IOWA CUBS (18-26, 48-68) vs. St. Paul Saints (26-18, 68-50)
August 16 • 1:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA
LHP Jordan Wicks (2-9, 6.35) vs. RHP German Marquez (0-0, -.--)
TODAY’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the St. Paul Saints are set to play the finale of a six-game series at Principal Park...left-hander Jordan Wicks is slated to start for the I-Cubs...St. Paul is scheduled to start right-hander German Marquez.
SWEPT: The I-Cubs were swept in the doubleheader yesterday against St. Paul...they lost game one 6-0 and game two 5-4...B.J. Murray led the offense with three hits in game one...after being shutout in game one, Iowa scored four runs, all coming with two outs, in the first inning on a pair of home runs from Owen Ayers and Ethan Hearn to take a 4-0 lead...up by two runs with nobody on and two outs in the sixth inning, the Saints scored three runs to take the lead for good...Luis Peralta pitched two perfect innings out of the bullpen and struck out five, while Ethan Roberts and Gabe Klobosits each pitched one perfect inning.
THE BIG INNING: The I-Cubs have benefitted from several big innings this week against St. Paul...Iowa scored four runs in the first inning of game two in yesterday’s doubleheader, all runs scoring with two outs..they scored six runs in the first inning of Thursday night’s contest, all runs scoring with two outs...they scored five runs in the seventh inning on Wednesday night, and five runs in the fifth inning at Field of Dreams on Tuesday night...Iowa has scored four or more runs in a single inning five times in the past nine games, also doing so last 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.
POWER SURGE: Iowa hit five home runs on Thursday night, matching their season high for home runs in a single game, previously set on April 2 at Louisville...Iowa hit three home runs in the first inning of Friday nights game, a feat they also hit on Tuesday night with three home runs in the fifth inning at Field of Dreams...the three home runs match their season high for most home runs hit in a single inning...before this week, that mark was hit just once previously this season, last occurring in the sixth inning on June 18 against Indianapolis...after hitting just one home run in their entire series last week at Indianapolis, Iowa has erupted for 13 home runs in the series against St. Paul, the most in the International League in that span.
BACK-TO-BACK: Iowa hit two sets of back-to-back home runs in Thursday night’s contest, with Owen Miller and Ethan Hearn going back-to-back in the first inning, and Greg Jones and Ben Cowles going back-to-back in the fifth inning...it is the first time this season that Iowa has hit multiple sets of back-to-back home runs in a single game...The I-Cubs have hit six pairs of back-to-back home runs this season, three of which have come in the current series against St. Paul after Jordan Nwogu and Cowles went-to-back-back in the fifth inning on Tuesday to tie and take the lead at Field of Dreams...prior to this series, Iowa had not hit back-to-back home runs in a game since Christian Bethancourt and Scott Kingery did so on July 9 against St. Paul.
BENNY BARRELS: I-Cubs infielder Ben Cowles went 3-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI in Thursday’s contest...it marked the first time this season that he has hit two home runs in a game, last doing so July 19, 2025 with Iowa against Columbus...the five RBI were one short of his season high of six he drove in on May 24 versus Memphis...in the series so far against St. Paul, Cowles is batting .500 (5-for-10) with four runs scored, three home runs, and six RBI.
HEARN YA: I-Cubs catcher Ethan Hearn homered for his second consecutive game yesterday, the first time he has done so at the Triple-A level...he joins B.J. Murray as the second I-Cub to homer in back-to-back games this week...he last homered in consecutive games Aug. 19-22, 2025 with Double-A Knoxville, when he homered in three consecutive games...in 33 games at Double-A Knoxville, he hit four home runs, meanwhile he has hit three home runs in 10 games with Iowa...he was promoted to Triple-A Iowa on July 28 and made his team debut on Aug. 2.
B.J BALLIN: BJ Murray went 3-for-4 in the first game of the doubleheader yesterday...it was the first multi-hit game for Murray since July 9, when he went 3-for-5 against St. Paul...he hit his 14th home run of the season Wednesday night in the seventh inning...BJ also hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning at the Field of Dreams on Tuesday, making it back-to-back games in which he had hit a home run in...marked the first time he had done so since April 13-15, 2025 with Double-A Knoxville at Rocket City and versus Columbus...it was also the second time he had done so at Triple-A, with the other coming on May 15-16, 2024 at Syracuse... Murray was the first I-Cub to homer in back-to-back games since Christian Bethancourt did so on July 8-9 versus St. Paul.
GREG THE GREAT!: Infielder/Outfielder Greg Jones was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays on Wednesday, coming in at number six with a diving stop and throw from shortstop to end the sixth inning at Field of Dreams on Tuesday...Greg hit his second home run with the I-Cubs last night in the fifth inning after hitting his first home run on Tuesday at Field of Dreams...Jones joined Iowa on July 21 as a free agent.
FIELD OF VICTORIES: The Iowa Cubs defeated the St. Paul Saints 6-3 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.
AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect catcher Owen Ayers was ranked as the No. 93 overall prospect in professional baseball by MLB Pipeline on Thursday...he recorded his second home run at Triple-A in game two of the doubleheader yesterday...since being promoted to Iowa on July 17...Ayers is batting .273 (21-for-77) with four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI, 15 walks and four stolen bases in 21 appearances with the I-Cubs...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.