IL Iowa Cubs

July 26 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

July 26, 2022 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (42-50) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (43-48)

Tuesday - 7:07 PM - CHS Field - Saint Paul, MN

RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (0-3, 6.16) vs. LHP Devin Smeltzer (1-2, 3.86)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Mark Leiter Jr. will take the ball for Iowa in today's series opener, marking his first start with Iowa since June 15. Through five starts with Iowa, Leiter Jr. is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA entering today's game, still in search of his first win with Iowa. He has allowed 13 earned runs on 18 hits over 19.0 innings while walking five and striking out 27 over that span. He has been up with Chicago for the majority of the year, going 2-4 with a 5.35 ERA in 14 appearances including four starts with the Cubs. On the other side, Devin Smeltzer will take the ball for St. Paul, set to make his sixth start of the year for the Saints. Smeltzer is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA through his first five starts, allowing nine earned runs on 21 hits while walking six and striking out 18 over 21.0 innings pitched. The southpaw hasn't pitched with St. Paul since May 3, making his last 12 starts with Minnesota. Over that span, he went 4-2 with a 4.02 ERA for the Twins, striking out 37 batters compared to just 17 walks over 62.2 innings pitched.

BACK-TO-BACK: Iowa has thrown back-to-back shutouts in their last two games, beating Omaha 10-0 on Saturday and 7-0 on Sunday. It marked their fourth and fifth shutouts of the season and their first since June 11 against Toledo. Four of their five shutouts this year have been against Omaha, with the first two coming back May 12 and 15 and now their last two games. It marks the first time Iowa has had back-to-back shutouts since 2017 and their first time with back-to-back nine-inning shutouts since 2015, both coming against Colorado Springs.

LEADING THE WAY: Despite filling various roles for Iowa this year, Matt Dermody has been one of the most consistent pitchers Iowa has had all year long. The southpaw made his career-high 13th start of the year Sunday night and continued rolling on his current streak. He won his third straight start and fourth in his last five to give him a team-leading six wins. Not only does he lead the team with six wins, but he also leads the team in innings pitched with 75.1, while placing second in starts with 13 and strikeouts with 66. With his five-shutout innings on Sunday, the southpaw climbed into the International League leaderboards in ERA (3.94), winning percentage (.667) and WHIP (1.33). In his last seven games, Dermody is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA as opponents are hitting just .213 against him. He has allowed just five earned runs on 26 hits and nine walks while striking out 32 over his 33.1 innings, allowing one home run and hitting two batters. He has thrown four or more innings in all seven of those games, including five innings in five of the seven.

THE NEW RECIPE: In each of their last two wins over the weekend, Iowa got five innings out of their starter followed by a four-inning relief effort, using just four pitchers to get through the last 18.0 shutout innings. In Saturday's game, Sean Newcomb earned a four-inning save, allowing just two hits while walking two and striking out six. On Sunday, in his Triple-A debut, Anderson Espinoza followed up what Newcomb did with a four-inning save of his own. The righty also allowed two hits and walked two batters while striking out two. He needed only 54 pitches to get through his four innings, throwing 56% (30-of-54) of them for strikes. The back-to-back four-inning saves marked just the second and third time Iowa has had a four-inning save all year.

IMPRESSIVE START: Anderson Espinoza has spent the majority of the season with Double-A Tennessee, pitching in 13 games for the Smokies. Over those 13 games, the righty went 1-4 with a 7.11 ERA, allowing 35 earned runs on 40 hits including 10 home runs. His big problem was control, walking 25 batters compared to 54 strikeouts in 44.1 innings with Tennessee. He had also pitched in three Major League games prior to his Triple-A debut Sunday night, going 0-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 9.2 innings with Chicago. In his first Triple-A action with Iowa on Sunday, the 24-year-old was lights out, tossing four innings of scoreless relief. He earned his first Triple-A save and the first save of his career with the effort.

JUST NEED ONE: Dixon Machado has been a huge part of Iowa's success this year and is now just one hit away from joining an elite list among Triple-A players. With two hits in each of the first two games after the break, Machado put himself at 99 hits, just one away from reaching the 100 mark. With a hit tonight, the infielder would become one of just three batters in the International League and one of four batters in all of Triple-A to record 100 hits this year. He leads the team in games played (82), hits (99), doubles (19), walks (45) and on-base percentage (.402). His 99 hits rank third in all of the International League, while his .308 batting average is good for fourth and his .402 on-base percentage sits in fourth in the IL. Machado also leads the team with 26 multi-hit efforts and has been Iowa's leadoff hitter in 82% (75-of-92) of their games and in 94% (75-of-80) of his starts.

SET THE RECORD: Jackson Frazier extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games on Sunday, tying his career high. The outfielder tied his career high streak but has never had a longer streak at the Triple-A level or higher. Frazier's streak is also the second-longest streak by an I-Cub this year, now just two games shy of Dixon Machado's season-high 14-game streak from May 29 to June 15. Frazier has hit safely in 17 of his last 18 games and has reached base in all 18. After starting his I-Cubs career with a .195 average (8-for-41) over his first ten games, the outfielder has turned it on since the calendar flipped to July. He has gone 21-for-67 through 18 games this month and collected 19 RBI over that span, which is the most by an I-Cub in July.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul are set to play the first of six games at CHS Field tonight, with the Saints currently leading the series 7-5. In the two years the teams have played, St. Paul has had Iowa's number, but the I-Cubs have actually played better on the road than they have at home. Iowa is just 17-30 all-time against St. Paul, with 12 of their 17 wins coming here at CHS Field. The two teams split the first series here back in May, each taking three games.

SHORT HOPS: Sunday night marked the first multi-RBI game of the year for Zach Davis; he previously had one RBI in five different games this year...Matt Mervis hit the first Triple-A home run of his career on Sunday, also knocking a two-RBI triple; the long ball marked his 22nd home run of the year over three levels and the two extra-base hits gave him 83 runs batted in this season.

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