Down on the Farm: Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber promotions pay off early

Iowa 6 –  El Paso  (Padres) 2

Kris Bryant homered in his Iowa debut, and Tsuyoshi Wada struck out seven over 6 2/3 innings as the I-Cubs (36-35) downed ElPaso (34-41) 6-2 Thursday night at Principal Park.

Wada entered the game ranking fourth in the PCL in strikeouts, and sixth in ERA. He allowed four hits and two earned runs in his ninth quality start of the year.

The I-Cubs were held hitless for the first three innings. Javy Baez and Chris Valaika started off the fourth with back-to-back knocks. Josh Vitters then continued his hot hitting by dropping a soft fly ball into right field to tie the game 1-1. Vitters had two hits, and is now .387 (12-for-31) with four RBI and four runs scored in his last eight games.

The I-Cubs would break the game open over the next three innings, scoring five times. Arismendy Alcantara went 2-for-5 and stole his 15th base of the season. He has reached base safely in 14 of his last 15 games, and is hitting .345 (19-for-55) in that stretch.

Kris Bryant would then add an insurance run in the seventh with his first home run in Triple-A. Bryant fell down in the count after taking two strikes, then battled back to run the count full before driving his first home run over the right field wall.

The Cubs are now 29-0 when leading after seven innings, one of only two teams in the PCL to hold that distinction.