Iowa Wins Offensive Explosion

DES MOINES, IA – The Iowa Cubs (14-7) and Louisville Bats (8-15) combined to score 34 runs on 42 hits, with Iowa coming out on top by a final score of 18-16, Thursday at Principal Park.

Louisville opened the scoring with two runs in the first on an RBI double from Matt McLain and a single by Christian Encarnacion-Strand. Down 2-0, Matt Mervis cut Iowa’s deficit in half with his sixth home run of the year.

The Bats used a five-run second inning highlighted by a double from Elly De La Cruz and a two-run home run from Encarnacion-Strand to jump out to a 7-1 lead. Iowa came back again with three runs in the second on two singles and a home run from Jared Young.

Up 7-4, Louisville padded their lead with two runs in the third, but a six-run fourth inning gave Iowa their first lead of the game. They used four home runs including three in a row to score the six runs.

Another home run from Christopher Morel - his second of the day, third in two days and 10^th of the year - Iowa’s lead grew to 11-9 after five innings, but it wouldn’t last long. The Bats had another five-run inning in the sixth due in large part to a three-run shot from Encarnacion-Strand.

Entering the bottom of the seventh, Iowa trailed 15-12, but scored five runs on two bases loaded walks and a three-run double from Sergio Alcántara. They scored again in the eighth and despite allowing a run in the ninth, Nick Burdi earned his third save of the season, securing an 18-16 victory for the I-Cubs.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Iowa clubbed seven home runs as a team today, just one short of tying the franchise record. It was the first time they had seven home runs in a game since Aug. 30, 2010, at Albuquerque.
• Eight of Iowa’s nine starters recorded multi-hit games. One player recorded a three-hit game and two players had four-hit performances.
• Riley Thompson and Tyler Duffey were the only two pitchers for either team to have a scoreless outing. Thompson had 2.0 scoreless innings while Duffey spun 1.2, earning his team-leading third win of the season.

Iowa and Louisville will play four three of their six-game series tomorrow, with first pitch from Principal Park scheduled for 7:08 pm. You can listen to all Iowa Cubs games on Hope AM940 and stream them for free on the Bally Live App. For more information and tickets, visit www.iowacubs.com.