September 18 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

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September 18 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

September 18, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (66-79) at ROCHESTER RED WINGS (74-69)

Wednesday, September 18 - 5:05 PM CT - Innovative Field - Rochester, NY

RHP Connor Noland (5-2, 5.27) vs. RHP Spenser Watkins (7-7, 4.61)

TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and Rochester Red Wings play the second of a six-game series tonight at Innovative Field...it marks the final series of the International League regular season...right-hander Connor Noland is scheduled to make his 10th outing with Iowa and his ninth start...right-hander Spenser Watkins is slated to start for Rochester...Watkins will make his 25 appearance of the season and his 23rd start.

SHUTOUT VICTORY: The Iowa Cubs scored a 3-0 victory over the Rochester Red Wings last night at Innovative Field... Hayden Wesneski (2.0 IP), Julian Merryweather (1.0 IP), Caleb Kilian (5.0 IP) and Colten Brewer (1.0 IP) combined for the shutout... Hayden Cantrelle tallied his first three-hit game at the Triple-A level and his first game wit two extra-base hits since Aug. 3, 2023.

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).

GOOSE EGG: The I-Cubs secured their fifth shutout win of the season last night and their first since a 1-0 victory on June 20 at Indianapolis...Iowa went 72 games in between shutouts.

NEW RECORD: With Hayden Wesneski's strikeout of Robert Hassell III in the second inning last night, Iowa set a new franchise record for strikeouts in a season surpassing the 1,393 total set in 2023...Iowa ranks second in the International League this season with 1,402 punchouts.

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 extended his hit streak to seven game last night, his longest at the Triple-A level...Ballesteros is one of four minor leaguers aged 20-or-younger to have at least 125 hits and 19 home runs.

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 snapped his on-base streak at 16 games last night...during the streak, Strumpf batted .280 (14-for-50) with five extra-base hits...it was 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 23-17 in their last 40 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 10 games.

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