May 15 Game Notes: Iowa @ St. Paul

IOWA CUBS (5-4) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (4-6)

Saturday, May 15, 2021 • 7:05 PM • CHS Field • Saint Paul, MN

RHP Shelby Miller (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Charlie Barnes (1-0, 5.40)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Iowa and St. Paul are set to face off in game five of a six-game set with the series tied at two. Charlie Barnes marks the second lefty in as many nights to start for St. Paul. After losing last night, Iowa is 0-1 against lefties this year, they were 19-16 in 2019.

BIG NUMBERS: Saints outfielder Brent Rooker went deep again last night, marking the second game this series he has hit a homer off Iowa pitching. Those two home runs are his only two hits of the series, as he has gone 2-for-13 with three walks and three strikeouts. Rooker, the No. 12 ranked Minnesota Twins prospect by MLB.com, is hitting .212 (7-for-33) with three home runs, five RBI and 11 walks on the year for St. Paul.

HURT BY THE LONG BALL: Kohl Stewart was through four scoreless innings, having allowed just two singles and a walk. In the fifth, however, the Saints got to him for all four of their runs. A leadoff walk followed by a single got the inning started. Stewart got a pop out, but then gave up a three-run homer off the bat of Nick Gordon. One batter later, Brent Rooker hit a solo shot of his own to give St. Paul all the runs they would need to win the game. Two mistake pitches was all it took to turn Stewart’s outing from his first win of the season to a four-run inning and his first loss of the season.

LOOKIN’ GOOD: Righty Dakota Mekkes spun two innings of scoreless ball for Iowa last night, in his third appearance of the season. In his last outing against St. Paul on Tuesday, Mekkes surrendered the first hit of that ball game in the seventh, a solo home run off the bat of Tomas Telis. That run was also the first and only run the righty has allowed all season. After last night’s outing, he has now spun 5.1 innings, allowing just the one run on two hits, while walking three and striking out five on the year. Mekkes has also tossed 2.0 innings in two of his three outings this year. In 2019, he tossed 2.0 or more innings in just five of his 43 games for Iowa.

BACK IN ACTION: In his first game back with Iowa after spending a week with Chicago, Jason Adam threw a scoreless ninth inning last night against St. Paul. Despite an 8.22 ERA with Chicago, Adam has actually thrown the ball well this year both in the major and minor leagues. The righty had one bad game with Chicago, allowing five earned runs on three hits, a hit batter and two walks without recording an out against Milwaukee. Other than that one game, he has allowed just two earned runs in 7.2 innings of work, good for a 2.35 ERA. With Iowa, Adam has appeared in two games, allowing no runs on two hits over three full innings of work. He has walked one and also struck out one batter.

HEAT CHECK: After going 1-for-10 (.100) with four strikeouts in the first series against Indianapolis, Taylor Gushue has officially gotten hot at the plate. Hitting from the six-spot in Iowa’s lineup, Gushue went 2-for-3 with a run scored, a home run, an RBI and a walk last night. In four games against St. Paul, Gushue is hitting .467 (7-for-15) with two runs, a double, a home run, seven RBI, one walk and just one strikeout. The catcher hit .312 (82-for-263) in 74 games for Triple-A Fresno in 2019.

NICE ADDITION: It didn’t take Trayce Thompson long to show what he could provide offensively for Iowa this season. The outfielder went 3-for-5 with two runs, a double, a home run and two RBI on Thursday. It was just his second start for Iowa since Chicago acquired him for cash considerations on Tuesday, May 11. Batting out of the leadoff spot for the I-Cubs again in last night’s game, Thompson recorded two more hits, going 2-for-5. The righty is now batting .357 (5-for-14) in his four games with the I-Cubs.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Once again, St. Paul evened the series last night, this time at two games a piece. It has been a back-and-forth series so far, with the two teams trading blows each night.

A GAME OF FIRSTS: For the first time all season, the team that scored first did not win. Iowa put up runs in both the first and second innings, but allowed a four-spot in the fifth inning. The I-Cubs scored once more in the top of the eighth, but couldn’t complete the comeback, losing 4-3. Iowa fell to 5-4 on the season, and 5-1 when they score first in a game.

SHORT HOPS: P.J. Higgins registered a triple in the first inning last night, the first triple for an I-Cubs batter since Robel Garcia tripled at Oklahoma City on August 29, 2019...Infielder Abiatal Avelino went 1-5 last night, extending his hitting streak to eight games with a ground rule double in the fifth inning...Shelby Miller is making his second start for Iowa this year, his first start resulted in a combined no-hitter for Iowa against Indianapolis.