IL Iowa Cubs

September 23 Game Notes: Iowa at St. Paul

Published on September 23, 2021 under International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (51-70) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (61-60)

Thursday - 7:05 PM - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN

RHP Matt Swarmer (3-7, 4.91) vs. LHP Bryan Sammons (1-3, 6.50)

TONIGHT'S GAME: After winning the first game of the Final Stretch, Iowa and St. Paul will meet for game two of the series tonight, as Iowa sends righty Matt Swarmer to the mound. Swarmer is 3-7 with a 4.91 ERA on the year, including going 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts against the Saints. He has allowed six earned runs on 15 hits over 18.0 innings while walking three batters compared to 13 strikeouts. Bryan Sammons will toe the rubber for St. Paul, set to make his 12th appearance and ninth start of the year. In his first 11 games, he is 1-3 with 6.50 ERA, walking 30 batters compared to 51 strikeouts, with his opponents hitting just .228 against him. In three games against Iowa, he has pitched 11.1 total innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits including two home runs.

TWO MORE GOOD ONES: Ethan Roberts threw two more scoreless frames last night, making it four straight outings in which he has thrown exactly 2.0 innings and not allowed a run. Starting on September 11 against Toledo, the righty allowed one hit while striking out four of the seven batters faced. Last night against St. Paul, he allowed three hits - the most over the four-game stretch, but still struck out three and got out of a jam to keep Iowa in the lead. Roberts is 1-0 over his eight innings pitched, allowing just five hits and one walk compared to 12 strikeouts over that span. Opponents are hitting just .172 against him and he is throwing 71% (77-of-108) of his pitches for strikes.

ONE-RUN WONDER: Scott Kobos made his Triple-A debut last night for the I-Cubs, facing three batters in a third of an inning against the Saints. With that, Kobos has now officially played at four levels in his first year of affiliated baseball. He signed a minor league contract with the Cubs last summer and was assigned to Single-A Myrtle Beach out of spring training this year for his professional debut, which he made on May 5. After allowing just six hits and no runs in 11.0 innings for the Pelicans, Kobos was promoted to Advanced-A South Bend on June 1. Though he missed over a month with an injury, he pitched 12.2 innings for the South Bend Cubs on either side of his IL stint and allowed just one run on six hits and seven walks. That performance earned him a promotion to Double-A Tennessee on August 20, and he proceeded to pitch seven scoreless innings over six outings for the Smokies, allowing just one hit and no walks during that span. In last night's game, Kobos gave up one hit and one walk, but didn't allow either man to score. That leaves Kobos' combined line for the summer at 31.0 innings pitched in 23 games between four levels with just one total run on 14 hits and 12 walks. That's good for an ERA of 0.29 and a WHIP of 0.84. The lefty has also logged 49 strikeouts and limited opponents to just a .131 average against him.

FOUR IN A ROW: Last night's win was credited to Cory Abbott, making him 4-0 in his last four starts. Before the winning streak began on September 3, Abbott had not recorded a win since his second start of the season on May 13. In the months between wins, he'd earned six losses and an ERA of 7.78 (53ER/61.1IP) in 13 games for Iowa. Since the streak started, Abbott has allowed just five runs on 14 hits and 10 walks, good for an ERA of 1.90 (5ER/23.2IP) in the four games. Last night's start was the first of the four wins not to come on a quality start, as Abbott fell just one out short of notching his fourth straight. Still, he leads the active roster in innings pitched (23.2) as well as strikeouts (28) this month, and his ERA and opponent average, which improved to .171 last night, are both first among Iowa starters. His five total wins this year are the most by any Iowa pitcher in 2021, and his 130 strikeouts this year lead all of Triple-A baseball. He is seven K's ahead of the second place pitcher despite having pitched 28.0 less innings this season. Should he finish the year with the category lead, he would be the second straight I-Cub to do so after Matt Swarmer took the title in 2019.

HE CAN'T BE STOPPED: In his first six games at the Triple-A level, Brennen Davis hit .417 (10-for-24) with six runs scored, a double, three home runs and six runs driven in. He also walked three times compared to four strikeouts, giving him an on-base percentage of .481. The Cubs No. 1 prospect went 1-for-4 in the series finale against Omaha on Sunday, only reaching base safely once for the first time in his Triple-A career. In each of his first five games with Iowa, the outfielder had reached base safely at least twice, including two home runs in his first two Triple-A at-bats. After two days off before starting the Minor League Baseball Final Stretch, Davis did not slow down at all, going 2-for-3 with a three-run home run and a walk. He was the only hitter in the I-Cubs lineup to record a multi-hit game, his fifth multi-hit game in his first seven games with Iowa. With the two hits, he raised his batting average through his first seven games to .444 (12-for-27). With his single in the first inning, the No. 14 prospect in all of baseball set a record for Iowa this year, recording at least one hit in each of his first seven games with the team. The Chicago Cubs' 2018 second round selection is now just five games away from tying the season long hitting streak for Iowa, set back on August 12-25 by Alfonso Rivas.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: The I-Cubs and Saints now have four games left to play against each other in the Final Stretch of their season. In their first 30 games, St. Paul has handled Iowa, holding a 19-11 record against them, going 9-3 at Principal Park and 10-8 at CHS Field. With their win last night, Iowa climbed one win away from an even .500 record here at CHS Field, now at 9-10 on the season when the two teams meet here. Iowa now trails the season scoring by 14, at 151 runs to 137 runs. St. Paul didn't hit a home run last night, but still has more than double Iowa in the 31 games between the two teams, hitting 41 deep flies compared to Iowa's 19.

(UN)LUCKY THIRTEEN: Tomás Telis went 0-for-4 last night as St. Paul's designated hitter, snapping a 13-game hitting streak against Iowa. The streak, which began on May 29 and spanned nearly four months, included only one game at Principal Park, while all of the other 12 came at CHS Field. During the 13-game span, Telis hit .389 against Iowa (21-for-54) with a double, three home runs, seven RBI, and ten runs scored. He collected hits off of 14 different Iowa pitchers and logged seven multi-hit games during the streak, which was the longest by any opposing player against the I-Cubs this season.

SHORT HOPS: Despite being out-hit eight to five last night, Iowa got the win, their ninth win of the season when they are out-hit; the I-Cubs are now 9-49 on the season when being out-hit by their opponent...Iowa can get to an even .500 record on the road with a win tonight, currently at 30-31 away from Principal Park after last night's win...the I-Cubs are now 10-11 this year in the first game of a series... Erick Castillo was the only starter in Iowa's lineup that did not strike out last night...with Brennen Davis' home run last night, Iowa moved to 34-33 on the year when they hit a home run.

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