April 28 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints
Published on April 28, 2026 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (13-13) at ST. PAUL SAINTS (11-15)
April 28 - 11:07 AM CT - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN
LHP Jordan Wicks (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP John Klein (1-1, 7.64)
TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the St. Paul Saints are set to play the first of a six-game series at CHS Field today...left-hander Jordan Wicks is set to make his third start of the season and his second on the road...right-hander John Klein is scheduled to start for St. Paul.
GLOOMY SUNDAY: The I-Cubs fell in the series finale on Sunday to the Louisville Bats by a 12-6 score... BJ Murray Jr. and Justin Dean paced the I-Cubs offense with three hits... Paul Campbell made the start and allowed seven runs on seven hits in 3.0 innings... Tyler Santana worked 2.0 scoreless innings in relief and Zac Leigh also worked 2.0 scoreless innings, including an immaculate ninth inning in which he struck out the side on nine pitches.
MORE RUNS: The I-Cubs scored a season-high 15 runs on 14 hits in their win last Wednesday...marked the most runs by the club since they plated 15 runs on June 27, 2025 vs. Columbus.
MATINEE ENJOYERS: Iowa dropped their game Sunday but are still 9-5 vs. going 4-8 in night games...among the 10 teams in the International League West, the I-Cubs have the most day-game wins, ahead of next most Memphis and Louisville who each have seven...in the current series at St. Paul, three of the six games will be day games.
ON THE BUMP: Iowa Cubs' catcher Casey Opitz took the ball to pitch in extra innings Friday night...he became the first position player to pitch in a game since outfielder Parker Chavers did on Aug. 14, 2025 vs. Worcester...Opitz tossed 2.0 innings and allowed two runs (none earned) on four hits and suffered the loss.
WOW, THAT WAS FAST: Thursday's game took just two hours and seven minutes...marked the fastest nine inning game by the I-Cubs since another two hour and seven minute game on Sept. 12, 2025 at Indianapolis...Iowa played two games under two hours last season, one on Sept. 19 vs. Toledo (1:59) and another on June 15 vs. Louisville (1:55).
MURRAY, MURRAY: I-Cubs infielder BJ Murray Jr. tallied his third three-hit game in his last five games on Sunday...he ranks among International League leaders in OPS (2nd, 1.054), batting average (2nd, .359), on-base percentage (5th, .451) and slugging percentage (7th, .603)...he has the second-most three-hit games on the team, behind Pedro Ramírez who has four such games this season.
AT ST. PAUL: The Iowa Cubs are set to play their first series vs. St. Paul this season...the club went 12-12 last season vs. St. Paul last season but tallied a 3-8 mark at CHS Field.
WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING: The I-Cubs earned their first shutout victory of the season Saturday with a 5-0 win...it marked the first shutout win for Iowa since they took a 1-0 decision on Sept. 19, 2025 vs. Toledo...the I-Cubs are 1-1 in games a team is blanked.
NASTY NOLAND: Saturday, starting pitcher Connor Noland became the second I-Cub to toss a quality start this season, following Will Sanders on April 3 at Louisville...in 2025, Noland worked at least 6.0 innings eight times, which is the most such games by an I-Cub since Colin Rea did so in 11 starts in 2019...Noland led the team with 132.2 innings pitched in 2025, the most by an I-Cub since Rea (148.0 IP) and Matt Swarmer (151.1 IP) in 2019.
TRI: James Triantos tallied his second game with at least three hits Saturday this season following a four-hit effort on April 2 at Louisville...Triantos also hit his third home run of the year, he did not reach three home runs last season until July 26.
HISTORY: Infielder Pedro Ramírez had a day to remember Wednesday as he went 3-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI...the eight RBI matched a franchise record, done three other times by Ian Stewart (2013), Tom Eagan (1973) and Larry Haney (1971)...marks the most RBI in an International League game since Toledo's Eduardo Valencia also had eight on Sept. 4, 2025 at Lehigh Valley...Ramírez leads the International League with 29 RBI.
International League Stories from April 28, 2026
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