August 21 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs at Toledo Mud Hens

IOWA CUBS (19-29, 49-71) at Toledo Mud Hens (24-24, 58-64)

August 21 • 6:05 PM CT • Fifth Third Field • Toledo, OH

RHP Andrew Wantz (4-1, 6.00) vs. LHP Jackson Wolf (6-10, 6.75)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Toledo Mud Hens are set to play the fourth game of a six-game series at Fifth Third Field tonight...right-hander Andrew Wantz is slated to make his 10th appearance and fifth start for the I-Cubs...Toledo is scheduled to start left-hander Jackson Wolf.

FREE BASEBALL: The I-Cubs snapped a five-game losing spell and picked up a 5-4 win in 10 innings over the Toledo Mud Hens last night...Chas McCormick led the way as he went 3-for-5 with a run, two doubles and an RBI...BJ Murray also added two hits with a double and an RBI...starter Connor Noland tossed 3.1 innings and allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts...Shelby Miller (0.2 IP), Tyler Ferguson (1.0), Gabe Klobosits (1.2), Eduarniel Núñez (2.0) and Luis Peralta (1.0) all had scoreless outings in relief.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The I-Cubs improved their record to 6-5 in extra inning games this season with the win last night...it marked Iowa’s third straight extra-innings win as they defeated 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 this season.

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 night’s 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 erupted for 13 home runs in the series against St. Paul, the most in all of Triple-A during that span.

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 last 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.

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.

KLOBO: Reliever Gabe Klobosits tallied another scoreless outing last 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.

TRI IS BACK: In his first game with the I-Cubs since being optioned, James Triantos went 0-3 with a run, a walk and two stolen bases...marked his third game this season with at least two steals and first since May 17 at Nashville in which he stole three bags...Triantos also swiped a bag last night, which marks the second time this season he has tallied a stolen base in back-to-back games, following April 11-14.

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.

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.

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.