June 20 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs @ Indianapolis Indians

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Indianapolis Indians play the third of a six-game series tonight at Victory Field...it marks the second time the two clubs will meet this season, with the first being from May 21-26 at Principal Park...Iowa is slated to start right-hander Trey Supak who will make his first start with Iowa this season after going 3-1 with a 3.43 ERA (8 ER in 21.0 IP) in five appearances (four starts) with Double-A Tennessee...the Indians are slated to start right-hander Jake Woodford, who will make his second start for Indianapolis and his 12th at the Triple-A level...Woodford has also made two starts with the White Sox, going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA (10 ER in 8.1 IP).

BLANKED: Iowa dropped the second game of the series at Indianapolis last night by a 2-0 score...it marked the third time this season the I-Cubs have been shutout following April 27 (2-0) at Buffalo and April 28 (2-0) at Buffalo...additionally, it was the just the second time Iowa was blanked in a nine inning game as the April 28 shutout was five innings due to inclement weather...right-hander Kyle McGowin made the start and pitched 5.0 scoreless innings and struck out seven in a no decision.

CLOSE CALLS: Iowa’s 2-0 loss last night at Indianapolis dropped them to 6-12 in two- run games this season...Iowa has played the most two-run games in the International League West Division and second-most in the International League trailing Buffalo (10-9)...the I-Cubs have played 23 one-run games which is tied the for second-most in the IL, trailing Toledo (13-11).

CALL IN RELIEF: Reliever Frankie Scalzo Jr. joined Iowa’s roster prior to Tuesday night’s game and tossed 1.1 scoreless innings...he is the only player in the minor leagues to have pitched at least 27.0 innings without allowing a run and is one of four to have at least nine saves and have converted them all.

PUNCHOUTS: Iowa ranks second in the International League in strikeouts with 707, trailing leaders Norfolk (712)...the I-Cubs are on pace to break the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season, which was set by the 2023 club as they posted 1,395 strikeouts.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Cubs No. 6 prospect Moises Ballesteros is batting .625 (5-for-8) with one double in his first eight at-bats with the I-Cubs...he joined Iowa’s roster prior to Tuesday night’s game from Double-A Tennessee where he was slashing .299/.372/.495 (58-for- 194) with nine doubles, nine home runs and 43 RBI.

THE BIG O: I-Cubs outfielder Owen Caissie leads the club in hits (63), doubles (14), walks (44), on-base percentage (.407) and RBI (40)...Caissie hit his eighth homer of the season on Sunday and matched a season high with four RBI...he has five home runs and 16 RBI in his last 15 games...he ranks tied for tied for seventh in the International League in walks (44) and ranks among Cubs farmhands in walks (1st), doubles (T-2nd), hits (T-3rd) and RBI (3rd).

VS. INDIANAPOLIS: Iowa and Indianapolis are facing off for their second series of the season following May 21-26 in which each club won three games and Indianapolis outscoring Iowa 46-41...Indianapolis has won the first two games of the current series, outscoring the I-Cubs 6-2...Iowa went 14-10 vs. the Indians last season and 5-7 against the club at Victory Field.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Iowa began a road trip last Tuesday at Columbus in which they will play 12 games over 14 days...Iowa has gone 2-6 on the current trip and is 13-22 on the road this season...the club has lost seven of their last nine games away from Principal Park dating back to the series finale on June 2 at Louisville.

ROBERTS IN RELIEF: Iowa reliever Ethan Roberts was added to the Cubs 40-man roster and optioned to Iowa on Sunday...Roberts has pitched in 10 games with Iowa and has not allowed an earned run in 9.2 innings of work, which is tied for fourth-longest such active streak in the International League this season...Ethan has made nine appearances in the Majors (all in 2022 with Chicago) and went 0-1 with a 8.22 ERA (7 ER in 7.2 IP) before he missed the entire 2023 season due to injury.