on seven hits.

WESNESKI’S WELCOME: Hayden Wesneski was welcomed back with Iowa last week as he made his season debut for the I-Cubs in the second game of a doubleheader against Indianapolis on May 20. The 25-year-old was optioned to Iowa on May 15 after starting the season with Chicago. In his time up in the big leagues, Wesneski tallied a record of 2-2 with a 5.03 ERA over eight starts. He had his best outing with Chicago when he was credited with the win over Oakland on April 17 and tossed seven innings, which tied his career-high, allowed just one run and struck out seven. The Houston, Texas native also went on a stretch of three-consecutive starts between April 27-May 7 where he allowed just one earned run. In his first start with Iowa last week Wesneski spun five scoreless, hitless innings and earned the win against the Indians marking his only start so far in 2023 where he has not allowed a run.

ANOTHER ONE: Jake Slaughter smacked a solo home run in the third inning last night, which now has him in double-digits with 10 on the season. Slaughter currently leads Iowa in home runs and the home run last night was his second in as many days with him hitting a two-run homer in the series opening victory to give Iowa some key insurance runs. Slaughter is no stranger to getting hot with home runs as earlier this month the infielder hit six over a nine-game span from May 4 to May 12. From May 4-7 against Columbus, he hit four home runs including three in three straight games.

AGAINST NASHVILLE: Tied at one game apiece, Iowa and Nashville will meet for game three in their six-game set tonight. Iowa won game one by a score of 4-1 while Nashville took the second game 13-2, outscoring the I-Cubs by eight runs through the first two games, at 14-6. Iowa’s loss last night brought their all-time road record against Nashville to 30 games below the .500 mark, at 74-104, while going 164-191 overall all-time against the Sounds.

SHORT HOPS: Last night was Iowa’s first double-digit loss all season, with their previous largest loss being eight runs done on May 3 at Columbus (10-2) and May 16 at Indianapolis (9-1); all three of Iowa’s biggest losses have come on the road…Iowa’s pitching staff was one walk shy of tying their season-high 10, allowing nine walks and hitting a batter last night to allow 10 total free passes…Nashville’s three-through-six hitters scored 10 of their 13 runs last night…Iowa is now 1-7 on the road when their opponent scores first, going 7-12 overall in those games…Iowa is 7-1 on Thursday’s this year, including going 4-1 in Thursday road games… Jake Slaughter had his team-leading 12th multi-hit game of the year last night, with all 12 being two-hit performances… Bryce Windham allowed 13 earned runs in eight innings catching last night, nearly doubling his previous 14 earned runs allowed in his 35.0 innings caught leading into last night’s game; the catchers’ ERA went from 3.60 to 5.65 after last night.