TOLEDO HANGS ON, DEFEATS IOWA

TOLEDO, OH – For the third consecutive night, the contest between the Iowa Cubs (54-71) and the Toledo Mud Hens (59-65) ended in a 5-3 final at aptly named Fifth Third Field. But unlike the two nights prior, this time the Mud Hens prevailed.

Miles Mastrobuoni put the visitors on the board in the first when he ripped a leadoff double to right field, advanced to third on a Moises Ballesteros flyout to right, and then scampered the final 90 feet on a Casey Mize wild pitch.

Toledo took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Justice Bigbie and Ryan Vilade each contributed RBI singles, and Bigbie came across on an Adrian Houser wild pitch.

The Mud Hens added another tally in the second when Bligh Madris scored from first on an Eddys Leonard double.

The I-Cubs drew to within one in the top of the fifth, as Jake Hager's double brought in James Triantos and Trayce Thompson after they led off the inning with back-to-back singles.

The hosts padded their lead to 5-3 in the sixth. Riley Unroe singled through the left side with two outs and was driven in when Andrew Navigato doubled to left center.

Iowa would put runners in scoring position with less than two outs in each of the final two innings, but the I-Cubs couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Saturday marked the third straight 5-3 final in this series, with Iowa winning the previous two games
• Saturday’s game featured four wild pitches…Each team has thrown six over the first five games of this series

Iowa will play at Toledo on Sunday, August 25 for the second of a six-game series with first pitch from Fifth Third Field slated for 1:05 p.m. You can listen to all Iowa Cubs games on Hope AM940 and stream every home game for free on the Bally Live App. For more information and tickets, visit www.iowacubs.com.