IOWA CUBS (17-24, 47-66) vs. St. Paul Saints (24-17, 66-49)
August 13 • 6:38 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA
RHP Kohl Franklin (0-0, 9.00) vs. RHP Ricky Castro (3-1, 3,65)
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the St. Paul Saints are set to play the third of a six-game series at Principal Park...right-hander Kohl Franklin is slated to make his second start for the I-Cubs and his sixth start of the season...St. Paul is scheduled to start right-hander Ricky Castro.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: The I-Cubs scored a 7-6 win last night over the St. Paul Saints to give them a 2-0 advantage in the series...Owen Miller, Kevin Alcántara and Jordan Nwogu all had two hits for Iowa...Connor Noland earned the win in relief as he worked 3.2 innings and allowed three runs across 3.2 innings of work...Tyler Ferguson retired the last batter to pick up the save...Hoby Milner made another rehab appearance and tossed a scoreless inning.
THE BIG INNING: The I-Cubs scored five runs in the fifth inning at Field of Dreams last night to take the lead for good...it was the second five-run inning they have had in the past week, doing so on Friday at Indianapolis in the seventh inning of a 9-3 victory...prior to last Friday, Iowa had not scored more than three runs in a single inning since July 19 at Memphis, when they scored four runs in the third inning...they had not scored five or more runs in a single inning since July 9th when they scored six runs in the fourth inning against St. Paul.
GOING LONG!: Iowa hit four home runs Tuesday night, including three home runs in the fifth inning... the three home runs in the fifth inning matched their season high for most home runs hit in a single inning, last done in the sixth inning on June 18 against Indianapolis...the four home runs were the most they have hit in a single game since also hitting four on July 9 against St. Paul...Jordan Nwogu hit his first Triple-A home run to tie the game in the fifth inning, before Ben Cowles made it back-to-back home runs to give Iowa the lead for good...it is the fourth time this season Iowa has hit back-to-back home runs, last done by Christian Bethancourt and Scott Kingery on July 9 against St. Paul in the fourth inning.
POWER SURGE: BJ Murray hit his 14th home run of the season last night in the seventh inning... BJ also homered at the Field of Dreams Tuesday making it back-to-back games in which he has hit a home run in...marked the first time he has done so since April 13-15, 2025 with Double-A Knoxville at Rocket City and vs. Columbus...also was the second time he has done so at Triple-A, with the other coming on May 15-16, 2024 at Syracuse... Murray is the first I-Cub to homer in back-to-back games since Christian Bethancourt did so on July 8-9 versus St. Paul.
THE JAGUAR: Outfielder Kevin Alcántara saw his on-base of 42 games come to an end Sunday as he went 0-for-3...it was the longest active on- base streak in affiliated professional baseball... Kevin broke the Iowa Cubs franchise record for the longest on-base streak in franchise history on July 26 at Gwinnett, previously held by Jonathon Long at 35 games that he set from July 9-Aug. 24, 2025...it is the longest streak in the International League this season and second longest streak this year in all of Triple-A, trailing Albuquerque’s Chad Stevens’ 51-game on-base streak from March 27- July 3...Kevin hit his 19th home run of the season last night, setting a new career high for home runs in a single season, surpassing his season total of 17 home runs last year with Iowa.
ONE HIT: The I-Cubs were held to just one hit in their 2-0 loss on Sunday to the Indianapolis Indians...it was the first time since Sept. 23, 2023 at Louisville that Iowa was held to just one hit in a game.
AIR JORDAN: I-Cubs Infielder Jordan Nwogu recorded his first multi-hit and multi-RBI game at the Triple-A level last night, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, notching a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning...it was his first multi-hit game since May 16 against Double-A Columbus...he hit his first Triple-A home run on Tuesday at Field of Dreams...he was promoted to Triple-A Iowa on August 4.
GREG THE GREAT!: Infielder/Outfielder Greg Jones was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays yesterday with a diving stop and throw from shortstop to end the sixth inning at Field of Dreams on Tuesday...Greg also hit his first home run with the I-Cubs to tie the game in the second inning... Jones joined Iowa on July 21 as a free agent.
FIELD OF VICTORIES: The Iowa Cubs defeated the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday night at the MiLB at Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, IA...Greg Jones, Ben Cowles, Jordan Nwogu, and B.J. Murray hit four home runs for the I-Cubs..down 2-1 in the fifth inning, Cowles and Nwogu hit-back-to-back home runs to tie the game and take the lead before Murray hit a three-run blast to blow the game open for Iowa...Jordan Wicks earned his second win of the season, pitching 5.0 innings and allowing just one earned run on two hits...Jaxon Wiggins (1.0 IP), Ethan Roberts (1.0 IP) and Gabe Klobosits (1.0 IP) threw three combined scoreless innings, allowing no hits and just two walks...Klobosits earned his third save of the season.
VS. ST. PAUL: The Iowa Cubs and St. Paul Saints are matching up for the their third six-game series of the season...the I-Cubs are leading the series by winning eight of the 14 games.
AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect and catcher Owen Ayers recorded his fifth multi- hit game last Wednesday since being promoted to Iowa...Ayers is batting .278 (20-for-72) with four doubles, one home run, 10 RBI, 13 walks and four stolen bases in 21 appearances...Ayers played in 65 games in Double-A Knoxville, batting .304 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI...since being promoted to Iowa on the 17th of July, Owen is batting .285 (6-for-21) with four RBI...at the time of his promotion, Ayers ranked first in the Southern League in on-base percentage (.417), slugging percentage (.591), and OPS (1.008), second in batting average, third in extra-base hits (33), fifth in total bases (136), and sixth in home runs.