May 20 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Indianapolis Indians

IOWA CUBS (23-16) @ INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (20-21)

Saturday, May 20, 2023 • 5:15 PM CT (G1) • Victory Field • Indianapolis, IN

GAME ONE: RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-1, 7.53) vs. RHP Vince Velasquez (0-0, -.--)

GAME TWO: RHP Hayden Wesneski (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP J.C. Flowers (1-0, 3.72)

TONIGHT’S GAMES: Iowa and Indianapolis will play games four and five of their six-game series tonight after last night’s scheduled contest got postponed due to inclement weather. Game one will see two major league rehabbers face off, with Kyle Hendricks taking the ball for Iowa against Vince Velasquez for Indianapolis. Hendricks is set to make his fifth start on major league rehab with Iowa this year, entering tonight’s game with a record of 1-1 and a 7.53 ERA. Each of Hendricks’ first two starts were a struggle, allowing 10 earned runs over 4.1 innings pitched. Since then, he has gone 5.0 innings in each of his last two starts, allowing just two earned runs on eight combined hits, striking out four batters in each contest. For Velasquez, tonight will be his first game since pitching on May 4 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The righty was 4-3 with a 3.06 ERA through his first seven starts with Pittsburgh, but landed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. Hayden Wesneski gets the call for Iowa in game two of the doubleheader, making his first start of the year for Iowa. Wesneski started the year with Chicago, going 2-2 with a 5.03 ERA in eight starts. He allowed 22 earned runs on 43 hits including 10 home runs, while walking nine batters compared to 28 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched. The righty is set to make his first start with Iowa this year and his first appearance with the I-Cubs since he spun 5.0 scoreless innings of relief back on August 31, 2022, against Columbus. He allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three in that game. Opposite of Wesneski will be J.C. Flowers toeing the rubber for the Indians. Flowers has made 10 appearances for the Indians in 2023 and this will be his first start of the year being used as an opener. The right-hander owns a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 3.72. Over 19.1 innings of work, Flowers has allowed eight runs, 17 hits and 11 walks compared to 24 strikeouts, which ranks seventh on the Indianapolis pitching staff.

GETTING USED TO IT: Tonight’s games will mark Iowa’s fourth doubleheader of the season already, just 39 games into their season. Iowa has had all three results in their doubleheaders this year, splitting their first doubleheader against St. Paul on April 8. They then swept Buffalo in a doubleheader on April 20 and got swept by Columbus on May 6. Iowa also missed out on a doubleheader this year, when they had two games against Omaha canceled on April 15 and 16. Last night marked the seventh postponed or canceled game Iowa has had already in 2023.

NEIDERT’S NEW ROLE: Right-handed pitcher Nick Neidert made an appearance out of the bullpen for the I-Cubs in Thursday’s game, which was his first time making a relief appearance this season. Neidert has been in Iowa’s starting rotation since the beginning of the season and had made seven starts amassing a record of 3-2 and a 3.66 ERA in 2023. Neidert came into the game on Thursday with the most innings pitched (30.0) and was tied for third on the pitching staff with 22 strikeouts. Neidert’s line in his relief outing against Indianapolis finished with 2.0 innings pitched, two hits, one run allowed, zero walks, and three strikeouts against eight batters faced. It was the first time the righty had made a relief appearance since May 31, 2022, when he was a member of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. In that relief appearance last year, Neidert was credited with the save, which is the only save in his career spanning both the major and minor leagues.

TOUGH THURSDAY: For the first time in 2023, the I-Cubs lost a game that they played on a Thursday. Coming into Thursday’s contest against Indianapolis, Iowa had been a perfect 7-0 on the year with wins over St. Paul, Omaha, Buffalo, Louisville, Columbus, and Toledo. Iowa’s offense had been prolific on Thursday games as well, outscoring opponents by 26 runs, at 63-37. Iowa’s largest scoring outburst of the season came on a Thursday contest back on April 27, where it defeated Louisville by a final score of 18-16. The I-Cubs went on to match that 18-run performance just a couple of days later on April 29 versus Louisville with a 18-2 drubbing of the Bats.

MELANCHOLIC MAY: What started off as a great first month for the I-Cubs with a record of 15-8 in April, the same can’t be said for the month of May. With Thursday’s loss to Indianapolis, Iowa now has a record of 7-8 so far this month, which matches its loss total from all of April. The I-Cubs have recorded their longest losing streaks of the season two times in the month of May, dropping three games in-a-row from May 6-7 and once again from May 13-16. In comparison to 2022, Iowa had a winning record of 9-6 through the first 15 games played in May.

LEVI IN LIMITED ACTION: Infielder Levi Jordan has appeared in just four games for Iowa this season but has made the most of his opportunities when given the chance. On Thursday, Jordan went 1-for-3 at the dish with a triple, one RBI, and a run scored. On the season Jordan is hitting at a clip of .308 with two triples, three RBI, and just two strikeouts to go along with a .438 on-base percentage and a .615 slugging percentage.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: The I-Cubs and Indians will play games four and five of their six games series tonight, with Indianapolis currently leading the series two games to one. The Indians won the first and third game of the series, with Iowa taking game two. Despite trailing the series by just one game three games in, the I-Cubs have been outscored by 12 runs, at 23-11. Thursday’s 10-5 loss brought Iowa’s all-time record against Indianapolis to 39-60, including going 20-34 all-time on the road against the Indians.

ROSTER ROTATION: Despite not playing a game yesterday, Iowa had a flurry of roster moves affect their roster. They added tonight’s game two probable starter Hayden Wesneski who was optioned by Chicago earlier this week, while losing both infielder Edwin Ríos and outfielder Mike Tauchman up to Chicago. Right-handed reliever Keegan Thompson was also optioned from Chicago to Iowa, but has not yet joined the team.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa and Indianapolis played in front of a season high crowd in Thursday’s game, with 13,186 fans packing the seats at Victory Field; 13,186 is the highest attendance at a game Iowa has played in since they played Indianapolis on July 4 last year in front of 13,911 fans…Codi Heuer suffered his first loss with Iowa on Thursday, allowing three earned runs on one hit and two walks in his 0.1 innings pitched…Miguel Amaya collected two more hits in Thursday’s game, raising his batting average to .375 through his first five games at Triple-A.