I-CUBS SPLIT WITH TOLEDO

DES MOINES, IA – Wednesday was a long day of baseball at Principal Park. First, the I-Cubs (27-32) defeated the Toledo Mud Hens (31-27), 10-2, playing the final 4.2 innings of the weather-suspended series-opener, which began Tuesday.

Then, Toledo evened the series at one, taking game two,10-8, in seven innings.

The I-Cubs opened the scoring Tuesday night with a four spot in the first. After Iowa loaded the bases with walks to Miles Mastrobuoniand Alexander Canario, as well as a single from Luis Vazquez, Owen Caissie took the 1-0 Keider Montero offering over the right-center field wall for the third I-Cubs grand slam of the year.

The home team added two more runs in the bottom of the second when a Vazquez single drove in BJ Murray Jr. from third and Bryce Windham from second.

Toledo closed the gap to 6-2 in the top of the fourth when Bligh Madris singled in Dillon Dingler from third and Justice Bigbie’s sacrifice fly plated Eddys Leonard.

The contest progressed to the top of the fifth inning with the same score and was suspended due to inclement weather with Dingler at bat and one out.

The game resumed Wednesday at 12:08 and the score remained the same 6-2 until the Cubs added three more in the bottom of the seventh.

First, Brennen Davis smashed a two-run shot to left-center, his eighth long ball of the year and first since May 18. Then, Mastrobuoni singled in Cole Roederer from third to make it 9-2.

Davis extended the lead to 10-2 in the bottom of the eight with an RBI single to right, which drove in Canario.

In the I-Cubs victory, Iowa reliever Hunter Bigge made his Triple-A season debut, beginning the season on the injured list. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings with one walk and one strikeout.

In game two of the afternoon, the scoring began when Toledo’s Parker Meadows deposited a solo home run into the right-center field bleachers in the top of the third.

Iowa tied it in the bottom of the third with a Nick Madrigal RBI double off the right-field wall that plated Mastrobuoni. Madrigal made his Triple-A season debut in the second game of the day after being optioned from Chicago on June 2.

Toledo got its second round-tripper of the game from Madris to take 2-1 lead, but the I-Cubs answered back in the bottom of the fourth when Windham doubled home Ali Sanchez.

The Mud Hens used five walks and two hits to send 10 men to the plate and put up five runs in the top of the fifth to take a 7-2 lead.

Sanchez closed the gap to 7-4 in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run homer to left-center, driving in Roederer.

Toledo made it 8-4 in the sixth with a Madris sacrifice fly, scoring Spencer Torkelson.

The Mud Hens extended their lead to 10-4 on an Anthony Benboom two-run shot in the top of the seventh.

Iowa fought back with four of its own in the bottom of the seventh, but still fell, 10-8.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Nick Madrigal made his Triple-A season debut in game two and went 1-1 with an RBI double before leaving the game with an apparent injury after being hit by a pitch
• Hunter Bigge made his Triple-A season debut in game one, beginning the season on the injured list. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings with one walk and one strikeout.
• Ali Sanchez extended his on-base streak to 16 games

Iowa will play against Toledo on Thursday for the third of a six-game series with first pitch from Principal Park slated for 6:38 pm CT. 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