June 25 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the St. Paul Saints play the first of a six-game series tonight...the two clubs met in St. Paul from April 9-14 with the I-Cubs winning four of the six games in the series...right-hander Kyle McGowin makes the start for Iowa on the back of 5.0 scoreless innings on June 19 at Indianapolis...right-hander Adam Plutko is scheduled to start for the Saints.

SUNDAY SCARIES: The I-Cubs dropped a 6-4 decision on Sunday in the series finale at Indianapolis...starting pitcher Thomas Pannone suffered his seventh loss of the season as he allowed five runs on nine hits across 3.1 innings work... Ethan Roberts and Riley Martin combined for 3.0 scoreless innings in relief... Alexander Canario and Cole Roederer each hit a solo home run to highlight Iowa’s offense.

THE HALFWAY POINT: Sunday’s loss at Indianapolis marked the halfway point of the International League season...the I-Cubs have gone 33-42 through the first 75 games of the 2024 campaign and are 17.0 games back from first place Omaha (49-24) in the International League West Division...during the 2023 season, Iowa sat in first place of the division, with a 44-30 record.

CLOSE CALLS: The I-Cubs 3-2 win Saturday night at Indianapolis improved them to 14-11 this season in one-run games...Iowa has played 25 such games this season which is tied for the most in the International League with Louisville (14-9)...the I-Cubs have also played 19 (6-13) games decided by two runs, tied for the most in International League with Buffalo (10-9).

HOME SWEET HOME: Iowa returns home to Principal Park after a 12-game, 13-day road trip in which the I-Cubs went 4-8 at Columbus and at Indianapolis... Iowa has gone 18-18 at home this season, including having won six of their last nine games in Des Moines dating back to May 25 vs. Indianapolis...the I-Cubs have gone just 15-24 away from Principal Park this season.

VS. ST PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul are matching up for the second time this season and first since April 9-14 in which the I-Cubs won four of the six games and outscored the Saints 36-29...in 2023, the I-Cubs went 14-10 against St. Paul, including 8-4 at home...Iowa has an active five-game winning streak vs. the Saints at Principal Park dating back to Sept. 13, 2023.

FOR STARTERS: For a four-game stretch from June 19-22 at Indianapolis, Iowa’s starting pitching combination of Kyle McGowin (5.0 IP), Trey Supak (6.0 IP), Dan Straily (6.0 IP) and Riley Thompson (5.0 IP) have not allowed an earned run...this marks the first time I-Cubs starters have had four consecutive outings with no earned runs since Aug. 15-17 (G2), 2017 in which Brad Markey (3.0 IP), Seth Frankoff (7.0 IP), Jen-Ho Tseng (6.0 IP) and Williams Pérez (7.0 IP) also accomplished the feat in four straight games.

ROBERTS IN RELIEF: Ethan Robertsextended his scoreless streak to 10 games with his outing on Sunday...dating back to May 26, Roberts has pitched 10.2 scoreless innings and has allowed just five hits, four walks with 13 strikeouts...the 10-game streak is the second-longest active streak in the International League, trailing Lehigh Valley’s Max Lazar (14G, 16.2 IP).

BALLESTEROS GOES DEEP: Moises Ballesteros provided the game’s only offense Thursday night as he hit his first home run in Triple-A, a solo shot in the second inning off Indianapolis’ Jake Woodford...Moises is batting .375 (6-for-16) through his first four games with Iowa...he hit .299 (58-for-194) with nine home runs and 43 RBI in 56 games with Tennessee.

BIGGE SMALLS: Reliever Hunter Bigge earned his third save in as many chances Saturday night as he pitched 1.0 inning and struck out the side in order...Hunter has made five appearances with Iowa this season and has worked 7.0 scoreless and hitless innings with 11 strikeouts...since Bigge made his first appearance with the I-Cubs on June 4, his three saves ranked tied for second in the International League.