Down on the Farm: Eric Jokisch hammered as Iowa Cubs fall

Nashville 10 – Iowa 1 

The Nashville Sounds poured it on early and often Saturday night in Des Moines, pounding out six runs in the first four innings against Iowa pitching, en route to a 10-1 blowout of the Cubs in front of the home faithful.

The second batter of the game, Hector Gomez, hit a solo shot – his third long ball of the season – to open the scoring against Iowa starter Eric Jokisch (2-3), who allowed six runs, five of which were earned, in just four innings of work.

His counterpart, Matt Fiers (6-1) tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings, notching 13 strikeouts and issuing just one walk, lowering his ERA to a minuscule 1.59 nearly halfway through the month of May.

In the second, an RBI double and a run-scoring single added two more runs to the Nashville lead, before a two-run home run by Sean Halton in the third made it a 5-0 Sounds advantage. The visiting Sounds added another run in the fourth and were kept relatively quiet until the top of the seventh, when an RBI single by Halton off reliever Jeffry Antigua made it a 7-0 contest.

Iowa did not score until the bottom of the eighth, when Josh Vitters lined a single up the middle to plate Arismendy Alcantara. It would prove to be the only Cubs’ run of the night, as the club went just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and Nashville quickly answered back with two more runs in the top of the ninth, squandering any hopes of a late-inning comeback.

Christian Villanueva led the lackluster Iowa offense with a 2-for-4 night at the plate, raising his season average to .234.

With the loss, Iowa falls to 18-15 on the season, while Nashville improves to 20-16.