DES MOINES, IOWA – The Omaha Storm Chasers dropped a back-and-forth game to the Iowa Cubs 5-4 Thursday, Independence Day at Principal Park.
As the series shifted over to Des Moines for another three-game set, the I-Cubs scored first for the fourth straight night. A single and a walk put runners on first and second base to set up another single that plated the first run off of starter Daniel Lynch IV and took a 1-0 lead in favor of Iowa. Omaha’s offense mustered just four hits in the first four innings of the game and the Storm Chasers were held scoreless in those four frames.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Chasers answered Iowa’s run as Tyler Gentry led off the frame with a double and after advancing to third on a subsequent flyout, then scored on a sacrifice frly from Kevin Padlo to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cubs took back the lead off Lynch in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run homer to left center field from Alexander Canario that put Iowa ahead of Omaha again 3-1 at the end of six.
Lynch did not receive a decision, but notched his team-leading fifth quality start of the year, as he held the I-Cubs to three runs over 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts.
Iowa did not lead for long, as Brian O’Keefe and Gentry answered Iowa’s two-run homer with back-to-back home runs. O’Keefe crushed a solo shot to right center field for his 10th long ball of the year, then after a pitching change, Gentry followed with a home run and tied the game back up at 3-3, his sixth homer of the season.
Right-handed reliever Noah Murdock entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side to keep the game tied heading into the eighth. The Chasers took their first lead of the night in the top of the eighth, as John Rave opened the inning with a walk and went first to third on a Nate Eaton single. With one out in the inning, Devin Mann hit a sacrifice fly to right field and plated Rave for a 4-3 Omaha lead.
Left-hander Walter Pennington replaced Murdock in the bottom of the eighth inning but Omaha’s lead did not last long as Pennington promptly surrendered a game-tying solo homer to knot the score at 4-4, the third tied score of the night. With two outs in the inning, an RBI double put the Cubs ahead 5-4, a lead they held on to the rest of the night.
The double knocked Pennington out of the game and Jesus Tinoco stranded an inherited runner with a strikeout in the top of the eighth inning. Omaha had one last chance in the top of the ninth inning, but the Chasers went down 1-2-3 in the frame and Padlo flied out to the center field wall to end the game with 5-4 holding as the final score.
The Storm Chasers continue the three-game set against the Cubs Friday, July 5 as first pitch is at 7:08 p.m. CT and right-handed pitcher Chandler Champlain takes the mound for Omaha.
