IL Iowa Cubs

August 21 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

Published on August 21, 2021 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (40-53) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (52-42)

Saturday - 7:05 PM - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN

LHP Luis Lugo (0-0, -.--) vs. LHP Bryan Sammons (0-1, 5.21)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa will try to bounce back in game five tonight after a 7-4 loss to the Saints last night. Luis Lugo will get the start for Iowa tonight, his first start as a member of the I-Cubs after spending parts of this season and 2019 with Double-A Tennessee. With the Smokies this year, Lugo is 5-4 with a 3.90 ERA in 17 games. He has only started 12 of those games, but made five consecutive starts for Tennessee before being called up to Iowa on August 18. In his last start, on August 11, Lugo got the win over the Rocket City Trash Pandas. The Southpaw threw five innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out eight batters for the second consecutive game. Opposite of Lugo will be lefty Bryan Sammons getting the ball for St. Paul. Sammons has spent the majority of his season with Double-A Wichita, pitching in 14 total games for the Wind Surge. He is 3-4 with a 6.44 ERA in his time at Double-A, while holding an 0-1 record with a 5.21 ERA in five games with the Saints. He is set to make his third start of the season for St. Paul tonight.

CONTACT IS KING: In the first four games of this series, Iowa has scored four or less runs in three of them, with the one exception coming in game two of the series. The I-Cubs put together a two-run ninth inning and four-run tenth to tally 10 runs, but were at four runs entering the final frame in that game. This series, they have left 29 men on-base, due in large part to their inability to put the bat on the ball. Iowa has struck out 39 times through four games, including 15 in last night's contest. St. Paul's starter, Joe Ryan, struck out nine batters by himself. He recorded 75% (9-of-12) of the outs he made through his four innings via the punch-out. He was followed by Ryan Mason, who earned the win for the Saints last night. Mason sat down five batters via the strikeout in his 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit. Six of the nine starting hitters in Iowa's lineup had multi-strikeout games last night, with just one player not striking out at least once.

NOT WHAT THEY WERE HOPING FOR: Shortly before last night's game, Iowa turned to an opener to start the game. Dillon Maples was who they chose to get the start, making it his first start since 2014 with the Arizona League Cubs. The righty has had trouble with control his whole career, and this year he has now walked 18% (34-of-189) of the batters he has faced in 35 games between Iowa and Chicago. Maples recorded one out last night, but walked the other three batters he faced, throwing just one-third of the first inning. All three batters he walked came around to score, making his final line 0.1 innings pitched, no hits, three earned runs and three walks. His ERA jumped to 6.91 on the season with Iowa, and the loss marked his first of the season with the I-Cubs. He was coming off of back-to-back wins on August 15 and 18.

MR. MULTI-HIT GAME: Abiatal Avelino recorded his team-leading 24th multi-hit game last night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Ian Miller (21) and Nick Martini (18) are the two closest to Avelino when it comes to multi-hit games. The infielder is also one of just three players to notch a four-hit game this season with the I-Cubs. He now has 20 two-hit games, three three-hit games and one four-hit game. He and Miller lead the team with 79 games played, each playing in 85% (79-of-93) of Iowa's games. Avelino also sits in first on the team with 286 at-bats and 325 plate appearances.

SLOW HIM DOWN: After going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk last night, Tomás Telis extended his hitting streak against Iowa to 11 consecutive games. So far in this four game series, Telis is hitting .438 (7-for-16) with five runs scored, a home run, two runs batted in, a walk and one stolen base. He recorded two hits in each of the first three games, making it five of the 11 games that he has two or more hits. His 11-game hitting streak against Iowa is the longest streak of the season by any opposing hitter.

THE ONE AND ONLY: Just one pitcher for Iowa did not allow a run last night, and that pitcher was Ethan Roberts. Roberts continued the hot streak he is on with two perfect innings last night against St. Paul, striking out one batter along the way. On the year now with the I-Cubs, the righty is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in six games. In those six games, he has thrown 8.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, two walks and seven strikeouts with opponents hitting .219 against him. All three earned runs and 57% (4-of-7) of his hits allowed came in one outing, back on August 7 against Indianapolis. Since that outing, Roberts has thrown 4.2 scoreless frames, allowing just one hit while striking out five batters in those three games.

STREAKING: Ian Miller went 0-for-4 with a walk last night from the leadoff spot, ending his hitting streak at five games. Miller still holds the longest hitting streak of the season, getting a hit in nine straight games from July 6-17. He is now hitting .353 (6-for-17) this series, with a .274 average on the season for Iowa. Alfonso Rivas, who entered last night's game with a six-game streak, extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single in the eighth inning. Rivas went 1-for-4 on the night, making it his fourth one-hit game of the streak to go along with three multi-hit efforts. On the seven game streak, the lefty batter is hitting .333 (10-for-30) with three doubles and two runs batted in. With a hit tonight, he would tie his season-long streak of eight games set back on July 18-27; he would also be just one game short of tying the season long record for Iowa of nine games.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: After their three-run loss last night, Iowa fell to 10-18 this season against St. Paul. Coming into the series, the I-Cubs were one game over the .500 mark on the road against the Saints, going 6-5 at CHS Field. They are just 3-9 against St. Paul at Principal Park, and now, after losing three out of the first four games here on the road, are sitting at 7-9 on the road. The Saints have outscored Iowa by 17 runs this season, 141 runs to 124 runs, but Iowa still leads the scoring here at CHS Field by 10 runs. Despite back-to-back losses, the I-Cubs are out scoring St. Paul 80-70 when the two teams play at CHS Field.

IT FINALLY HAPPENED: Heading into last night's game, Iowa was 12 games under .500, with a record of 40-53. It was the 11th time this season the I-Cubs have had 12 more losses than wins, but it was the furthest they had ever gotten below .500. After last night's loss, they are now 13 games under .500 for the first time all season. Their 40-53 record puts them in sixth place in the Triple-A East Midwest division, 12.0 games out of the top-spot.

SHORT HOPS: With 8,209 fans at CHS Field last night, it put Iowa's total combined attendance on the season over the 500,000 mark, at 503,961...after their 7-4 loss last night, the I-Cubs fell to 5-5 on the road in August and 8-10 overall in the month.

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