April 24 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Louisville Bats

IOWA CUBS (12-11) vs. LOUISVILLE BATS (14-10)

April 24 • 7:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

RHP Trent Thornton (0-0, -.--) vs. LHP Brandon Leibrandt (0-2, 5.51)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Louisville Bats are set to play the fourth of a six-game series at Principal Park tonight...right-hander Trent Thornton is set to make his first start with Iowa after being activated from the injured list prior to tonight’s game...left-hander Brandon Leibrandt is scheduled to start for Louisville.

QUIET THURSDAY: The I-Cubs fell to the Louisville Bats by a 1-0 score yesterday at Principal Park...Iowa had just three hits in the contest, all singles from Pedro Ramírez, Dylan Carlson and Brett Bateman...Jordan Wicks made the start and worked 2.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts...Ty Blach pitched 5.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits with one strikeout and Tyler Beede worked a scoreless frame and added two strikeouts.

MORE RUNS: The I-Cubs scored a season-high 15 runs on 14 hits in their win Wednesday...marked the most runs by the club since they plated 15 runs on June 27, 2025 vs. Columbus.

HOT START: I-Cubs infielder B.J. Murray Jr. snapped his hit streak at seven games yesterday, but hit .520 (13-for-25) with four doubles and four RBI during that span...B.J. ranks among International League leaders in OPS (4th, 1.059), batting average (5th, .352) and slugging percentage (8th, .620).

ONE-NIL: The Iowa Cubs dropped yesterday’s game to Louisville by a 1-0 score...the last I-Cubs 1-0 decision came on a win on Sept. 19, 2025 vs. Toledo...Iowa last lost a 1-0 mark at Nashville on June 22, 2025.

FILL UP THE STAT SHEET: Outfielder and Cubs No. 20 prospect (MLB.com) Brett Bateman did a little of everything Wednesday as he went 3-for-3 with four runs scored, a double and a walk...marked his first three-hit game since Aug. 30, 2025 with Double-A Knoxville...the four runs scored are tied for the most by an I-Cub this season along with James Triantos on April 2 at Louisville.

WOW, THAT WAS FAST: Yesterday’s game took just two hours and seven minutes...marked the fastest nine inning game by the I-Cubs since another two hour and seven minute game on Sept. 12, 2025 at Indianapolis...Iowa played two games under two hours last season, one on Sept. 19 vs. Toledo (1:59) and another on June 15 vs. Louisville (1:55).

HOME SWEET HOME: The I-Cubs are set to play at Principal Park for their third home series of the season...Iowa has gone just 4-8 at home vs. 8-5 on the road, with five of the eight wins coming against tonight’s opponent, Louisville.

HISTORY: Pedro Ramírez had a day to remember Wednesday as he went 3-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI...the eight RBI matched a franchise record, done three other times by Ian Stewart (2013), Tom Eagan (1973) and Larry Haney (1971)...marks the most RBI in a International League game since Toledo’s Eduardo Valencia also had eight on Sept. 4, 2025 at Lehigh Valley...Ramírez ranks among International League leaders in RBI (1st, 27), extra-base hits (1st, 15), total bases (1st, 60), slugging (T-1st, .667), hits (2nd, 30), runs scored (T-2nd, 20), OPS (3rd, 1.067) and home runs (T-3rd, 7).

CHAS: Outfielder Chas McCormick went 1-for-5 with a run scored and a double Wednesday...McCormick has reached base safely in his last 13 games, tied for the longest by an I-Cub this season with Justin Dean (13)...Chas has also scored a run in eight straight games which is the fourth-longest in the IL this season and longest by an Iowa Cub since Owen Caissie scored in eight straight from June 6-13, 2025...no I-Cub has scored a run in nine straight contests since Brennen Davis from May 9-21, 2024 (11).

VS. LOUISVILLE: The I-Cubs are playing their second series vs. Louisville this season and first at Principal Park...Iowa played in Louisville from March 31-April 5 and won five of the six games.