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May 29 Game Notes: Iowa vs. St. Paul

May 29, 2021 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (9-11) vs ST. PAUL SAINTS (11-11)

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

RHP Tyson Miller (0-0, 11.57) vs. RHP Chandler Shepherd (0-1, 5.87)

TONIGHT'S GAME: The I-Cubs look to break their season-long six-game losing streak tonight against St. Paul. The Saints will send out righty Chandler Shepherd to face Tyson Miller, making his first start for Iowa this season.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: After losing the first four games of the six-game set against St. Paul, Iowa will lose their first series of the season. They won their first series of the season against the Indianapolis Indians, outscoring them by four runs, 18-14. At St. Paul on their first road trip of the season, Iowa earned a series split, despite outscoring the Saints 31-19 in the series. Last week, the Omaha Storm Chasers came into town and were outscored 36-27 by Iowa, as the I-Cubs won the series, taking three out of the five games played. The script has been different this week against St. Paul, as the Saints have already taken the series. So far, St. Paul is outscoring Iowa by 18 runs this series, good for a 29-11 run differential.

LONG RELIEF: Dakota Mekkes was locked in last night in his second appearance since returning to Iowa from Double-A Tennessee. The righty worked three complete innings for the longest outing of his professional career so far. While three is a new high, Mekkes has been good for at least 1.1 innings in all seven of his appearances between Iowa and Tennessee this season, and he's averaged 2.0 innings per game in 2021 so far. This marks an increase from his previous professional seasons, when he averaged 1.1 innings in 2018 and 1.0 in 2019. The new role doesn't seem to be troubling Mekkes, who allowed only one hit and struck out a season-high four batters, including two of three he faced in his third inning of work.

GOTTA HIT: With last night's loss, Iowa has extended their losing streak to six, the longest of the season so far. While the pitching faltered in the first three losses, the most recent three have highlighted the team's offensive struggles. The I-Cubs have scored 17 runs during the six-game skid for an average of 2.8 per game. The lack of runs makes sense, as the I-Cubs have hit for only a .197 team average during the losing streak. Their season average has dropped from .245 after their last win to .231 ahead of tonight's game.

HOT AND COLD: After breaking his season-long eight-game hitting streak with an 0-for-3 performance on Friday, Sergio Alcántara has now gone hitless in back-to-back games for the third time this season. Notably, he has only had seven hitless games so far this season, meaning six out of those seven came as part of two-game hitless streaks. He has not had a hitless streak of longer than two games since joining the I-Cubs.

STARTING ASSIGNMENT: Tyson Miller will take the ball in his first start of 2021 tonight for the I-Cubs. He joined the team May 19 out of Arizona, where he spent the first two weeks of the season, and has made two appearances out of the bullpen since. He'll face St. Paul for the second time this series after pitching 1.1 innings and allowing three runs on two hits - including Ryan Jeffers' three-run home run - in game one of the current series. Tonight will be Miller's first starting assignment since August 17, 2020 when he pitched 2.0 innings with Chicago against St. Louis.

DON'T RUN ON TONY: Catcher Tony Wolters made his first start for the I-Cubs last night after spending the balance of the season so far with Chicago. While he went 0-for-3 at the plate, he made an immediate impact from behind it, throwing out both Mark Contreras and JT Riddle on stolen base attempts. The two runners were only the second and third that the I-Cubs have thrown out this season and the first ones since May 11, when P.J. Higgins threw out Brent Rooker in St. Paul. Before last night's game, base runners were 27-for-28 in stolen base attempts. Wolters is likely to provide an improvement in that area, as he's thrown out 40% of stolen base attempts in his minor league career. Runners are only 140-for-237 against Wolters in 196 career games in the minors.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: The I-Cubs and Saints will play game five of the series at Principal Park tonight. Following their win last night, St. Paul secured the series victory over the I-Cubs, and they lead the season series 7-3. The teams split the six-game set in St. Paul. The Saints and the I-Cubs have now played ten of their 30 total scheduled games this season.

SHORT HOPS: During the current series, Iowa has fallen from second to fourth place in the Triple-A East Midwest division and are currently 4.5 games out...Tyson Miller was 3-for-5 with a 7.88 ERA in 11 starts for Iowa last season.

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