IL Iowa Cubs

July 9 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints

Published on July 9, 2023 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (50-34) vs. ST. PAUL SAINTS (51-34)

Sunday July 9, 2023 - 1:08 PM - Principal Park - Des Moines, IA

RHP Ben Brown (4-5, 4.81) vs. RHP Louie Varland (2-0, 6.44)

TODAY'S GAME: The I-Cubs and Saints are set to play the sixth and final game of the series today, with Ben Brown getting the ball for Iowa. Brown enters today with a 4-5 record and a 4.81 ERA in 11 starts with Iowa, allowing 26 earned runs on 44 hits and 29 walks. The righty has swing-and-miss stuff, fanning 71 batters in his 48.2 innings pitched. In his lone start against St. Paul this year back on June 8, he allowed two earned runs on five hits and six walks while striking out seven in 4.1 innings pitched. Following Brown will be righty Adrian Sampson, who made his first start for Iowa in nearly three months back on Tuesday in the series opener. In that game, Sampson spun 4.0 one-run innings, allowing just one hit - a solo home run - while walking one and striking out two. Opposite of Brown will be Louie Varland, set to make his sixth start of the year for St. Paul. The righty enters today's contest with a 2-0 record and a 6.44 ERA, allowing 21 earned runs on 34 hits and 11 walks through his 29.1 innings pitched. Over that time, he has struck out 38 batters, while opponents are hitting .296 against him. In his first start of the year with the Saints against Iowa back on April 7, he spun 5.0 one-run innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out nine.

NOT JUST A DEFENDER: Known for his elite defense at shortstop, Luis Vazquez has made a big impact for Iowa's offense through his first 10 games with Iowa. The 23-year-old earned a promotion to Iowa on June 28 after hitting .284 in 58 games with Double-A Tennessee to start the year. In his 10 games with the I-Cubs, all he has done is hit .394 with six runs scored, two doubles, three home runs, nine runs batted in and taken four walks compared to six strikeouts. Vázquez has an on-base percentage of .447 and is slugging .727 over that span, leading Iowa's active roster in batting average, OBP, slugging and OPS. Entering today's game, the shortstop is riding a streak of four straight multi-hit games, recording two hits in five of his 10 games played. Against St. Paul, the Puerto Rican native is hitting .529 (9-for-17) with four runs scored, a double, two home runs, four runs batted in, with two walks and two strikeouts. He is slugging .941 over the first five games of the series, good for a 1.520 OPS.

TOUGH TO COME BY: Coming into Iowa's series versus St. Paul, it was billed as two of the top offenses in the International League going head-to-head. Through five games played, however, the opposite has been true as runs have been tough to come by for both squads with outstanding pitching efforts. For Iowa, it is currently averaging 2.8 runs per game this series and St. Paul is just slightly higher averaging 3.2 runs per game. As it currently sits, Iowa's average of 2.8 runs per game would be its second-lowest series scoring average this season. The lowest average runs per game in a series from Iowa this season occurred on the road in Indianapolis May 16-21 when it accumulated 2.5 per game over that six-game series. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Iowa's highest average runs per game in a series happened March 25-30 versus Louisville when it tallied 10.5 runs per game. The offense has shown up for Iowa in this series versus St. Paul despite the low scoring total. The I-Cubs have totaled 40 hits through five games but have just failed to bring in runners with 45 runners left on base and going 10-for-54 for a clip of 18.5-percent with runners in scoring position.

START YOUR ENGINES: The starting pitchers in Iowa's staff have had a phenomenal series versus one of the most high-powered offenses in the International League in the St. Paul Saints. In game five of the series the trend continued with Nick Neidert. In his outing last night Neidert spun five innings and allowed just one run off one hit to go along with six strikeouts compared to one walk. The other starters who also have put together solid outings this series have been Adrian Sampson, Riley Thompson, Jordan Wicks, and Hayden Wesneski. Sampson started the series on Tuesday and over 4.0 innings of work allowed one earned run off one hit and struck out two. Thompson was next up on Wednesday and recorded his first quality start of the season with a final line of 6.0 innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, three walks, and seven strikeouts. Wicks earned the first Triple-A win of his career on Thursday after spinning 5.0 innings with two hits, three earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts. Friday night's starter, Wesneski, went 3.0 innings in his outing versus the Saints but did not allow a run and gave up just two hits to go along with six strikeouts and one walk in his first start with Iowa since being optioned by Chicago on July 4. Through five games versus St. Paul, Iowa's starters have a combined stat line of a 2.35 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 11 walks, and just nine hits allowed.

SLUMPING STRUMPF: After a seven-game hitting streak from June 14-22, it seems infielder Chase Strumpf has fallen into a slump at the plate and the struggles continued for Strumpf with a 0-for-4, three strikeout performance in last night's loss to St. Paul. Since the end of his hit streak on June 22, the 25-year-old has gone 1-for-32 at the plate, which totals to just a .031 hitting clip. The strikeout numbers have also been relatively high during that span for Strumpf, as he has racked up 13 strikeouts since June 23. That means Strumpf has struck out in 40.6-percent of his at-bats during this time frame. Over his past six games, he has gone 0-for-20 with nine strikeouts, which results in a strikeout 45-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 .180, marking the lowest batting average on Iowa's active roster.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: The I-Cubs and Saints will close out their six game series this afternoon. Iowa currently leads the series 3-2. In two completed series so far this season, Iowa and St. Paul have each taken a series win. Despite last night's loss, Iowa still leads the season series 9-8. They trail all-time versus St. Paul 32-43 and all-time at home 12-17.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa looks to earn their fourth straight series win, they went 5-1 versus Indianapolis and 4-2 against Memphis and Omaha leading in to this week, the last time they lost a series was against St. Paul June 6-11 ... Last night marked the I-Cubs' ninth loss when hitting a home run at home ... In their Sunday reds, Iowa has a .667 win percentage which is their best mark in any uniform ... Both David Bote and Nelson Velazquez extended their team-leading on-base streaks last night, Bote to 21 games and Velázquez to 20.

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