Despite Hall of Fame second baseman and Chicago Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg at the helm, the Iowa Cubs (70-53) fell to the Sacramento River Cats (66-58) 5-4 on Tuesday night at Raley Field behind the bats of outfielders Chris Carter and Michael Taylor.

River Cats starter Brett Tomko (0-0), trying to improve upon his latest outing – in which he gave up seven runs over two-thirds of an inning – gave up an RBI single in the first inning before settling in to retire eight consecutive batters.

After a leadoff single in the top of the fourth by Iowa first baseman Micah Hoffpauir, Tomko got second baseman Bobby Scales to line-out to Taylor in right field before Taylor subsequently gunned down Hoffpauir at first for a double play.

Tomko’s outing ended shortly thereafter. After designated hitter Bryan LaHair drew a two-out walk, Iowa third baseman Marquez Smith hit his 11th homer of the season, barely clearing the left field wall to give Iowa a 3-1 lead. Smith leads the Cubs with seven home runs in August, and his homer on Tuesday night marked his third consecutive game with a round-tripper.

After allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, Iowa starting pitcher Jay Jackson (9-8) was able to keep the River Cats’ bats at bay before Carter’s 28th home run and 90th RBI of the season ignited a three-run sixth inning.

Upon his return from a weeklong stint with the Oakland A’s, Carter’s solo shot left the ballpark in a hurry, smacking the left-field scoreboard just above the top of the wall, reminding Sacramento about the importance of his potent bat in the cleanup spot.

Two batters later, River Cats first baseman Jeff Baisley drew a two-out walk before second baseman Adrian Cardenas laced a double to right field. Taylor then capped off the sixth inning with a go-ahead two-run single to left field that put Sacramento ahead 4-3.

The River Cats bullpen appeared up for the challenge after Fernando Hernandez (5-6) relieved Tomko to start the sixth inning.

Hernandez struck out three batters, gave up one hit over two innings and set himself up for the win before Cedric Bower (1-1) came on in the eighth.

After issuing a leadoff walk to Brad Snyder, Bowers caught Hoffpauir looking at a called third strike just before River Cats catcher Anthony Recker made an outstanding throw to second base to catch Snyder’s attempt to steal. Bowers then struck out Scales to close out the top half of the inning.

Dallas McPherson led off the bottom of the eighth with what proved to be a detrimental solo home run to center field on the first pitch of the inning by Cubs reliever Jeff Stevens to give the River Cats a 5-3 lead going into the top of the ninth. The homer was McPherson’s 17th home run on the year.

The Sacramento crowd of just over 7,000 proceeded to bust out the cowbells as Bowers returned to the mound in the top of the ninth to attempt the save.

After walking LaHair, Jon Hunton (6-4) relieved Bowers only to allow consecutive singles to Smith and catcher Chris Robinson, whose RBI pulled Iowa within one run at 5-4. With Michael Benacka (5-2, 5 Saves) on the mound in relief of Hunton, Iowa shortstop Matt Camp advanced the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt before Benacka intentionally walked center fielder Sam Fuld to load the bases.

Benacka set the crowd off when he proceeded to strike out left fielder Jim Adduci and Snyder for his fifth save of the season.

With a 5-2 win by the Fresno Grizzlies over the Omaha Royals on Tuesday, the River Cats remain two games back in the Pacific South division. The River Cats continue their four-game series against the Pacific Coast League-leading Iowa Cubs at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday at Raley Field.

Photos by Ahsan Awan