September 17 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Memphis Redbirds
September 17, 2022 – International League (IL) – Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (64-75) vs. MEMPHIS REDBIRDS (67-72)
Saturday – 6:08 PM – Principal Park – Des Moines, IA
RHP Caleb Kilian (5-3, 4.20) vs. RHP Ryan Loutos (0-3, 7.36)
TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Memphis will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with Caleb Kilian taking the ball for the I-Cubs. Kilian is set to make his team-leading 24th start of the year for Iowa, entering tonight’s game with a 5-3 record and a 4.20 ERA. He has allowed 45 earned runs on 98 hits and 50 walks over 96.1 innings, striking out 115 batters over that span. Kilian is tied or leading the team in wins (5), starts (23), innings pitched (96.1) and strikeouts (115). Opposite of Kilian will be right-hander Ryan Loutos toeing the rubber for the Redbirds. Loutos has pitched in 19 games for Memphis this year including one start back on July 8 against Durham. He has not thrown more than two innings all year for the Redbirds, going 2.0 innings just three times. All told, he is 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA, allowing 18 earned runs on 42 hits and eight walks, striking out 23 batters over his 22.0 innings. Collectively, opponents are hitting .412 against Loutos this year, as he is set to make his second appearance of the series against the I-Cubs.
GOT THE JOB DONE: Despite allowing an earned run on two hits and a walk in the first inning he came in, Dakota Mekkes buckled down and earned the save for Iowa last night. The righty entered the game in the eighth inning with two outs and a runner on second, while Iowa was clinging to a three-run lead. He allowed a leadoff single to score the run, then walked a batter and allowed another single to bring the Redbirds within a run. An outfield assist got him out of the jam, and Mekkes came back out to shut the door in the ninth inning. He was locked in in that ninth inning, striking out the first two batters before inducing a fly out to end the game. It was the right-handers first save of the year and his first in over three years, since August 2, 2019, against the Tacoma Rainiers.
HAVE A NIGHT: Jackson Frazier went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a home run and a run batted in last night in Iowa’s 7-6 win over Memphis. His biggest play of the night came in the outfield, when he recorded his first outfield assist of the year from right field and his fourth of the season overall. He threw out a runner at second base before the tying run could cross the plate in the eighth inning, maintaining Iowa’s one-run lead. The two-hit effort was Frazier’s first multi-hit game since July 9 at Indianapolis when he went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and six runs batted in. it also marked his first home run since July 14 against Buffalo.
TWO IN A ROW: Alexander Canario registered his first multi-hit game at the Triple-A level last night, going 2-for-3 with a run, a double and a run batted in. The No. 9 ranked prospect in Chicago’s system now also has hits in back-to-back games for the first time with Iowa. He got a hit in his first Triple-A at-bat and then went hitless over his next seven games, hitting just .050 (1-for-20) with five walks and nine strikeouts to start his Triple-A career. Over his two-game hitting streak against the Redbirds, the outfielder is now 3-for-6 with three runs scored, a double, two runs batted in and a walk.
HOT AND COLD: Today’s starter, Caleb Kilian, has had an up-and-down second half. In his last 12 starts, Kilian completed five innings and allowed less than two runs six times. In those six starts, he went 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA (5ER/31.1IP) and his first career Triple-A quality start. Of the other six starts in the last two months, however, four of them lasted less than three innings and three of them saw Kilian allow six or more earned runs. In those six starts, he went 0-3 with a 11.84 ERA (25ER/19.0IP). Over the past month, the good and not-so-good starts have alternated every other outing for Kilian. The trend began on August 11, when he went six innings and allowed two runs. Kilian gave up six runs in three innings in his next start on August 17. He went five shutout innings on August 23, then gave up a career-high seven runs in 3.1 innings on the 28th. After allowing only one unearned run in five innings on September 4 and surrendering three runs in 2.2 innings in his most recent start on September 10, Kilian is due for an effective outing in tonight’s matchup with Memphis.
CALLED UP: Esteban Quiroz was announced as the newest Chicago Cub this morning and is set to make his Major League debut in the coming days. After getting his season off to a slow start, the infielder has made a case for himself over the past few weeks. Quiroz hit just .163 over his first 16 games with the I-Cubs, then missed the better part of three months on the injured list after undergoing knee surgery. When he returned to Iowa’s active roster on August 1, he went 1-for-18 in his first seven games back, then kicked it into high gear. Between August 26 and September 16, Quiroz hit .314 while starting nearly every game. He hit three doubles and two home runs, drove in eight, scored seven, and walked nine times. His .316 average in September was second on the active roster before his call-up, while his .426 on-base was third.
AGAINST MEMPHIS: The I-Cubs and Redbirds will play game five of their six-game series at Principal Park tonight, with Iowa currently leading the series three games to one after their win last night. Memphis took game one of the series, but Iowa has taken each of the last three to set themselves up for an opportunity to win the series tonight. With their win last night, Iowa moved to 4-6 this year against the Redbirds and 148-180 overall all-time against Memphis. They improved to 3-1 at home this year, moving to 22 games over even at 93-71 against Memphis at home since 1998. The one-run victory cut into their deficit in the season scoring, where Memphis has now outscored Iowa by 13 runs this year, at 63-50.
SHORT HOPS: With their victory last night, Iowa moved to 20-20 this year against left-handed starters…a win tonight would give Iowa their first series victory since their last homestand against St. Paul, where they took four of six from August 23 to August 28 against the Saints.
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