September 17 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

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September 17 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

September 17, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (65-79) at ROCHESTER RED WINGS (74-68)

Tuesday, September 17 - 5:05 PM CT - Innovative Field - Rochester, NY

RHP Hayden Wesneski (1-0, 3.95) vs. LHP Andrew Alvarez (4-6, 4.66)

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and Rochester Red Wings play the first of a six-game series tonight at Innovative Field...it marks the final series of the International League regular season...right-hander Hayden Wesneski is scheduled to make a start on Major League rehab assignment...left-hander Andrew Alvarez is slated to start for Rochester...Alvarez will make his 25th start this year and 15th for the Red Wings.

SLUGFEST: The Iowa Cubs fell in the series finale on Sunday vs. Louisville by a 17-10 score... Owen Caissie and Matt Shaw each tallied four hits and homered... Kevin Alcántara and Darius Hill also homered...starter Brandon Birdsell tossed 3.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with one strikeout in a no decision.

20-20 VISION: On Saturday night Matt Shaw hit his 20th home run of the year...the home run gave Shaw a 20-20 season as he has 28 stolen bases...he is one of 11 players in the minor leagues to accomplish the feat this season and is one of four Cubs' farmhands to accomplish the feat in the last 10 years along with Pete Crow-Armstrong (2023), Alexander Canario (2022) and Jake Slaughter (2022).

HIT PARADE: The I-Cubs tallied 18 hits on Sunday vs. Louisville which was a season high...in addition it was the most hits by the Iowa offense in over year on July 29, 2023 at Memphis (20).

CLOSING IN: Iowa's pitching staff has recorded 1,393 strikeouts this season which is second in the International League this season...the I-Cubs need two strikeouts to tie the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season which was set during the 2023 campaign.

VS. ROCHESTER: Iowa and Rochester are matching up for a six-game series for the first time in franchise history...the I-Cubs are playing their third series against an International League East opponent following April 24-28 at Buffalo and May 14-19 at Syracuse...Iowa has gone 3-9 vs. IL east opponents.

MO BALLER: Catcher and Cubs' No. 4 prospect Moises Ballesteros is batting .333 (16-for-48) with six extra-base hits with 11 RBI and has hit safely in 10 of 12 games in September...Ballesteros is one of three minor leaguers aged 20-or-younger to have at least 120 hits and 10 home runs along with Jackson Holliday and Junior Caminero.

TOP OF THE ORDER: Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara and Matt Shaw were the first three hitters in Iowa's batting order on Sunday and they combined to go 11-for-17 with six extra-base hits and six RBI...Shaw is the No. 1 prospect in the Cubs' system according to MLB.com with Caissie (No. 3) and Alcántara (No. 5) following.

STRUMPF ON BASE: Infielder Chase Strumpf has reached base in 16 straight games dating back to Aug. 28...during the streak, Strumpf is batting .280 (14-for-50) with five extra-base hits...it is tied for fifth-longest active streak in the International League and is Strumpf's second-longest of the season following a 16-game run from June 21-July 11.

BRIGHTER DAYS: After recording the longest losing streak of the season from July 23-Aug. 1 (nine games), Iowa has gone 22-17 in their last 39 games dating back to Aug. 2...the I-Cubs last six series have been a split with First Half Champions Omaha (Kansas City) and Columbus (Cleveland) and a win over Toledo (Detroit), Memphis (St. Louis) and Louisville (Cincinnati)...they fell in the series at St. Paul in the first week of September.

ALL THE SMALL THINGS: Iowa improved to 28-21 in one-run games this season with their 5-4 win Thursday night...the I-Cubs have played the third-most one-run games in the International League, trailing Jacksonville (Miami) and Louisville (Cincinnati) who have each played 51 such games.

HILLY: Outfielder Darius Hill hit his second home run of the season on Sunday...after not hitting a home run in his first 85 games of the season, Darius has hit two homers across his last nine games.

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