Iowa Cubs walk off Memphis, snap eight-game skid with 3-2 win

Iowa spent most of Wednesday afternoon looking like a club stuck in its own drought, then finally found the release it had been chasing for more than a week.

The Cubs turned a scoreless duel at Principal Park into a 3-2 walk-off win over the Memphis Redbirds, ending an eight-game skid and improving to 19-27. The win landed like more than a single entry in the standings, because Iowa had dropped seven straight before it and had just been walked off by Nashville on May 17. This time, the pressure flipped late and stayed there long enough for Iowa to cash in.

The game was scoreless through six innings, and Iowa did not record a baserunner until the sixth. From there, the offense finally moved. Chas McCormick doubled to break the seal, Brett Bateman followed with a sacrifice fly for the first run, and Kevin Alcántara later added a solo home run to give Iowa a 2-0 cushion. For a team trying to stop a slide, every one of those runs mattered because the margin felt too thin to trust.

It nearly was.

Memphis, which entered the afternoon in first place in the International League and had spent every day of the season at least tied for first, fought back in the ninth. Nelson Velázquez brought home the first run with a sacrifice fly, Bligh Madris added an RBI single, and the Redbirds tied it 2-2. Joshua Báez kept the inning alive with a 3-for-4 day and a double, while Hunter Dobbins gave Memphis a strong start with 7.0 innings, two runs allowed on three hits, no walks and five strikeouts. Cade Winquest also handled a perfect inning with two strikeouts in his return from the injured list.

Iowa’s bullpen had already done enough to keep the club in position. Gabe Klobosits, Doug Nikhazy and Christian Roa combined to hold Memphis scoreless through eight innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out 10. That work made the bottom of the ninth possible, and the finish belonged to the Cubs.

Justin Dean walked to start the inning, B.J. Murray reached on an error, and Jonathon Long moved the runners into scoring position. With one out and the winning run on third, Alcántara hit a slow ball to third, and the errant throw home let Dean score the winning run. Memphis fell to 28-19 and dropped to only a half-game lead over Nashville, while Iowa walked off with the kind of win that can reset a season’s tone as much as its record.