July 30 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

IOWA CUBS (13-16, 43-58) vs. SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (18-9, 55-46)

July 30 • 6:38 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

LHP Jordan Wicks (0-8, 7.41) vs. RHP Alexander Cornielle (1-2, 4.62)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are set to play the third game of a six-game series tonight at Principal Park...left hander Jordan Wicks is set to make his 16th start with Iowa...right-handed pitcher Alexander Cornielle is set to start for Scranton.

TOUGH CALL: The Iowa Cubs fell to the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Principal Park...Ben Cowles, Owen Miller, and Greg Jones led the offense with multi-hit games while Ethan Hearn recorded his first Triple-A hit and RBI...after falling behind 4-1 through seven innings, Iowa mounted a late rally to pull within a run with one out in the ninth inning and the winning run at the plate, but the final two batters struck out to end the game...Chicago’s No. 3 overall prospect Jaxon Wiggins was dealt the loss, throwing 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts...Chicago Cubs relievers Hoby Milner and Ethan Roberts combined to throw 2.0 scoreless innings on Major League rehab.

THE JAG: I-Cubs outfielder Kevin Alcántara hit a single in the sixth inning Tuesday night, extending his on-base streak to 37 games...Kevin broke the Iowa Cubs franchise record for the longest on-base streak in franchse history on Sunday at Gwinnett, previously held by Jonathon Long at 35 games that he set from July 9-Aug. 24, 2025...it is the longest streak in the International League this season and second longest streak this year in all of Triple-A, trailing Albuquerque’s Chad Stevens’ 51-game on-base streak from March 27-July 3.

STR-YIKES: The Iowa Cubs struck out a season high fifteen times yesterday, surpassing their previous season high for strikeouts in a game of 14, set on April 14 against Columbus...Iowais batting .166 (4-for-24) with runners in scoring position to begin the series with Scranton...since returning from the All-Star break, Iowa is batting .228 (26-for-114) with runners in scoring position.

BATEMAN: Brett Bateman’s hitting streak ended at 14 games yesterday, which was his season high... it was the second longest active hitting streak in the International League and all of Triple-A...it was also the longest hitting streak of his professional baseball career...Brett’s longest hitting streak of his pro career prior to the 2026 season was nine games, a feat he reached twice from Aug. 28 - Sep. 6, 2025 with Double-A Knoxville and July 5 - July 20, 2024 with High-A South Bend...Brett is slashing .433/.507/.617 (26-for-60) with six doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBI during the stretch...he ranks among International League leaders in on-base percentage (1st, .437), walks (4th, 58) and batting average (4th, .317)...the I-Cubs have had just on player lead the league in on-base percentage as Terrell Lowery tied for the lead in 1997 with a .401 mark...Brett is one of three players in the International League with at least 75 hits and 55 walks, along with Lehigh Valley’s Christian Cairo and former Iowa Cub and current Rochester Red Wing Christian Franklin.

AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 8 overall prospect Owen Ayers recorded his first home run at the Triple-A level Tuesday night...on Sunday he recorded his second three-hit since beingpromoted to Triple-A and fourth multi-hit game in nine appearances...Ayers is batting .363 (12-for- 33) with two doubles, one home run, six RBI and three stolen bases since joining the I-Cubs...Ayers played in 65 games in Knoxville, batting .304 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI...since being promoted to Iowa last Friday, Owen is batting .285 (6-for-21) with four RBI...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.

THREE ME: BJ Murray recorded his seventh triple of the season on Sunday, moving him past teammate Owen Miller for the International League lead in triples...Murray’s seven triples are the most by an I-Cub since John Andreoli hit eight triples in 2017 and Brett Jackson hit 12 triples in 2012...Murray is one triple shy for matching the International League lead for triples from last season, set by Toledo’s Hao-Yu Lee (8)...the most triples hit in the International League since 2005 was 15, set by Shane Victorino of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre...the I-Cubs franchise record for most triples in a season is held by Billy Hatcher (18) in 1984.

NO FREE PASSES: The Iowa pitching staff issued just one walk yesterday despite the loss... marked the ninth the team has issued one or less walk this season and the fourth time in July...the staff tossed 9.0 innings without a walk on June 30 at Toledo.

AGAINST SCRANTON: the Iowa Cubs and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are facing off for the first time since the 1990 season in the American Assoociation of Triple-A...the I-Cubs set a recordwinning streak of 11 games with a win over Scranton/WB on Aug. 20, 1990.

JONNY LONG: Jonathon Long hit his 29th double of the season Tuesday night, which extends his International League for doubles... Additionally, Long has the most doubles in all of Triple-A...the most doubles hit in a single season by an Iowa Cub is held by Steve Hammond, who hit 45 doubles in 1986...he is six doubles short of matching the IL league high for last season, held by Joey Meneses with Syracuse and Cesar Prito with Memphis...former I-Cub Yonathan Peralza was the last Iowa player to lead the IL in doubles, tying for the league lead in 2023 with 40...Jon Weber of Durham has the most doubles in the IL since 2005, hitting 46 doubles back in 2009... Juan Brito of Columbus is the last IL player to hit 40 doubles, doing so in 2024.