IL Iowa Cubs

April 8 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

April 8, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (4-1) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (3-2)

Saturday - 1:07 PM (G1) - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN

GAME ONE: RHP Adrian Sampson (0-0, 6.75) vs. RHP Aaron Sanchez (0-0, 2.70)

GAME TWO: RHP Nick Neidert (0-0, 3.00) vs. RHP Randy Dobnak (0-0, 1.93)

TODAY'S GAMES: The I-Cubs and Saints will play games three and four of their five-game series today, making up their postponed series opener from Tuesday night. Adrian Sampson is set to take the ball in game one for Iowa, his second start of the year. Sampson was the Opening Day starter for Iowa, going four innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits. Opposite of Sampson will be Aaron Sanchez, making his second start of the year for the Saints. Sanchez allowed just one run on a solo home run while walking three and striking out for in his 3.1 innings of work. Game two of the double header will see Nick Neidert get the nod for Iowa and Randy Dobnak take the ball for St. Paul. Neidert went 3.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks while striking out three in his first start. Dobnak also allowed one earned run in his first start of the year, walking five and striking out five over 4.2 innings pitched. The right-hander pitched once against Iowa last year, allowing three earned runs over 2.0 innings.

HAVING FLASHBACKS: April 8 has been a day full of double headers for Iowa the past two seasons, as they played two games on April 8, 2022, against Buffalo. As he is today, Adrian Sampson was also the game one starter for Iowa in that double header. Iowa will look for better fortune than they had this time last year, as they lost both games in the double header by scores of 7-2 and 1-0.

STARTS AT THE TOP: The top three hitters in Iowa's lineup last night combined to go 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts and two walks. Their eight strikeouts made up 57% of the team's 14 total strikeouts. The swing-and-miss played a part in the team scoring just two runs, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine men on-base.

WALK DOWN THE LINE: Iowa has had a relief pitcher walk four batters in each of the last two games, making it now four times this year that a pitcher has walked four batters in a single outing. The first two were today's two starters, Adrian Sampson and Nick Neidert, while the latest two were Tyler Duffey on Thursday and Cam Sanders in last night's loss. Iowa's pitching staff has now walked 35 batters through their first five games, averaging seven walks per game. Their 35 walks is ranked 18th in the International League despite getting the first two games of their current series postponed.

NEEDED THE LONG BALL: After going 3-for-3 last night, Yonathan Perlaza now leads the I-Cubs in batting average, hitting .455 through his first three games this year. Perlaza collected three hits, scored both of Iowa's runs and drew a walk last night, reaching base in all four plate appearances. The switch hitter recorded a single, double, and triple, coming just a home run short of completing the cycle. Through three games this year, Perlaza is 5-for-11 with four runs scored, a .538 on-base percentage and .727 slugging percentage.

WELCOME TO TRIPLE-A: Riley Thompson made his Triple-A debut yesterday, tossing 4.0 innings of one-run ball. The righty allowed one walk followed by a double, the only hit he allowed, to drive in the only run he surrendered. He used six strikeouts to work through his four innings, getting four groundouts and two pop outs to complete his day. The Cubs' No. 28 ranked prospect is the third starter to go 4.0 innings for Iowa this year and has the most strikeouts in a single game of any I-Cubs pitcher so far this season.

MR. PRODUCTIVE: Despite playing in just two of Iowa's five games, Jared Young is tied for second on the team in runs batted in, with five. The 27-year-old is averaging one RBI per at-bat, going 2-for-5 with five RBI and two walks in his two games. Young went 1-for-3 with 3 RBI and a walk in Sunday's win over Columbus and followed that with a 1-for-2 game with two RBI and another walk last night. He drove in Iowa's only two runs of the game last night, using an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to get Iowa on the board.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: St. Paul came back with a win in last night's game to even the series at one game apiece entering today's double header. With their 6-2 loss last night, Iowa went back to 13 games below the .500 mark against the Saints all-time, falling to 24-37. Since the two teams started playing each other in 2021, Iowa is now seven games below even against St. Paul, at 15-22.

SHORT HOPS: Last night's 6-2 loss marked the first game all year that Iowa has scored less than four runs and just the second time they have had less than 10 hits...with St. Paul's run in the seventh inning last night, Iowa's opponents have now scored in each inning 1-9, scoring nine runs in the first frame for the most runs in any single inning...Nelson Velazquez extended his team-leading five game hitting streak with a single yesterday.

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