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July 7 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints

July 7, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (50-32) vs. ST. PAUL SAINTS (49-34)

Friday - 7:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Hayden Wesneski (1-0, 1.00) vs. LHP Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 1.08)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and St. Paul will play game four of their six-game series tonight, with Hayden Wesneski getting the call for the I-Cubs. Wesneski is set to make his third start of the year with Iowa, spending the rest of the season up with Chicago. Through two games, the righty is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA, allowing one earned run on two hits and six walks while striking out nine in his 9.0 innings pitched with Iowa this year. Opponents have hit just .069 against him, as he has allowed just two hits in the 36 total batters he has faced. Opposite of Wesneski will be long-time major leaguer and former World Series Champion Dallas Keuchel toeing the rubber for St. Paul. Keuchel signed a minor league contract with Minnesota on June 22 and was assigned to St. Paul that day, where he has since made two starts. In those two outings, the southpaw is 0-0 with a 1.08 ERA, allowing just one earned run on seven hits and four walks. He has struck out seven batters over his 8.1 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .226 batting average against him.

MAKING AN IMPACT: After hitting .284 in 58 games with Double-A Tennessee, Luis Vazquez earned a promotion to Iowa on June 28. Since that promotion, the 23-year-old has played in eight games with Iowa, all at shortstop. Over that span, the I-Cubs have gone 7-1, with Vázquez playing a big part in the team's success. Not only is he playing an elite defensive shortstop, he is also leading the active roster in batting average, hitting .346 with two doubles, two home runs and eight runs batted in. He has taken three walks compared to six strikeouts, raising his on-base percentage to .400. After going 2-for-4 last night, the shortstop now has back-to-back multi-hit games and three overall in his eight games with Iowa. He is currently riding a three-game hitting streak entering tonight's contest in which he is hitting .500 (5-for-10) with a double, home run and three runs batted in. The Puerto Rican native is in his third stint with Iowa, playing 11 games in 2019 and 27 games with Iowa last year. His nine hits through eight games this year already surpass his total in 2019 and come six shy of the 15 hits he registered in 27 games last season.

THE BIG 5-0: With their 5-3 victory last night, Iowa earned their 50th win of the season, moving to 50-32 this year. Their 50 wins coming in their first 82 games is the third fastest all-time that an I-Cubs team has gotten to 50 wins in a single season. Their quickest two times came in just one fewer game, reaching the mark of 50-31 in 81 games in both 1973 and 1998. This 2023 team has been pacing the 1998 team from the beginning of the season, as they were the first team to start the year 4-0 since 1998. On the other end of the spectrum, the 2018 I-Cubs won 50 games all year, finishing the season with a record of 50-88, matching the 1992 I-Cubs who finished the season with a record of 51-92. As the 2023 team got to 50 wins in 82 games, it took each of those teams 138 games to earn their 50th win, 56 more games than it has taken this year's club.

STRUMPF'S SLUMP: After a recent six-game hitting streak from June 15-22, it seems infielder Chase Strumpf has fallen into a slump at the plate. Since the end of his hit streak on June 23, the 25-year-old has gone 1-for-28 at the plate, which totals to just a .036 hitting clip. The strikeout numbers have also been relatively high during that span for Strumpf as he has racked up 10 strikeouts since June 23. That means Strumpf has struck out in 35.7-percent of his at-bats during this time frame. Over his past five games, the numbers are also not great at 0-for-16 with six strikeouts, which results in a strikeout 37.5-percent of the time. With the recent hitting struggles Strumpf's batting average at the Triple-A level has now dipped below the Mendoza line and currently sits at .188, the lowest on Iowa's active roster.

WE WANT WESNESKI: Tonight will mark the return of pitcher Hayden Wesneski to the Iowa rotation. Wesneski was recently up with Chicago in the big leagues where he appeared in seven games with two starts. During his most recent stint with Chicago, Wesneski tallied a record of 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA, just six walks, and 21 strikeouts. His best outing over that time came in his last before being optioned to Iowa where he tossed 2.0 shutout innings on July 2 versus the Cleveland Guardians with just two hits allowed, no walks, and a strikeout. Wesneski previously was with Iowa for two starts back in May. In those two outings with the I-Cubs he achieved a record of 1-0 with an impressive 1.00 ERA over nine innings of work. In his season debut with Iowa on May 20 in the second game of a doubleheader at Indianapolis, Wesneski had the interesting stat line of 5.0 innings pitched, no hits, no earned runs, and five strikeouts, but also had four walks allowed.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: After winning each of the first three games against St. Paul this series, Iowa is now 3-0 at home this year and moved to 9-6 overall against the Saints in 2023. Their success this series has improved their overall record all-time against St. Paul to 32-41, going 12-15 all-time here at Principal Park. Iowa has won four games in a row against the Saints just once in the three years they have played, coming last year from August 23-26. Despite leading the series 3-0, Iowa has outscored St. Paul by just four runs this series, at 11-7.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa's pitching staff limited St. Paul to just two hits last night, the lowest amount they have surrendered in a nine-inning game all year; they had previously allowed just three hits five times...the I-Cubs are 26-4 in games decided by two runs or less this year, going 19-3 (10-0 at home) in one-run games and 7-1 (5-1 at home) in two-run contests...with Iowa scoring first for the third consecutive game last night, they are now 15-4 this year when they score first in home games...Iowa's win last night tied their season-long five game winning streak, with the opportunity to win their sixth straight game tonight for the first time since winning eight in a row from May 1-7 in 2019.

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