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August 27 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints

August 27, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (56-65) vs. ST. PAUL SAINTS (57-62)

Saturday - 6:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Adbert Alzolay (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-0, 9.00)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and St. Paul will play the fifth game of their six-game series against St. Paul tonight, with Major League rehabber Adbert Alzolay expected to make the start for the I-Cubs. The right-hander was placed on the 60-day injured list back on March 18 and aside from pitching in one game with the ACL Cubs on August 22, has not pitched at all this season. His last game with Chicago came back on October 1, 2021, when he threw two innings of scoreless relief against the St. Louis Cardinals. In his lone game this year with the ACL Cubs he allowed one earned run on three hits. He didn't walk anybody but did hit two batters and struck out four. On the other side, Simeon Woods Richardson will take the ball for the Saints. The righty has made just one start for St. Paul this year, allowing three earned runs on four hits over his three innings pitched. He did not walk a single batter while striking out four, but did allow one home run in his outing on Sunday.

STARTING OFF THE RIGHT WAY: Iowa's pitching staff has flipped a switch this series and it all begins with their starting pitching. Through the first four games of the series against St. Paul, Iowa's starters have allowed just one earned run over 20.0 innings. All four starters have spun five innings, with Caleb Kilian and Wyatt Short starting it off with five scoreless frames through the first two games. On Thursday, Hayden Wesneski added five innings of one-run ball and Matt Swarmer spun five scoreless innings in last night's contest. The four starters have combined to allow just one run on 11 hits and six walks while striking out 24, holding a record of 2-0 with an ERA of 0.45.

BETTER EVERY DAY: Since joining Iowa's roster on August 5, Jeremiah Estrada has been lights-out in six relief outings for the I-Cubs. He allowed a single to lead off the ninth inning last night, but struck out the next three batters he faced to close the game and earn his second career Triple-A save. It was the 13th time this year that he has struck out three or more batters in a single outing and his first with Iowa. The righty has struck out two or more batters in five of his six outings. The 23-year-old has allowed just six hits and one walk while striking out 12 for the I-Cubs, earning two saves along the way. Estrada has allowed just seven earned runs on 31 hits and 20 walks while striking out 78 batters in 48.1 innings across three different levels this year.

SNAPPED: Darius Hill went 0-for-4 yesterday, snapping an 11-game hitting streak that began on August 11. The streak spanned the entire series in Indianapolis as well as parts of series against Louisville and the current set versus St. Paul. Though the streak is over, Hill is still leading the team with a .336 average, which would rank first in the International League if he qualified for the leaderboard. He has amassed 137 hits between Double-A Tennessee and Iowa, which puts him second in all of Minor League Baseball, trailing the leader by just three. Yesterday was his 15th hitless game with Iowa out of 62 he has played here, which compares to 26 multi-hit games in the same span. Though his streak ended at 11, putting it one short of his season and career high, it was still good to tie for fourth-longest streak by an I-Cub this season. Hill is the owner of three of Iowa's six longest streaks this year, including a double-digit hitting streak in each of the three months he has spent in Iowa.

DON'T STOP NOW: With their four wins to start the series, Iowa enters tonight's game with the longest winning streak of any team across not only the International League, but the Pacific Coast League as well. It marks their second longest winning streak of the series, with their longest coming back on May 8 to May 13 when they won one game against St. Paul to end a series and took the first four against Omaha to start that series. Iowa's four-game winning streak matches their season long from last year that they reached twice, from May 16-21 and September 14-18. In May it was one game against the Saints and three against Omaha while in September it was four straight games against Omaha. Since the six-game series scheduling started last year, Iowa has never won the first five games of a single series or five straight games over a single team, both of which they have the chance to do tonight. All four of Iowa's longest streaks have included St. Paul and Omaha. The series win against St. Paul in their current series is Iowa's first series victory since June 14-19 against Omaha. It is just their fourth series win of the year and the second against a team other than the Storm Chasers.

PATIENCE AND POWER: A third of Iowa's offense yesterday came courtesy of John Hicks, who hit both a double and his 15th home run of the year. The hits came as part of a 2-for-2 night for the catcher, who also walked twice. It marked the first time all season that he reached base in every plate appearance in a game and the second time this year that he reached base four times in a game. While the extra-base power has been par for the course for Hicks, the patience at the plate was a little more unexpected. Last night was his second multi-walk game of the year and his first since June 1 - a game that was also against St. Paul. Hicks has walked only 15 times this season, but with one more free pass, he'd tie his season mark from last year.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul are set to play game five of their six-game series tonight with Iowa having already won the series, up four games to none entering tonight's contest. With their win in game four of the series last night it gave Iowa their first series win against St. Paul all-time in the two years the two teams have played. It also moved them to an even .500 against the Saints this year, at 11-11. They have also won six games at home against St. Paul this year, moving to 6-4 here at Principal Park. In 12 games at home last year against the Saints, Iowa went just 3-9, already doubling the amount of wins against the Saints here at Principal Park with two games left to play. Their 6-4 record at home against St. Paul this year puts them at 9-13 against the Saints all-time at Principal Park and 23-34 overall all-time. With their second consecutive one-run win last night, Iowa has now scored 15 less runs than St. Paul this year, at 132-117.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa earned just their fourth win all year when they commit two or more errors, moving to 4-13 in those games...this is just the second series of the year that Iowa has won the first four games, the other was May 10-13 when they took the first four games against Omaha...last night marked Iowa's 27th comeback victory of the year, good for 48% (27-of-56) of their wins this year...the Saints out-hit Iowa 8-7 last night, making the I-Cubs now 7-43 when they are out-hit by their opponent.

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