September 6 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints
September 6, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release
IOWA CUBS (60-75) at ST. PAUL SAINTS (65-69)
Friday, September 6 - 6:37 PM CT - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN
RHP Trey Supak (4-1, 3.79) vs. RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.15)
TONIGHT'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and St. Paul Saints play the third of a six-game series tonight at CHS Field...it marks the penultimate road trip of the season for Iowa...right-hander Connor Noland is scheduled to make his eighth outing (seventh start) with Iowa tonight...Noland went 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA (24 ER in 86.1 IP) in 16 starts with Double-A Tennessee...right-hander Andrew Morris is slated to start for St. Paul.
CLOSE CALLS: Iowa dropped a one-run game last night for the second straight game by a 7-6 decision in St. Paul...it marked the fifth walk-off loss for the I-Cubs this season...catcher William Simoneit went 3-for-5 to give him his first three-hit game since July 5, 2023 with Double-A Midland... Darius Hill and Hayden Cantrelle each homered for Iowa... Lucas Luetge, Daniel Palencia and Cam Sanders combined for 4.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR: Catcher Caleb Knight tallied his first career multi-homer game on Monday as part of a three-hit game...additionally, Knight set a career high with four RBI...three of Caleb's 11 career home runs have come while playing third base, despite having just two games at the position.
VS. ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul are matching up for their fourth series of the season with two of those being at Principal Park and one at CHS Field...Iowa has gone 10-11 vs. the Saints this season and dropped the last series vs. St. Paul losing four of the six games from July 30-Aug. 4.
ALL THE SMALL THINGS: Iowa fell to 27-20 in one-run games this season with their 7-6 loss last night...the I-Cubs have played the joint-most one-run games in the International League with Jacksonville, who has gone 22-25 in such games this season.
GOIN' BACK-TO-BACK: On Monday, Moises Ballesteros and Kevin Alcántara hit back-to-back homers as part of a seven-run third inning...marked the fifth time this season Iowa has hit back-to-back homers and first time since Matt Shaw and Ballesteros did so on Aug. 17 vs. Columbus.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Catcher Moises Ballesteros was named International League Player of the Week Monday the league announced...Bally hit .588 (10-for-17) with three extra-base hits and five RBI in five games vs. Memphis.
BIRDSELL ROLLING: Wednesday's starter Brandon Birdsell has allowed just one run in his last 18.0 innings dating back to Aug. 22...during that time, he ranks among International League leaders in ERA (1st, 0.50), strikeouts (1st, 23), innings pitched (T-1st, 18.0), WHIP (3rd, 0.72) and opponents' average (3rd, .156)...Birdsell has struck out at least five batters in six straight games, the longest such streak by an Iowa pitcher since Caleb Kilian did so in seven straight game from July 14-Aug. 23, 2022.
HISTORY MADE: Wednesday night, Shota Imanaga (7.0 IP), Nate Pearson (1.0 IP) and Porter Hodge (1.0 IP) tossed a combined no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs with Iowa Cubs broadcaster Alex Cohen on the call...it marked the second no-hitter Cohen has called with the other coming in 2012 with Double-A Huntsville in a game that consisted of 11 walks and three errors.
THROWING HEAT: Last night, Daniel Palencia threw three pitches over 100 MPH in 2.0 scoreless innings...he has thrown the second-most pitches over 100 MPH (101) in the minor leagues this year trailing leader Zach Maxwell (128).
BRIGHTER DAYS: After recording the longest losing streak of the season from July 23-Aug. 1 (nine games), Iowa has gone 17-13 in their last 30 games dating back to Aug. 2...the I-Cubs last four series have been a split with First Half Champions Omaha (Kansas City) and Columbus (Cleveland) and a win over Toledo (Detroit) and Memphis (St. Louis).
HILLY AREA: Iowa Cubs outfielder Darius Hill hit his first home run of the season last night...it marked his first home run since July 20, 2023 vs. Indianapolis and his first homer on the road since May 23, 2023 at Nashville...Darius has hit safely in six consecutive games dating back to Aug. 23, batting .360 (9-for-25) with six extra base hits and seven RBI during that span.
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International League Stories from September 6, 2024
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