September 2 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Columbus Clippers
September 2, 2022 – International League (IL) – Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (57-69) @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (73-51)
Friday – 6:05 PM CT – Huntington Park – Columbus, OH
RHP Matt Swarmer (3-2, 2.66) vs. RHP Peyton Battenfield (8-5, 3.00)
TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Columbus are set to play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Matt Swarmer taking the ball for Iowa. Swarmer is 3-2 with a 2.66 ERA through 16 games including 10 starts. The righty has allowed 18 earned runs on 42 hits and 24 walks over 61.0 innings, striking out 68 batters over that span. Opponents are hitting just .189 against Swarmer this year, as he has done a good job of limiting the damage all season. Tonight will mark his second start of the year against the Clippers, as he allowed two earned runs on three hits over five innings pitched back on May 21. On the other side, Peyton Battenfield will take the ball for Columbus, scheduled to make his team-leading 24th start of the year for the Clippers. Battenfield has thrown more innings than anybody else on either roster, entering tonight’s contest with 132.0 innings under his belt on the year. He has allowed just 44 earned runs on 110 hits and 47 walks, striking out 92 batters over that span. The right-hander is set to make his fourth start of the year against Iowa, allowing just four earned runs on 19 hits and six walks compared to 11 strikeouts over his first three games and 16.1 innings against the I-Cubs this year.
THREE MORE FOR THE TIE: With his 1-for-4 game from the top of lineup last night, Darius Hill is now just three hits away from the team-lead. Hill enters tonight’s game tied for second on the active roster with 83 hits, three shy of Narciso Crook who sits atop Iowa’s active roster with 86 base knocks on the year. The big difference between Hill, Crook and Jared Young who Hill is currently tied with, is the amount of games they have played with Iowa. Crook holds the team lead with his 86 hits in 90 games with Iowa, while Young has recorded his 83 hits in 99 games for the I-Cubs. Hill, who is tied with Young with 83 hits, has played in just 66 games for Iowa this year, 24 less than Crook and 33 less than Young. The outfielder now has 140 hits this year after recording 57 hits in 44 games with Double-A Tennessee where he started the year. His 140 hits on the year put him tied for fourth among all Minor League players this year, just four shy of the lead.
NOT WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR: Adbert Alzolay made his second start for Iowa on Major League rehab last night and did not get the result he was looking for. After allowing just one earned run over two innings while striking out six in his first rehab start, the righty got touched-up for four runs in just 1.2 innings last night. Alzolay breezed through the first inning, getting two ground outs and a fly out to work around a walk, throwing a scoreless frame. The second inning, however, did not go as smoothly. He retired the first batter he faced, but then allowed a walk, two doubles and two singles before recording another out. Alzolay then hit a batter and was taken out of the game, getting tagged for four earned runs on four hits and two walks over his 1.2 innings of work.
AGAINST COLUMBUS: The I-Cubs and Clippers are set to play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Columbus holding a 2-1 series lead entering tonight’s contest. After falling 7-5 last night, Iowa dropped to 5-10 against Columbus this year, going 4-8 at Principal Park while going 1-2 here at Huntington Park. The loss put them one game under the .500 mark against the Clippers not only in their current series, but also all-time here at Huntington Park, where they are now 4-5. Iowa is 5-13 at Principal Park against the Clippers all-time, holding an overall all-time record of just 9-18 against Columbus. With their two-run loss last night, Iowa has now been outscored by Columbus by 28 runs through their first 15 games this year, at 99-71.
KEEP IT GOING: Matt Mervis extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his single in the sixth inning last night, but it was his next at-bat that drew the attention of everybody at Huntington Park. With Iowa trailing 6-2 in the eighth inning, Mervis crushed a two-run home run that carried over the roof in right field, bringing Iowa back within two runs of the Clippers. His 2-for-4 game brought his batting average to .301 on the year with Iowa and pushed it to .400 (16-for-40) over his 11-game hitting streak. Over his current streak, the first baseman has scored eight runs while hitting three doubles, four home runs, driving in eight runs and walking four times compared to striking out six times. He is now just two games shy of tying his career-high 13-game streak set back on April 20-May 7 with High-A South Bend earlier this year. Chicago’s No. 21 ranked prospect is now tied for fourth among all Minor League players in runs batted in this year with 102, while being fourth in doubles with 36 and eighth in slugging percentage at .603. He is tied for second among all Minor League players this year with 66 extra-base hits and his 28th home run of the year last night put Mervis tied for 12th on the leaderboard. In 33 games with Iowa this year, Mervis now has 11 multi-hit games and five multi-RBI performances.
HAVE A SEASON: Iowa’s starter tonight Matt Swarmer has had quite the year in 2022, making his Major League debut and pitching in 11 games for Chicago. The righty has been great for Iowa through his first 16 games, holding a 3-2 record with a 2.66 ERA. Over those 16 games, Swarmer has yet to allow more than three earned runs once, allowing three earned runs in just two of those games. On the other side of that coin, the 28-year-old has spun seven games in which he has not allowed a single earned run. He is coming off a start on August 26 in which he threw five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five St. Paul batters.
MAKE THEM MAKE A PLAY: Now down two games to one in the series, Iowa has not put a ton of pressure on the Clippers so far through the first three games. Columbus has not been in too many bad defensive situations because their pitching staff is averaging 13 strikeouts per game through the first three games, striking out 39 batters already through three games. Iowa struck out 16 times in their 4-0 win in the opener on Tuesday, falling just one strikeout shy of their season-high 17 set back on May 8 at St. Paul. They followed that by striking out 12 more times on Wednesday. In each of the first two games of the series, seven of Iowa’s nine starters struck out. Last night, Columbus fanned Iowa 11 times, punching out seven different players including six starters. Three of those seven players had multi-strikeout games. Iowa’s season-high for strikeouts in a single six-game series is 64 done back on May 3-8 against St. Paul. Through the first three games of their current series, Iowa has already struck out 39 times, good for 61% of their series high on the year with three games still left to play.
SHORT HOPS: Iowa’s top three hitters last night combined to record five of their seven hits and drove in four of the five runs the I-Cubs scored… Cayne Ueckert was the only pitcher to not walk a batter for Iowa last night, marking the first time in his last seven outings that he did not walk a batter and just his 11th outing all year without a free pass…in his first game since August 28, Jared Young clubbed a home run last night, giving him 16 on the year; it was his first home run since August 10 against Louisville.
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