IOWA CUBS (27-39) at LOUISVILLE BATS (36-31)
June 14 • 12:05 PM CT • Louisville Slugger Field • Louisville, KY
LHP Doug Nikhazy (0-2, 9.00) vs. LHP Brandon Leibrandt (2-3, 5.23)
TODAY’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Louisville Bats are set to play the finale game of a six-game series in Louisville today...left-hander Doug Nikhazy is slated to make his 11th appearance of the season (eighth start) in Triple-A...left-hander Brandon Leibrandt is scheduled to start for Louisville.
LET IT SLIP: The Iowa Cubs fell to the Louisville Bats by a 4-3 score last night...Kevin Alcántara went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI to lead the I-Cubs offense...Jonathon Long added two hits, including a double...Owen Miller went 1-for-4 with an RBI...Ty Blach made the start and tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts...Christian Roa also worked a scoreless inning in relief.
TRI: Cubs No. 9 prospect James Triantos hit his fifth home run of the season Tuesday night and had two RBI...Triantos is two home runs shy of tying a career high of seven done twice, in 2022 and 2025...he did not hit his fifth home run of year last season until Aug. 29 at Las Vegas...Triantos’ 66 hits and 15 stolen bases are numbers matched by just two other players in the International League, Nashville’s Luis Lara and Gwinnett’s Jim Jarvis.
PACK THE PARK: On Friday, the Iowa Cubs announced an attendance of 10,876 and Saturday they announced 11,041...both numbers are the highest attendance numbers of any Iowa Cubs game this season...Saturday was the highest mark Iowa has had since a 11,430 attendance on June 28, 2024 vs. St. Paul.
BATEMAN!: Over his last 17 games, outfielder Brett Bateman is batting .368 (21-for-57) with nine runs scored, four doubles, seven RBI, 12 walks and six stolen bases...he has raised his batting average from .230 to .284 during this span (since May 21).
SPEAKING SERIES-LY: With a win today, the Iowa Cubs would tie the six-game series with Louisville...the I-Cubs last tied a six-game set from May 25-31 at Indianapolis...Iowa has won just one series this season which came from March 31-April 5 at Louisville in which they took five of the six games.
THE JAGUAR: Kevin Alcántara made his return to the Iowa lineup on Wednesday after being optioned by Chicago...after reaching base with two doubles last night, he extended his on-base streak to 25 games...the streak is the longest by an I-Cub since Jonathon Long reached in 35 consecutive games from July 9-Aug. 24, 2025, which set a franchise record...in addition, it is tied for the fifth-longest streak in the International League this season (third-longest active streak in the IL and third in all of Triple-A).
TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Cubs infielder BJ Murray went 2-for-3 Friday night with a double, a triple and three RBI...marked his third triple of the season, which is tied for the most on the I-Cubs with Owen Miller and tied for fifth in the International League...BJ is the second I-Cub to record a double and a triple in the same game this season, following Justin Dean on May 5 vs. Columbus.
WELCOME BACK, WILL!: Friday night, Will Sanders made his first start with Iowa since April 16 and picked up the win...he tossed 5.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts...the eight strikeouts were the most by an I-Cubs pitcher since Austin Gomber struck out nine on Sept. 12, 2025 at Indianapolis.
THAT HAPPENED: The Iowa Cubs pitching staff surrendered 20 runs for the second consecutive night Thursday night...marks the first time the I-Cubs have done so since data was made available in 2005...Iowa is just the second team in full season minor league baseball to allow 20 runs in back-to-back games following the Jersey Shore Blue Claws on Sept. 5-7, 2021 (20 runs, 21 runs)...the I-Cubs are also the first International League team to surrender at least 19 hits in back-to-back games since the Norfolk Tide on July 23-24, 2019...marks the first time it has happened in Iowa Cubs franchise history since data was made available.
SHOWING SOME POP: The I-Cubs hit four home runs Tuesday night which is tied for their most of the season behind a five home run night on April 2 at Louisville...the four home run game came on the heels of Iowa hitting just three long balls in their last 10 games, including six consecutive games without leaving the yard from May 27-June 2 at Indianapolis and vs. Toledo.