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July 27 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Indianapolis Indians

July 27, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (43-57) vs. INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (44-52)

Saturday, July 27 - 6:08 PM CT - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Connor Noland (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Luis Cessa (1-2, 4.87)

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Indianapolis Indians are set to take the diamond for the fifth game of their current six-game series at Principal Park...the I-Cubs find themselves in a deficit in the current series against the Indians as they have dropped the first four games of the series and will look to earn their first win tonight... for Iowa, right-handed pitcher Connor Noland will take to the mound and make his Principal Park debut...the 25-year-old was recently promoted to Iowa and made his Triple-A debut on July 21 on the road against the Memphis Redbirds...in that outing against the Redbirds, Noland tossed 5.0 scoreless innings and earned the win...Noland, a ninth-round pick in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft by the Cubs, went 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA (24 ER in 86.1 IP) in 16 starts with Tennessee prior to his promotion and at the time of his promotion, he ranked among Southern League leaders in wins (T-1st), ERA (5th), WHIP (8th, .235) and innings pitched (T-8th)...in his last six starts dating back to June 18, Connor has gone 5-1 with a 1.04 ERA (4 ER in 34.2 IP) and 24 strikeouts...taking the mound for Indianapolis will be right-hander Luis Cessa ...tonight will be the sixth start for Cessa and his seventh appearance in an Indianapolis uniform after he was released by the Omaha Storm Chasers on June 1 and then signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 10...during his tenure with Indianapolis the 32-year-old has gone 1-2 with an ERA of 4.87 over 20.1 innings of work...while with Indianapolis, Cessa has tallied 12 strikeouts and 13 walks with an opponent's hitting clip of .250.

AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS: The I-Cubs and Indians will play their fifth game of their current series tonight at Principal Park...the series has been one-sided through the first four games with Indianapolis claiming victories in each game...coming into this week, Iowa and Indianapolis had played 12 contests already this season and the Indians led the season series at 7-5...the 2024 season series record between the I-Cubs and the Indians now sits at 11-5...the Indians led the all-time series over the I-Cubs with a record 79-57 and the Indians also have the advantage in games played at Principal Park with an all-time record of 36-31.

COME ON DOWN, CELESTINO: In an interesting series of events, outfielder Gilberto Celestino, who was a member of the Indianapolis Indians to start the week, was traded to the Chicago Cubs organization on Thursday and made his Iowa Cubs debut against his former team in last night's contest...the 25-year-old hit out of the leadoff spot for the I-Cubs, manned center field and proceeded to go 2-for-5 with a pair of singles at the plate in his Iowa debut...prior to switching clubhouses, Celestino had played in 67 games for Indianapolis this season hitting .271 (64-for-236) with 11 doubles, three home runs, and 25 RBI...he had also achieved marks of a .348 on-base percentage and .356 slugging to go along with nine stolen bases.

HITS GALORE: The Iowa Cubs and Indianapolis Indians put on an offensive display last night as the two teams combined for 30 hits and 10 runs with Indianapolis winning the game by a score of 7-3...Iowa tallied 13 hits on the night and was led by Bryce Windham who went 3-for-4 with a double at the dish...Meanwhile, Jake Hager, Fabian Pertuz, and Gilberto Celestino each tallied two hits on the night for the I-Cubs...for Pertuz and Celestino, it marked their first career multi-hit games as I-Cubs...Iowa was three hits shy of tying its season-high for hits in a game which came on May 24 versus Indianapolis...as for the Indians, they tallied 17 hits in last night's contest and were led by Alika Williams who went 4-for-6 with a double and two runs scored... Henry Davis and Jason Delay each tallied three hits on the night for Indianapolis and Matt Gorski and Andres Alvarez both had two hits in the game...the 17 hits allowed by Iowa last night was just one hit shy of its season-high of 18, which came on May 21 versus Indianapolis.

HAVE A SERIES, HAGER: Despite Iowa dropping the first four games of the series versus Indianapolis, a bright spot in the lineup has been infielder Jake Hager ...the 31-year-old has recorded at least one hit in all four games played this series and was highlighted by his two-hit performance last night...in the current series versus Indianapolis, Hager is hitting at a clip of .385 (5-for-13) with three runs scored, two doubles, and an RBI...the Henderson, Nevada native has been the Chicago Cubs organization for almost a month as he signed a minor league contract on June 28...he was then assigned to Iowa on July 1 and since then has tallied a batting average of .259 (15-for-58) with four doubles, one home run, and five RBI.

LOPSIDED AFFAIR: Iowa surrendered 13 runs in Tuesday's night loss and 14 runs in Wednesday's loss to total 27 runs in the first two games of the series which marks the most runs the I-Cubs have given up over a two-game span since they allowed 28 runs (16, 12) from June 29-30, 2022, vs. Columbus...Iowa has then proceeded to allow seven runs on both Thursday and Friday while only scoring two and three runs in those contests...over the four games played this series between Iowa and Indianapolis, the Indians are outscoring the I-Cubs 41-14.

THOMPSON TIME: Right-handed pitcher Keegan Thompson began his Major League Rehab assignment last night with Iowa and tossed a scoreless inning of work with no hits allowed, one walk, and one strikeout...Thompson was placed on the injured last back on June 28 when he was up in the big leagues with Chicago due to a right rib fracture...Thompson has spent time with both Iowa and Chicago this season prior to going on the injured list...With Iowa this year, he has appeared in 11 games and owns a record 1-1 with a 4.11 ERA over 15.1 innings...while with Chicago he has a 1-1 record in 13 appearances with a 3.50 ERA and one save in 18.0 innings.

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