September 11 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
September 11, 2022 – International League (IL) – Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (61-73) @ JACKSONVILLE JUMBO SHRIMP (72-61)
Sunday – 2:05 CT – 121 Financial Ballpark – Jacksonville, FL
RHP Adbert Alzolay (0-1, 8.10) vs. RHP Elieser Hernandez (3-2, 4.46)
TODAY’S GAME: Iowa and Jacksonville are scheduled to play the series finale and season finale today, with a rematch of the first game back on Tuesday. Major League rehabber Adbert Alzolay will take the ball for Iowa against Elieser Hernandez toeing the rubber for the Jumbo Shrimp. Alzolay is scheduled to make his fourth rehab start of the year for Iowa, going 0-1 with an 8.10 ERA through his first three. He has allowed six earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out eight over his 6.2 innings, allowing opponents to hit .308 against him. Alzolay allowed just one earned run on three hits in three innings of work in game one against Jacksonville on Tuesday. On the other side, Hernandez will look to come back from suffering the loss in game one of the series. In that game, he allowed five total runs including three earned on six hits and one walk while striking out one over three innings of work. Overall, the righty is 3-2 with a 4.46 through eight starts with the Jumbo Shrimp, allowing 17 earned runs on 36 hits over 34.1 innings. He has walked 11 batters while striking out 44 over those 34.1 innings. The righty has pitched in 19 games for Miami this year, going 3-6 with a 6.33 ERA over that span. He started the year with the Marlins and has been optioned twice while also spending time on the injured list from July 21 to August 6.
DOING HIS PART: Matt Mervis collected 50% of Iowa’s hits as a team out of the three-hole last night, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run. For Mervis, it marked his 10th home run with Iowa and 31st deep fly of the year. His 31 home runs ties him for fourth among all Minor League players this year, tied with current teammate Alexander Canario. He is third in Minor League Baseball with 108 runs batted in on the year, sixth with a .610 slugging percentage, eighth with a .986 OPS, tied for fourth with 38 doubles, first with 71 extra-base hits and second in total bases with 277. The first baseman is having a banner year, even coming in at 10th among all Minor League players with 142 hits this year, just 13 away from the leader.
THE BEST ONE YET: Adbert Alzolay hasn’t been lights-out since joining Iowa’s roster on Major League rehab, but that was to be expected. Before joining the I-Cubs on August 27, he hadn’t thrown in a professional game since October 1, 2021. In his first outing on August 27 against St. Paul, he allowed one earned run in a shaky first inning, striking out all six batters he retired in his two total innings of work. He followed that by allowing four earned runs on four hits in just 1.2 innings against Columbus on September 1. He hit one batter and walked two in the outing while not fanning a single batter. On Tuesday in game one against the Jumbo Shrimp, he put together his best overall outing since joining the I-Cubs. For starters, he threw 3.0 innings, his most in a professional game since September 26, 2021, against the St. Louis Cardinals. Most importantly he showed command he hadn’t shown with Iowa yet, not allowing a single walk. Alzolay allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out two in the opener.
DOMINATING PERFORMANCE: Although Iowa suffered the loss last night, their bullpen did their part in keeping them in the game, throwing 5.1 scoreless innings. Four pitchers combined to allow just two hits and two walks while striking out seven over that span, with three of the four striking out two or more batters. They also inherited five runners and did not allow a single one to score.
FIGURED SOMETHING OUT: For the fourth straight outing, Cam Sanders spun two innings without allowing an earned run last night. The last time Sanders allowed an earned run was back on August 24 against St. Paul, when he allowed two earned runs in one relief inning. After that game, the righty was 1-7 with a 6.32 ERA, allowing 40 earned runs on 48 hits over 57.0 innings pitched. He walked 39 batters and struck out 57 batters, allowing eight home runs over that span. Since that game on August 24, he has allowed just two hits over 8.0 innings pitched, allowing one unearned run. He has still struggled with command, walking five batters, but has worked around that by striking out nine in his last four games, including at least two in each outing. Since moving to the bullpen on July 31, Sanders holds a 3.10 ERA (7ER / 20.1 IP), allowing 11 hits and 11 walks while striking out 25.
GET SOMETHING GOING: After scoring nine runs 17 hits through the first two games against Jacksonville, Iowa has now scored just three runs on 13 total hits in their last three games. They got shutout in Thursday’s suspended game, losing 16-0 in nine innings, registering just four hits in the game. After that suspended game ended, Iowa dropped the next game, scoring just one run on five hits in the seven-inning contest. Last night just two men crossed the plate on four total hits, giving them just three runs on 13 hits over their last 25.0 innings. In those three games, Iowa has not gotten a single hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-20 with runners in scoring position, leaving 21 men on-base.
AGAINST JACKSONVILLE: Iowa and Jacksonville will play the sixth and final game of their series and season, with Jacksonville leading the series three games to two. After taking each of the first two games, the I-Cubs have now dropped the last three and are now hoping to earn a series split with a win today. This six-game series is the first all-time meeting between Iowa and Jacksonville and today’s game will be the last for at least a year, as the two teams are not on each other’s 2023 schedule. Jacksonville leads the current and all-time series 3-2, outscoring Iowa by 13 runs this series, at 25-12.
SHORT HOPS: Iowa is now three games below the .500 mark when facing a left-handed starting pitcher with their loss last night, going 17-20 against lefties now this year…in his first action since getting designated for assignment by Chicago on September 5, Kervin Castro spun 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out three batters along the way…the top four hitters in Iowa’s lineup last night collected all four of the team’s hits, with the rest of the lineup going 0-for-18 with seven strikeouts.
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