September 8 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

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September 8 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at St. Paul Saints

September 8, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (61-76) at ST. PAUL SAINTS (66-70)

Sunday, September 8 - 2:07 PM CT - CHS Field - St. Paul, MN

RHP Riley Thompson (5-4, 6.68) vs. RHP Travis Adams (0-0, 5.40)

TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and St. Paul Saints play the finale of a six-game series today at CHS Field...it marks the penultimate road trip of the season for Iowa...right-hander Riley Thompson is scheduled to make his 32nd outing (13th start) with Iowa today...Thompson has gone 2-3 with a 4.61 ERA (28 ER in 54.2 IP) as a starter for the I-Cubs...right-hander Travis Adams is slated to make his second start for St Paul.

COMEBACK FALLS SHORT: Iowa's comeback fell short last night as they fell 8-6 to the St. Paul Saints last night... Matt Mervis tallied his first three-hit game since June 30 and hit his 14th home run... Matt Shaw hit his 18th home run of the season and his fourth with the I-Cubs... Cam Sanders, Frankie

Scalzo Jr. and Eduarniel Núñez combined for 3.1 scoreless innings in relief.

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 11-12 vs. the Saints this season and dropped the last series vs. St. Paul losing four of the six games from July 30-Aug. 4...the I-Cubs need a win today to split the season series.

ALL THE SMALL THINGS: Iowa fell to 27-20 in one-run games this season with their 7-6 loss Thursday night...the I-Cubs have played the joint most one-run games in the International League with Jacksonville, who has gone 22-27 in such games this season.

PROSPECTING: Friday night, Owen Caissie (No. 3), Kevin Alcántara (No. 6), Matt Shaw (No. 1) and Moises Ballesteros (No. 4) combined to go 8-for-20 with three runs, one double, two home runs (all by Caissie) and six RBI (five from Caissie one from Ballesteros).

HOMER HAPPY: The Iowa Cubs have hit at least two home runs in three consecutive games after Matt Shaw and Matt Mervis homered last night...it is tied for fourth-longest such streak for the I-Cubs this season following a seven-game stretch from May 9-16.

THE BIG O: Outfielder Owen Caissie went 2-for-5 Friday night with two home runs and five RBI...it marked his second multi-homer of the season following Aug. 25 at Toledo and the sixth of his career...the five RBI set a season high for Caissie and is one short of his career high of six set on April 12, 2023 at Montgomery with Double-A Tennessee.

OUCH!: Friday night, Brennen Davis was hit by a pitch for the 11th time this season and the 31st time with Iowa...his 31 hit by pitches rank third-most in I-Cubs history trailing leaders Chad Meyers and Augie Ojeda (34).

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.

THROWING HEAT: Thursday 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 18-14 in their last 32 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).

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