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May 12 Game Notes: Iowa at St. Paul

May 12, 2021 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (4-2) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (2-5)

Wednesday - 7:05 PM - CHS Field - Saint Paul, MN

LHP Ben Holmes (0-0, 3.60) vs. RHP Griffin Jax (0-0, 1.80)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa's offense exploded for a season-high 11 runs on 12 hits last night against St. Paul. Griffin Jax will try to slow the I-Cubs offense down tonight, in game two of the series. Ben Holmes takes the mound for the I-Cubs, attempting to continue the hot-streak Iowa's pitching staff is on.

PITCHING ON POINT: After tossing a combined no- hitter Sunday against Indianapolis, Iowa's pitching staff threatened no-hitting St. Paul Tuesday night. Starter Joe Biagini spun five no-hit innings, surrendering just two free- passes while striking out six. Right-hander Dakota Mekkes entered the game in the sixth, recording 1.2 hitless innings before Tomás Telis broke up the no-hit and shutout bid with one swing of the bat, hitting a solo home-run to left field. Robert Stock allowed one more hit in his two innings of work while striking out three. I-Cubs pitchers have allowed just two hits in their last 19 innings of work. Through six games, Iowa leads the Triple-A in ERA (2.29), hits allowed (27) and runs allowed (15). They are tied for the lead in earned runs allowed (14) with Columbus.

SIXTH INNING PRODUCTION: Iowa put a five-spot on the board in the sixth inning last night against St. Paul, padding their lead to 11-0. Prior to that breakout inning, the sixth inning was an inning to avoid for the I-Cubs offense. Twice this season, they have loaded the bases with no outs and not scored. In each game, Tuesday, May 4 in the season opener, and Friday, May 7, all three hitters struck out, leaving the bases loaded. Before last night, the sixth inning, along with the fourth and seventh were the only innings that Iowa had not scored any runs this season. The I-Cubs have struck out 15 times in the sixth inning, with all three batters being sat down on May 4, 7 and 11. On May 5, 6 and 9 the team struck out two of the three outs and the other three outs were all ground outs.

BIAGINI BALLIN': Through two starts, Joe Biagini holds a 1-1 record with a 1.64 ERA. Despite registering a quality start he suffered the loss in his first outing against Indianapolis. He bounced back last night, tossing five hitless innings, while allowing just two batters, both via the walk. Biagini struck out six batters, his most since September 1, 2017 when he struck out a career-high 10 batters for Toronto against the Baltimore Orioles.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Iowa brought their offense to St. Paul in the first game of the six-game road trip, scoring 11 runs on 12 hits. The team had scored 16 total runs heading into the game last night, including being on the wrong end of a two-hit shutout exactly one week before last night's game. Typically when a team scores this many runs, there is a large home run total in the stat-line as well. This was not the case last night, however, as Iowa scored all 11 runs without a single long ball. The I-Cubs used eight singles, four doubles and eight walks to do their damage. The last time Iowa put up 11 or more runs without a single deep fly dates back to June 2, 2018 when Iowa lost 11-14 to Colorado Springs. In that loss to Colorado Springs in 2018, Iowa scored 11 runs without a single extra-base hit, they had 16 singles and six walks. Since that game, Iowa has scored 11 or more runs eight times, all including at least one homer.

STAY HOT: After going 0-for-3 in the season-opener on Tuesday, infielder Abiatal Avelino has been a bright spot for the I-Cubs offense. In his last four games, Avelino is hitting .438 (8-for-19) with six runs scored, a home run, five total RBI and three walks. His home run, a grand slam, provided insurance for Iowa in their first win of the season, capping off a four home run night for the I-Cubs. Avelino scored every time he reached base last night against St. Paul.

EARLY AND OFTEN: In all six games of Iowa's season, the team that has scored first has come out victorious. The winning team pushed a run across the plate in the first inning in five of those six games, including last night when Iowa got the game started with two RBI singles in the top of the first.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: In the first matchup between the I-Cubs and Saints, Iowa was victorious in dominating fashion. The two teams face-off 11 more times this month and 29 more this season.

CHECK THE STANDINGS: Iowa has won three straight games, putting their record at 4-2, just one game back of the first-place Columbus Clippers. In 2019, Iowa had nine winning streaks of three or more games. Their longest was an eight game stretch from May 1-May 7 including one double-header. They outscored their opponents by a margin of 32 (52-20) runs over that span.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa struck out nine times in last night's game, marking the first game all season they did not have double-digit strikeouts...10 runs was the largest margin of victory for Iowa since they beat the San Antonio Missions 12-2 on June 29, 2019.

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