Iowa Cubs move into playoff picture

It has taken the Iowa Cubs less than two weeks to cut into Oklahoma City's double-digit division lead and go from Pacific Coast League playoff pretenders to contenders.

The Cubs remain in the playoff picture after a quick turnaround that now includes a four-game winning streak after beating the Omaha Storm Chasers 3-0 before an announced crowd of 11,253 fans Sunday at Principal Park.

"People tend to panic when they're down by a certain amount of games but it's a crazy season and it's all about getting hot at the right time and that's what we're doing," said Iowa infielder Mike Olt.

The Cubs are hotter than they've ever been this season, moving within 4 games of first-place Oklahoma City in the PCL's American Northern division. It's a spot many couldn't have predicted the team to be in late last month when the Cubs sat in third place and 10.5 games back of Oklahoma City.

But things quickly changed as the Cubs would go on to win eight of their next nine, including six straight games during a road trip in Nashville and Colorado Springs. Overall, they've won 12 of their last 14 and moved into second place — and within sight of first.

The reason for their most recent success: pitching. Iowa starter Carlos Pimentel became the third consecutive Cubs starter to toss seven shutout innings following Dallas Beeler's outing on Friday and Felipe Paulino's on Saturday.

Pimentel, a right-hander, allowed just two hits, one walk and struck out three after watching how Beeler and Paulino pitched against Omaha.

"They were attacking the hitter very good," Pimentel said. "Especially when they got two strikes."

Iowa took advantage of two throwing errors on pickoff attempts by Omaha starter Clayton Mortensen in the first inning. Adron Chambers brought home one run with an RBI single. Another came in when Christian Villanueva grounded into a double play.

Olt blasted a solo home run in the seventh to push Iowa's lead to 3-0.

"We don't have production from just one or two guys," Olt said. "I think it's basically everybody."

Iowa, which has an off day Monday, will resume its chase of Oklahoma City when it starts a four-game series against Nashville on Tuesday at Principal Park. Iowa, which hasn't been to the playoffs since 2008, has 29 games left to finish off its comeback.

"All we do is we think about tomorrow and tomorrow I'm going to be laying by the pool," Iowa manager Marty Pevey said.