Iowa Cubs Rally With Back-to-Back Homers, Top Bats 8-6 in Rain-Shortened Game

Kevin Alcántara, the 23-year-old outfielder optioned to Iowa by the Chicago Cubs, demolished whatever comfort Louisville had built when he followed Pedro Ramirez's two-run shot with a solo blast in the third inning Saturday at Louisville Slugger Field. Two at-bats. Three runs. A flipped scoreboard. And because rain would eventually end the evening with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, those back-to-back homers became the last decision Darren McCaughan could not survive.

The Iowa Cubs took the rain-shortened contest 8-6, an official result that leaves no asterisk and no recourse.

McCaughan, who entered at 1-0 for Louisville, was charged with all eight of Iowa's earned runs before the Bats turned to their bullpen. The Bats had started the game in command: JJ Bleday doubled in the first to plate two runners, staking Louisville to a 2-0 advantage. When Blake Dunn added an RBI single in the second to score Michael Toglia, extending the lead to 3-1, McCaughan appeared to have room to work. Then Ramirez connected, Alcántara followed him out of the park, and the lead was gone.

Rece Hinds, the 25-year-old Reds outfield prospect left off Cincinnati's Opening Day roster, answered immediately in the bottom of the third with his fourth homer of the season to knot it at 4-4. But Iowa kept building. Justin Dean singled home a run, then Jonathan Long delivered a two-run single across the fourth and fifth innings that pushed the I-Cubs to 8-4. BJ Murray's solo shot in the second now looked like early foreshadowing of what Iowa's lineup was capable of.

Louisville loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth and produced a walk and a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 8-6, the last reasonable thread of a comeback. Luke Little ended it by striking out the side. Little earned the win to move to 2-0; McCaughan fell to 1-1.

Then came the rain, 54 minutes of it in the sixth inning, and when umpires made the call with two outs recorded in the Louisville half, the Bats had one more out remaining and no more innings.

OFFICIAL GAME EXPLAINED: Under the playing rules governing Triple-A and all affiliated baseball, a game becomes official once five complete innings have been played, or four and a half if the home team leads. This contest had cleared that threshold before the delay. Because Iowa held an 8-6 lead as the visiting club when umpires halted play in an incomplete sixth inning, the result stands in full. Every statistic counts: Alcántara's homer, Long's two-run single, Little's pitching line, McCaughan's eight earned runs. Standings update accordingly. Iowa improved to 5-3; Louisville dropped to 4-4.

For the Bats, the postmortem is straightforward. The runs that doomed them came before the rain had anything to say about it.