June 26 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints

IOWA CUBS (33-43) vs. ST. PAUL SAINTS (39-36)

Wednesday, June 26 • 12:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

RHP Trey Supak (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Ryan Jensen (3-2, 2.01)

TODAY’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the St. Paul Saints play the second of a six-game series today...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 Trey Supak is slated to make his second start for Iowa, following his 6.0 scoreless inning outing on June 20 at Indianapolis... right-hander Ryan Jensen is scheduled to start for the Saints...Jensen will make his 24th appearance (second start) and his first start since May 4 vs. Louisville in which he pitched a scoreless frame.

TUESDAY, TUESDAY: The I-Cubs dropped a 6-5 decision to St. Paul last night...Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning thanks to a two-run shot from Hayden Cantrelle...in the fourth, the Saints took a 3-2 advantage but Iowa regained the lead in the fifth inning as Cole Roederer and Alexander Canario homered...but St. Paul scored three runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead and held on to win.

THE HALFWAY POINT: Sunday’s loss at Indianapolis marked the halfway point of the International League season...the I-Cubs went 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.

CLOSE CALLS: The I-Cubs 6-5 loss last night vs. St. Paul dropped them to 14- 12 this season in one-run games...Iowa has played 26 such games this season which is the most such games in the International League this season.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK!: Iowa Cubs Media Relations Associate, Jack Bluhm, celebrates his 28th birthday today...Jack shares this date of birth with Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and Grammy Award winner Ariana Grande.

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 18-19 at home this season including having won six of their last 10 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 had their five-game winning streak snapped against St. Paul at home in the loss last night.

GOIN’ BACK-TO-BACK: With Alexander Canario and Cole Roederer home runs last night, they have each homered in back-to-back games...it marks the third time this season Canario has homered in back-to-back and first since he homered in three consecutive games from June 8-11... Roederer has gone deep in back-to-back games for the fifth time in his career and first this season (last - July 16-19, 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) did 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 Roberts has pitched in 12 games with Iowa this season and has not allowed an earned run...dating back to May 26, Roberts has pitched 13.1 scoreless innings and has allowed just five hits, four walks with 13 strikeouts...the 12-game streak is tied for the third-longest active streak in the International League, trailing Lehigh Valley’s Max Lazar (14G, 16.2 IP).

MO BALLER: Moises Ballesteros filled up the stat sheet again last night, going 2-for-4 with one run and two doubles...through his first six games at Triple-A, Bally is hitting .375 (9-for-24) with three doubles, one home run and one RBI...he is one of three position players aged 20-or-younger to have appeared in a game in the International League this season, along with Jackson Holliday (BAL) and Junior Caminero (TBR).