IL Iowa Cubs

July 28 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

Published on July 28, 2022 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (43-51) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (44-49)

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

LHP Sean Newcomb (1-1, 3.60) vs. RHP Mario Sanchez (4-3, 3.13)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Sean Newcomb is scheduled to make his first start of the year with Iowa, entering the game with a 1-1 record and a 3.60 ERA through 11 relief appearances. The numbers for Newcomb are misleading, as he struggled early on, allowing six runs (five earned) on two hits and five walks in his first 2.0 innings. Since then, the lefty has allowed just three earned runs, all in one outing. He has not allowed a run over his last four appearances, surrendering just three hits over the 12.1 innings while striking out 16. On the other side, Mario Sanchez will take the ball for St. Paul, set to make his 16th appearance of the year. Through 63.1 innings, the righty is 4-3 with a 3.13 ERA, starting in eight of his 15 games so far. He has allowed 22 earned runs on 39 hits, while walking 16 batters compared to 50 strikeouts. In his most recent appearance against Iowa, Sanchez spun 7.2 innings of two-run ball, allowing just five hits and one walk while striking out two batters. His 7.2 innings stands as the longest start of any player in an Iowa Cubs game this year.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW(COMB): Sean Newcomb will make his first start of the season tonight for Iowa and his first start overall since August 10 of 2020. The lefty started his career as a starter, and pitched his first 120 professional games consecutively out of the rotation before making his first relief appearance in his final game of 2018. From that point on, however, he was almost exclusively a reliever. Between 2019 and 2021, Newcomb made 110 appearances for Triple-A Gwinnett and Atlanta, with only 11 of them being starts. Since joining the I-Cubs at the end of June, Newcomb has been stretching back out, and has pitched at least two innings in every appearance in July. He has been lights-out during that period, earning a 1.88 ERA and allowing just six hits in 14.1 innings.

FIRST IN A LONG TIME: In his 1.2 innings of relief yesterday, Brandon Leibrandt allowed three earned runs on four hits while striking out one and allowing one home run. The three runs he allowed marked the first time he has surrendered a run since June 21 when he allowed two runs over six innings in his last win of the year. Over his four-game span, he has pitched in relief in three games for Iowa while making one start for Double-A Tennessee in between. The southpaw allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out 13 batters over his 12.0 innings, holding opponents to an average of just .083 against him. His 1.2 innings pitched yesterday marked the shortest outing of the year for Leibrandt and his shortest outing since September 5, 2020, when he spun 1.2 innings for the Miami Marlins against the Tampa Bay Rays.

MULTI-HOMER MASTERS: David Banuelos' two-home run game yesterday was just the fourth multi-homer game the I-Cubs have allowed this season, and all four players to accomplish the feat have been St. Paul Saints. Alex Kirilloff and Caleb Hamilton both hit two home runs against Iowa on June 5, the same game that saw Spencer Steer hit three balls out. The Saints have now hit 27 home runs against Iowa this season, which is the most by any opponent and accounts for over a quarter of all homers allowed by the I-Cubs in 2022 (27-of-104).

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: Narciso Crook entered the All-Star break with a .252 (52-for-206) average with Iowa, while also making his Major League debut with Chicago in the first half of the season. As good as his first half was, the outfielder has had an extremely impressive start to the second half of his season, collecting at least one hit in all five games. He has also clubbed a home run in three of the five games, including two long balls on July 23 against Omaha. His five straight games with a hit out of the All-Star break put his hitting streak at a season-long seven games, just two away from his career high in 2015 with Single-A Daytona. His home run in yesterday's contest gave him 15 on the year, setting a new career high and giving him the team lead. Crook's recent hot streak moved him onto the leaderboards in the International League, placing him fifth in slugging percentage (.531) and seventh in OPS (.885).

THE MAGIC NUMBER: With their loss yesterday, Iowa fell to 0-8 when allowing nine runs this year and 0-18 when surrendering nine or more runs. The I-Cubs are now 0-30 this season when they allow seven or more runs and are just 2-32 allowing six or more runs.

JUST KEEP HITTING: Iowa's hit leader kept growing his lead yesterday, going 3-for-5 with a run scored out of the leadoff spot. Dixon Machado has been consistent all year for the I-Cubs, leading the team in games played (84), hits (103), doubles (19), walks (45) and on-base percentage (.402). He has led off for Iowa in 82% (77-of-94) of their games and has collected at least one hit in 65 of his 83 games with an at-bat. In 27 of those games, he has recorded two or more hits, leading the team in multi-hit performances. Not only do Machado's 103 hits lead the 2022 Iowa Cubs, but it is also two more hits than Abiatal Avelino recorded for Iowa in 106 games last year, giving him the most hits for any I-Cubs hitter in the last two seasons. Machado sits in third in the International League in batting average (.311), on-base percentage (.402) and hits (103), one of just four players in the IL with 100 or more hits.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul will play game three of their six-game set tonight, with the series tied at one game apiece. Iowa took game one by a score of 6-2 while the Saints won yesterday's contest 9-5 to tie the series. With the loss, Iowa is now 6-8 on the year while going an even .500 here at CHS Field, at 4-4. They moved to 13 games under .500 against St. Paul all-time, going 18-31 while being just five games under here on the road at 13-18.

SHORT HOPS: Luke Farrellwas Iowa's first starting pitcher to allow a run since Cam Sanders surrendered four on July 22; the I-Cubs had gotten three straight starts (13.0 innings) without allowing a run... Darius Hill became the team leader in batting average after going 1-for-4 yesterday, bringing his average to .338 through 41 games with Iowa... Levi Jordan is currently on a six-game hitting streak, tying his season high while Darius Hill is riding a seven-game hitting streak, three shy of his season-long.

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