The Iowa Cubs (27-38) defeated the Louisville Bats (35-31) 6-4 on Friday evening at Louisville Slugger Field.
Iowa jumped in front in the first inning on an RBI triple by B.J. Murray and Scott Kingery drove in a run in the second inning. Louisville hit a solo home run in the third inning to cut into the deficit.
The I-Cubs extended the lead in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Murray. Iowa scored three more runs in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Jonathon Long and an RBI double by Murray to extend the lead to 6-1.
Louisville scored three runs with two outs in the eighth inning to cut the Iowa lead to 6-4. The Bats would go down in order in the ninth inning as Gavin Hollowell came on to record the final three outs to earn the save and preserve the I-Cubs victory.
Iowa starting pitcher Will Sanders earned the win, making his first appearance with the I-Cubs since going down with an injury in April. He pitched 5.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits while posting a season high eight strikeouts, one shy of his single game career high of nine.
Iowa continues a six game series against Louisville on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CT. You can listen to all Iowa Cubs games on Hope AM 940, 93.7 The Outlaw and stream every home game for free on the Bally Live App. For more information and tickets, visit www.iowacubs.com.