August 29 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Toledo Mud Hens

IOWA CUBS (70-53) @ TOLEDO MUD HENS (59-66)

Tuesday, August 29 • 5:35 PM CT • Fifth Third Field • Toledo, OH

RHP Riley Thompson (2-6, 5.03) vs. RHP Keider Montero (1-1, 7.20)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and Toledo are set to play game one of their final six-game series this year, with Riley Thompson taking the ball for Iowa. Thompson is making his way back to full health, as he made his first start in over a month last time out against Indianapolis. In that game on Thursday, the righty spun 2.2 innings of two-run ball, giving up three hits while striking out two. On the year, Thompson is 2-6 with a 5.03 ERA in 20 games (14 starts), allowing 35 earned runs on 55 hits and 40 walks while striking out 60 batters in 62.2 innings. This year, he has two relief appearances against Toledo, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks while striking out five over 3.1 innings pitched. Opposite of Thompson will be Keider Montero toeing the rubber for Toledo. Montero is 1-1 with a 7.20 ERA in three games with the Mud Hens, allowing 12 earned runs on 27 hits including four home runs. He has walked three batters compared to 16 strikeouts in his 15.0 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .386 against him. Tonight will mark his first career game against the I-Cubs.

A TOUGH AUGUST: As it currently stands, the I-Cubs have tallied a record of 11-12 in the month of August. With just three games left in the month, Iowa will have to win two of those contests in order to not have a losing record. The I-Cubs have not posted a month with a losing record so far this season. When looking at the team numbers on the offensive side, Iowa has hit at a clip of .260, recorded an on-base percentage of .367, and has a .485 slugging percentage. Those numbers rank as the second lowest batting average, third lowest on-base percentage, and the third lowest slugging percentage in the month-by-month breakdown. On the pitching side, Iowa has accumulated an ERA of 5.12, 215 strikeouts, and 122 walks this month. The ERA and strikeouts numbers are not so bad, as they rank as the fourth lowest and third lowest marks in a single month by Iowa, but the 122 walks are the second most allowed over a month’s time. Their highest walk total in a single month came back in June, when Iowa’s staff combined to walk 151 batters in their 26 games played.

NOT SO LITTLE: Luke Little began the year with Advanced-A South Bend, allowing just one earned run on 12 hits and seven walks while striking out 21 over 17.1 innings. He pitched in five games including four starts with South Bend before getting promoted to Tennessee on May 7. With the Smokies, Little was only used out of the bullpen, coming out of relief for 23 games. Over those 23 games he went 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA, allowing 12 earned runs on 20 hits and 28 walks, striking out 63 batters in 34.2 innings pitched. Those numbers earned a second promotion, joining Iowa on August 5. He made his Triple-A debut that day, allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out all three outs he recorded in his 1.0 inning pitched. Since then, the 6-foot-8-inch left-hander has not allowed a single run. In his last five outings, Little is 1-0 with a save and a 0.00 ERA, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out 15 batters. Opponents are hitting just .161 against him in his 8.2 innings pitched. The southpaw has recorded three or more strikeouts in five of his six games pitched with Iowa.

ONE LAST TIME: The I-Cubs and Mud Hens will face each other for the final time this season with their six-game series this week. For the I-Cubs, they hope they can bounce back from the last time they faced Toledo, which was at the beginning of the month. In that series at Principal Park, Iowa dropped five of the six games, which ranks as the worst record by Iowa in a series this year. Over the course of the six games versus the Mud Hens, the I-Cubs were outscored at a pace of 54-29, equating to a run differential of 25. A glaring reason for such the large disparity in runs scored between the two squads can be found in the game on August 5, when Toledo defeated Iowa by a score of 19-8. The 19 runs scored by the Mud Hens that day rank as the second most runs scored by an opponent against Iowa this season. The most runs Iowa has allowed to an opponent in 2023 belongs to St. Paul, as the Saints put up a 20-spot on the I-Cubs at Principal Park back on July 9, the final game before the All-Star break.

BELOW THE MARK: For the first time since June 7, Jared Young has seen his batting average dip below the .300 mark. The 28-year-old was one of the hottest hitters in the minor leagues when he slashed numbers of .395/.489/.789 with eight homers, and 25 RBI in the month of June. His performance earned him a promotion to Chicago where he spent about three weeks with the Cubs. Since being sent back to Iowa, and in particular as of late, Young has struggled a bit. In five games played against Indianapolis last week he went 3-for-21 (.143) at the plate with a double, and no walks drawn compared to eight strikeouts. During the month of August, Young is hitting at a clip of .204 (10-for-49) with an on-base percentage of .328, a slugging percentage of .265, three doubles, five RBI, and seven walks drawn compared to 16 strikeouts. Young now holds a batting average of .294 on the year with Iowa. It also has been a while since the Canadian national has hit a home run. The last time Young went yard at the Triple-A level was on June 24. Overall, the last time he hit a home run was on June 28 for Chicago.

ERRORS ON ERRORS: Last week in the series against Indianapolis, the I-Cubs defense was a little shaky. Over the course of the six games against the Indians, Iowa committed a total of eight errors. Iowa did not tally an error in the series opener against the Indians, but then proceeded to commit at least one in each of the following five contests. The eight errors committed by the I-Cubs rank as the most they have totaled in a series this season and averaged out to 1.333 errors per game. Iowa was credited with two errors in the games on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and was hit with one error on both Friday and Sunday. On the season, Iowa has recorded a total of 85 errors, which ranks 14th in the International League. Nearly 10% (8-of-85) of their errors on the season came in their last series against the Indians.

ON THE MEND: In Sunday’s finale against Indianapolis, Brad Boxberger pitched in his fourth game since joining Iowa on major league rehab back on August 20. The righty signed with Chicago back on December 15, 2022, and was 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA in 17 relief appearances with the Cubs prior to his injury. He was placed on the 15-day injured list and immediately transferred to the 60-day injured list on May 14 with a right forearm strain. The 35-year-old joined the ACL Cubs on a rehab assignment on August 14 prior to joining the I-Cubs. Over his first two games, Boxberger allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks in 1.1 innings pitched but has since spun two scoreless outings. In those two games, the righty has tossed 1.2 innings, allowing one hit, one walk and hitting one batter while striking out a batter as well. 65% of his 26 pitches have gone for strikes against the eight total batters he has faced.

AGAINST TOLEDO: Iowa and Toledo are set to play the third and final series between the two teams this week, with the Mud Hens currently leading the season series 7-5. Iowa held a 4-2 lead over Toledo after their first series in May, but then dropped five-of-six to the Mud Hens the last time they played in early August at Principal Park. This series will be the first of the year between the two teams at Toledo, where Iowa is just 3-9 all-time. After going 5-7 in their first 12 games of the year, Iowa moved to 17-28 all-time overall against Toledo and enter tonight’s game having lost the last two games against the Mud Hens dating back to August 5-6.

SHORT HOPS: Iowa turned their 100th double play of the season in the first inning on Sunday afternoon, as David Bote, Luis Vazquez and Matt Mervis combined to turn two...the I-Cubs have lost just three games when allowing two runs, with two of those losses coming last week to Indianapolis; in those two 2-1 losses, Iowa combined to score just two runs on five hits…in eight games against Toledo, Jared Young is hitting .375 with a double, home run and eight runs batted in; in four games against the Mud Hens, Darius Hill is hitting .353 with three doubles and three RBI.