IL Iowa Cubs

July 27 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

Published on July 27, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (43-50) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (43-49)

Wednesday - 1:07 PM - CHS Field - Saint Paul, MN

RHP Luke Farrell (2-1, 3.98) vs. RHP Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 4.91)

TODAY'S GAME: Luke Farrell will take the ball in game two of the series today for Iowa, looking to give the I-Cubs a 2-0 lead. Farrell is 2-1 with a 3.98 ERA through 12 games with Iowa this year, allowing 19 earned runs on 38 hits over his 43.0 innings pitched. In those 43.0 innings, the righty has walked 20 batters compared to 35 strikeouts, holding opponents to a .238 batting average against him. Farrell threw just 2.2 innings in his last start on July 17 after throwing four or more in each of his three previous starts. Opposite of Farrell will be Aaron Sanchez taking the ball for the Saints. Sanchez is 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA through seven starts after going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts with Rochester. Is his seven starts with the Saints, the righty has allowed 18 earned runs on 31 hits while walking 10 and striking out 23. He has thrown five or more innings in each of his last four starts, totaling 33.0 on the year with St. Paul entering today's contest.

QUITE THE STREAK: St. Paul scored a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Tim Beckham last night, ending Iowa's scoreless innings streak at 22.2 innings. After surrendering nine runs in their first game out of the All-Star break on Friday night, Iowa's staff combined to throw back-to-back nine-inning shutouts on both Saturday and Sunday, giving them 18.0 scoreless innings entering last night's contest. It marked the first time Iowa had back-to-back shutouts since 2017 and their first time with back-to-back nine-inning shutouts since 2015, both instances coming against Colorado Springs. Prior to their back-to-back shutouts, Iowa's longest scoreless inning streak of the year was 14.0 innings back from April 16 against Toledo to April 19 against Louisville. 22.2 scoreless innings is the longest scoreless innings streak for an Iowa team since 2017, when they spun 23.0 scoreless innings from August 16-18 against Colorado Springs.

BREAK OUT OF IT: Greg Deichmann entered last night's game in his biggest slump of the year, going 0-for-12 with four strikeouts in his previous three games. Taking it further back, the outfielder was hitting just .069 (2-for-29) with 11 strikeouts over his previous eight games. Last night, Deichmann broke out of his slump in a big way, going 3-for-4, recording more hits in last night's game than he had in his previous eight games combined. It marked his fourth three-hit game of the year with Iowa.

NUMBER 100: In his 83rd game with Iowa last night, Dixon Machado collected his 100th hit of the season, becoming the first Iowa Cubs player to reach triple digits in hits this year. The infielder joined rare company as just the fourth player in the International League to record 100 hits and the sixth player in the entire Triple-A. He is also among International League leaders in batting average (.307, 4th) and on-base percentage (.399, 3rd).

STEAL THE SHOW: Narciso Crook started the scoring for Iowa last night with a solo home run in the second inning to give Iowa a 1-0 lead. It marked his 14th home run of the year, tying with Jared Young for the team-lead. Crook struck again in the ninth inning with Iowa up 3-2, driving a two-run double to give Iowa some insurance runs. He collected two of Iowa's nine hits and drove in half of their runs, bringing in three of the six runs the I-Cubs scored. His home run and double moved his slugging percentage to .518, putting him in seventh among International League players in slugging this year. With three runs batted in last night, the outfielder now has nine multi-RBI games this year, good for the team lead.

GOT THE WIN: In his first appearance at the Triple-A level last night, Nicholas Padilla allowed one run, but stopped the bleeding and kept Iowa in the game. He entered the game in the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead and retired the first two batters he faced with ground outs. He then walked a batter and surrendered a double, giving up the lead. Iowa regained the lead the next inning and never gave it up, giving Padilla the first Triple-A win of his career in his Triple-A debut.

IMPRESSIVE RETURN: In his first game with Iowa since June 15, Mark Leiter Jr. spun three scoreless innings against the Saints last night. The righty has been up with Chicago for the majority of the season, pitching in 14 games with the Cubs as opposed to now six with Iowa. Leiter Jr. was optioned to Iowa back on July 16, but with his ability to take 72 hours to report and the All-Star game in between, it marked his first time pitching in a game since he threw 3.2 innings for Chicago back on July 14. He looked sharp in his return to the mound, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out five.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul are set to meet for game two of their six-game series today, with Iowa currently up 1-0 in the series. Their 6-2 victory last night moved them one game closer to St. Paul in the season record, where they are currently 6-7 this year against the Saints. Four of those six wins have come at CHS Field, where they are now 4-3 compared to going just 2-4 at Principal Park against St. Paul. Iowa is now 18-30 all-time against the Saints and 13-17 against St. Paul at CHS Field.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa stole four bases last night, tying their most stolen bases in a single game this year...with a win today, Iowa could move into 8th place in the International League West division for the first time since June 7...Jackson Frazier had his 12-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3 effort last night, marking the third time in his career he has had a 12-game streak...Iowa moved to 4-6 when tied after seven innings and 4-6 when they have an equal hit total as their opponent with last night's win.

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