September 22 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

Sports stats



 Iowa Cubs

September 22 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Rochester Red Wings

September 22, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (67-82) at ROCHESTER RED WINGS (77-70)

Sunday, September 22 - 12:05 PM CT - Innovative Field - Rochester, NY

LHP Lucas Luetge (5-3, 3.77) vs. LHP Andrew Alvarez (4-7, 4.64)

TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and Rochester Red Wings play the finale of a six-game series today at Innovative Field...it marks the final game of the season...left-hander Lucas Luetge is scheduled to make his 13th appearance with Iowa and his first start since Aug. 11, 2021 at Kansas City with the Yankees...left-hander Andrew Alvarez is slated to start for Rochester.

SHUOUT WIN: The Iowa Cubs shutout the Rochester Red Wings last night by a 4-0 score...the game remained a 0-0 deadlock until the seventh inning in which the I-Cubs scored four runs, including two RBI off the batt of Matt Shaw ...Brandon Birdsell worked 7.0 scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters... Daniel Palencia and Cam Sanders each tossed a frame to preserve the shutout.

20-30 VISION: Matt Shaw stole his 30th base of the season Wednesday night giving him a 20 home run and 30 stolen base season...he is one of four minor leaguers to accomplish the feat this season and the only one with at least 120 hits...Matt is one of three Cubs' prospects to have a 20-30 season since 1999, along with Pete Crow-Armstrong in 2023 and Jake Slaughter in 2022.

GOOSE EGG: The I-Cubs secured their sixth shutout win of the season last night and second of the series following a 3-0 win on Tuesday...before the shutout on Tuesday, Iowa had not recorded a shutout victory since they scored a 1-0 win on June 20 at Indianapolis.

NEW RECORD: With Hayden Wesneski's strikeout of Robert Hassell III in the second inning Tuesday 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 1,425 punchouts.

ALL THE SMALL THINGS: Iowa fell to 28-24 in one-run games this season with their 4-3 loss Friday night...the I-Cubs have played the second-most one-run games in the International League this season trailing Jacksonville, who has gone 25-28 in such games.

A GEM: Brandon Birdsell earned the fourth win of the season last night after he worked 7.0 scoreless innings and struck out 10...it marked the longest outing by an I-Cub since Matt Swarmer also tossed 7.0 frames on Sept. 10, 2021 vs. Toledo...the 10 strikeouts were a career-high for Birdsell and the most by an Iowa Cub since Ben Brown punched out 11 on June 14, 2023 vs. Indianapolis...Brandon has recorded 11 starts this season in which he has pitched at least 6.0 innings and has allowed three earned runs or fewer between Double-A Tennessee and Iowa.

THE JAGUAR: Outfielder and Cubs' No. 6 prospect Kevin Alcántara extended his on-base streak to 15 games last night...it marks his longest such streak since he reached in 22 straight games from June 25-July 27 of this season with Double-A Tennessee...Kevin is batting .350 (21-for-60) with nine extra-base hits and 15 RBI during that span.

KEEP IT GOING: Infielder Hayden Cantrelle has reached base in 15 straight games dating back to Sept. 1 in which he is batting .365 (19-for-52) with five extra-base hits...marks his longest such streak since he reached in 16 consecutive games from July 16-Aug. 28, 2022 with Low-A San Jose.

BRIGHTER DAYS: After recording the longest losing streak of the season from July 23-Aug. 1 (nine games), Iowa has gone 24-20 in their last 44 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.

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 5-12 vs. International League east opponents this season.


• Discuss this story on the International League message board...

International League Stories from September 22, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central