IOWA CUBS (21-29, 51-71) at Toledo Mud Hens (24-26, 58-66)
August 23 • 1:05 PM CT • Fifth Third Field • Toledo, OH
LHP Braxton Garrett (4-5, 3.33) vs. RHP Brooks Brieske (2-0, 4.97)
TODAY’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Toledo Mud Hens are set to play the finale of a six-game series at Fifth Third Field today...left-hander Braxton Garrett is slated to make his 19th appearance and 18th start this season and his third start with Iowa...Toledo is scheduled to start right-hander Brooks Brieske.
THREE’S A STREAK: The I-Cubs won their third straight game last night at Toledo by a 7-3 score in 10 innings...James Triantos led off the game with a home run, going 2-for-5 with two runs, double and an RBI...Jordan Wicks made the start and went 5.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits with six strikeouts...Shelby Miller tossed 1.0 scoreless inning on rehab and Hoby Milner also worked 0.2 innings on rehab...Ethan Roberts and Tyler Ferguson tossed 1.1 scoreless innings and 1.0 scoreless innings respectively.
EXTRA, EXTRA: The I-Cubs improved their record to 7-5 in extra inning games this season with the win last night...it marked Iowa’s fourth straight extra-innings win as they defeated Toledo 5-4 in 10 innings on Thursday, Indianapolis 5-3 in 10 innings on Aug. 5 and Memphis 5-4 in 10 innings on July 18...the I-Cubs have won just two extra innings game on home during the 2026 campaign.
TRANSACTION WIRE: The Iowa Cubs have made a flurry of roster moves since the off day on Monday...outfielder Kevin Alcantara and infielder Owen Miller were recalled by Chicago after infielder Dansby Swanson was placed on the 10 Day-IL on Sunday with an oblique injury...James Triantos is scheduled to rejoin the Iowa lineup tonight after being optioned, while Matt Shaw is scheduled to begin a Major League rehab assignment after being placed on the 10 Day-IL on June 29 with a left hand sprain...Iowa also announced this morning the signing of free agent infielder Jackson Cluff.
IN THE ‘PEN: Cubs’ top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins made his third consecutive relief appearance Thursday night...Wiggins worked a scoreless frame and retired the side in order with two strikeouts...in all three outings, Jaxon has pitched a scoreless frame and has five total strikeouts...he has yet to surrender a hit during his relief stint.
AGAINST TOLEDO: The Iowa Cubs and the Toledo Mud Hens are meeting for the third and final time this week in the 2026 season...their first meeting of the season took place June 2-7 at Principal Park, with Toledo winning the series 4-1 with the finale cancelled due to rain...the teams split their second meeting in Toledo June 30-July 5 at Fifth Third Field...Iowa has a 4-9 record versus the Mud Hens in 2026.
KIPP TO MY LOU: Right-hander and Cubs’ No. 20 prospect Grant Kipp worked 3.0 scoreless innings Friday night and allowed just two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts...the seven strikeouts matched a career high in Triple-A and were one short of season high, set on May 27 at Chattanooga and May 7 vs. Birmingham...it marked the third time this season Grant has reached seven strikeouts with the others coming on July 4 at Toledo and June 27 vs. Buffalo...Kipp is the lone I-Cubs pitcher to reach seven strikeouts in a game on three occasions and the first since Will Sanders (4) and Connor Noland (5) in 2025.
DAY TIME, BEST TIME: The I-Cubs are set to play their first day game since last Sunday at Principal Park...Iowa has gone 21-23 (.477) this season in day games while going just 29-47 (.381) in night games...the 21 day game wins are tied for third-most in the International League West Division, trailing St. Paul (23) and Columbus (23).
HOT START: James Triantos led off last night’s game with a home run, marked just the second leadoff home run for the I-Cubs this year following Justin Dean on March 31 at Louisville...it marked the second leadoff home run of Triantos’ career...since being optioned to Iowa, James has hit .267 (4-for-15) with five runs, two doubles, one home run, three RBI and four stolen bases.
HEARN YA: I-Cubs catcher Ethan Hearn homered for his second consecutive game Saturday, 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 in the past 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.
AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect catcher Owen Ayers threw out two players stealing Wednesday night...Owen has thrown out 32 runners this season between Advanced-A , Double-A and Triple-A, which is tied for 12th-most of any player at those levels...Ayers joined the I-Cubs on July 17 from Double-A Knoxville and 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.
B.J BALLIN: BJ Murray went 3-for-4 in the first game of the doubleheader Saturday...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.
SWIPER NO SWIPING: James Triantos went 1-for-3 with a run, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base Friday night...it marked the third straight game in which Triantos has swiped a bag...the streak tied for the longest by an I-Cubs this season, along with Brett Bateman who did so from June 16-18...Triantos stole a base in third straight games twice last season from April 8-12 and July 1-3...no Iowa Cub has stolen a base in four straight games since Tri did so on Aug. 23-28, 2024.
KLOBO: Reliever Gabe Klobosits tallied another scoreless outing Thursday night...in seven outings since May 31, Klobo has worked 8.1 innings and has allowed just one run on four hits with six strikeouts.