IOWA CUBS (52-64) @ INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (57-57)
Sunday, August 21, 2022 • 12:35 PM CT • Victory Field • Indianapolis, IN
RHP Dakota Mekkes (1-2, 5.12) vs. RHP Johan Oviedo (0-0, 1.80)
IOWA CUBS (52-64) @ INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (57-57)
Sunday, August 21, 2022 • 12:35 PM CT • Victory Field • Indianapolis, IN
RHP Dakota Mekkes (1-2, 5.12) vs. RHP Johan Oviedo (0-0, 1.80)
TODAY’S GAME: For the first time all series, Iowa is trailing Indianapolis entering the finale today and the I-Cubs will send right-hander Dakota Mekkes out for his first start of the year. Mekkes is 1-2 with a 5.12 ERA this year in 17 relief appearances with Iowa, allowing 11 earned runs on 21 hits over 19.1 innings pitched. He had a rough start to the year but has been much better lately, allowing just one earned run in his last nine outings. On the other side, Johan Oviedo will make his third start for the Indians and second in the series against the I-Cubs. In his three games with Indianapolis, Oviedo is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA, allowing just one earned run on four hits over 5.0 innings. He has not yet thrown more than two innings for the Indians, but threw four or more innings in nine of his 10 starts with Triple-A Memphis to start the year. Back in the series opener on Tuesday, the right-hander allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out three batters in his two innings pitched.
ON THE LOW END: Aside from their game two loss in which they scored five runs, Iowa’s offense has been held to very little run production this series against Indianapolis. They have scored just two runs in three of the five games played so far and three or less in four of the five games, tallying just 14 runs so far through the first five games of the series. Iowa will need to break the trend of scoring just two runs if they want to outscore their series low for runs. Entering today’s finale, the season low for runs scored in a series for Iowa is 17 done twice, once against Buffalo in the first series of the year and the second was against the Indians back on April 26-May 1. Not only has Indianapolis stifled Iowa’s scoring all season, they have also done a good job of holding Iowa to singles, as their lone double last night gave them just 23 extra-base hits through the first 17 games between the two teams this season.
MEKKES ON THE MOUND: Today, Dakota Mekkes will take the ball for his third career professional start. After pitching exclusively out of the bullpen for his first four seasons in the Cubs organization, the right-hander made his rotational debut last September. He started two games with Iowa to close out the year, going 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA (4ER/3.2IP) in limited action. Those starts broke a streak of 164 consecutive relief outings. Despite his inexperience with the role, Mekkes will come into today’s start on a hot streak. He allowed one run in 1.1 innings against the Indians on Wednesday, but that was the first run he’d given up in over two months. After returning from the developmental list at the end of June, Mekkes pitched to an ERA of 0.90 (1ER/10.0IP) while walking just four batters and striking out nine. When he takes the mound today, he will become the 22nd pitcher to start a game for Iowa this year.
KRYPTONITE: Matt Swarmer was credited with just his second loss of the year with Iowa last night after allowing three earned runs on three hits and a Triple-A season-high four walks in three innings. The outing tied his season high for runs allowed in a game at Triple-A this year, matching his total from April 28 - a game that was also against Indianapolis. That start lasted 4.2 innings and featured the first home run that Swarmer gave up in 2022. Like fellow starter Caleb Kilian, Swarmer has now pitched both of his two highest scoring games this year against the Indians. His 7.04 ERA (6ER/7.2IP) against Indianapolis isn’t as inflated as Kilian’s 12.60 mark (14ER/10.0IP) against the squad, but it is Swarmer’s highest against any single Triple-A opponent this season. The two starters are now a combined 0-3 against Indianapolis with a 10.19 ERA (20ER/17.2IP), while pitching to a 7-1 record and a 2.58 ERA (34ER/118.2IP) when facing the rest of the league. Despite accounting for just 12% of Swarmer and Kilian’s outings and 13% of their combined innings, the Indians have scored 37% of the earned runs the pair has allowed this year.
ON THE UPSIDE: Iowa’s bullpen wasn’t perfect last night, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, but Indy’s damage came without the help of any walks. For just the fourteenth time in 116 games this season, the I-Cubs’ bullpen finished a game without walking a single batter. Even more, last night was just the third time this season that the bullpen has gone walk-less in a game where they pitched 5.0 or more innings. Their control was on display in the strikeout category as well, as the four relievers racked up ten punch-outs last night - at least two each. That marks the fifth double-digit strikeout game for the bullpen this season and the first since June 29.
AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: Iowa and Indianapolis will enter the series finale of their current six-game set today with the Indians currently up three games to two in the series. Not only will today be the finale for their current six-game series, it will also be the final game of 18 between the two teams for the 2022 season. Through the first 17 games, Indianapolis is up by three games at 10-7, going up by one game here at Victory Field, at 6-5. The Indians hold the all-time record over the I-Cubs by 19 games now at 57-38 while going 31-19 over Iowa here at Victory Field all-time. With their four-run victory last night, Indianapolis will enter today’s game outscoring Iowa by nine runs through the first 17 games between the two teams, at 64-55.
SHORT HOPS: Last night was just the second loss of the year for Matt Swarmer and just the second time Iowa has lost a game in which the right-hander has started…Iowa enters today’s game ranking first in the International League in hits with 1,012, but hasn’t turned those hits into runs, ranking 15th in runs with 538 and 16th in runs batted in with 503.
