June 18 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Indianapolis Indians

IOWA CUBS (29-39) vs. INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (28-43)

June 18 • 6:38 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

RHP Will Sanders (3-0, 5.31) vs. RHP Khristian Curtis (1-0, 0.00)

TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Indianapolis Indians are set to play the third game of a six-game series at Principal Park tonight...right-hander Will Sanders is slated to make his sixth start with the I-Cubs... right-hander Khristian Curtis is scheduled to start for Indianapolis.

WALK IT OFF: Yesterday, the Iowa Cubs walked off the Indianapolis Indians in extra innings with a 6-5 victory...Ben Cowles hit a grand slam and James Triantos drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning...Paul Campbell threw 5.2 innings, while Vince Reilly made his Triple-A debut in the tenth inning, holding the Indians scoreless and securing his first Triple-A win... this marked the third walk off win of the season for Iowa, the last occurring on May 20 versus Memphis...two of Iowa’s three walk off wins this season have come in the tenth inning, and all three walk off wins have been during day games.

TRI: Cubs No. 9 prospect James Triantos is batting .353 (18-for-51) with five doubles, one home run and nine RBI in 13 June games...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’ 72 hits and 16 stolen bases are numbers matched by just three other players in the International League, Nashville’s Luis Lara Gwinnett’s Jim Jarvis and Indianapolis’ Ronny Simon.

WELCOME TO DES MOINES: I-Cubs reliever Vince Reilly picked up his first career victory yesterday in his Triple-A Debut, holding Indianapolis scoreless in the tenth inning...Reilly joined Iowa from Double-A Knoxville on Tuesday, where he posted a 2-1 record and 3.41 ERA, converting six saves in six opportunities... Reilly signed with Chicago in 2024 as a minor league free agent after being drafted in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Athletics out of Grand Canyon.

HIT PARADE: The Iowa Cubs mustered 16 hits Tuesday night which is the fifth-most for the club this season, following four games in which the team recorded 17 hits...the 13 runs scored are tied for third-most this season following a 18-run performance on May 24 vs. Memphis and a 15-run game on April 22 vs. Louisville.

BENNY BARRELS: I-Cubs infielder Ben Cowles hit the fourth Iowa grand slam of the season and his second of the season yesterday, his first one coming on May 24 vs. Memphis...Cowles’ two career grand slams have both come this season...he is the only I-Cub this season with multiple grand slams, and joins Carlos Perez (2025), Owen Cassie (2024), and Pete-Crow Armstrong (2023) as the only I-Cubs with multiple grand slams in a season since 2017...since May 31, Cowles is batting .300 (12-for-40) with seven runs scored, two doubles, a home run, and seven RBI.

BATEMAN!: I-Cubs outfielder Brett Bateman currently has a season high eight game hitting streak, batting .419 (13-for-31) with two doubles, and an RBI... Over his last 19 games, Bateman is batting .364 (24-for- 66) with 11 runs scored, four doubles, seven RBI, 13 walks and nine stolen bases...he has raised his batting average from .230 to .287 during this span (since May 21).

THE JAGUAR: Kevin Alcántara made his return to the Iowa lineup last Wednesday after being optioned by Chicago...since returning, he is batting .345 (10-for-29) with seven runs scored, four doubles, a home run, five RBI, and four walks...after reaching base with a single on Wednesday, he extended his on-base streak to 28 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 ranked the second-longest active streak in the IL and third in all of Triple-A.

CHECK THE CLOCK: The I-Cubs played a three hour and 36 minute game Tuesday night...the contest was the longest involving the Iowa Cubs since a three hour and 45 minute game on July 29, 2023 at Memphis... it was the longest game at Principal Park since a three hour and 44 minute contest versus St. Paul on August 28, 2022...the game Tuesday night lasted as long as it did despite not playing the bottom half of the ninth due to the I-Cubs lead.

EXTRA EXTRA: Iowa played their sixth extra inning game of the season yesterday...the I-Cubs improved to 3-3 with a 6-5 walk-off win vs. Indianapolis...Iowa had not played an extra inning game since May 15 at Nashville and had not played an extra innings game at home since May 6 vs. Columbus.