September 8 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Toledo Mud Hens

IOWA CUBS (27-36, 57-78) vs. TOLEDO MUD HENS (32-31, 66-71)

September 8 • 6:38 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

LHP Jordan Wicks (2-10, 5.79) vs. RHP River Ryan (3-1, 4.46)

TODAY’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Toledo Mud Hens are set to play the first of a six-game series at Principal Park today...left-hander Jordan Wicks is set to make his 22nd appearance (21st start) with Iowa... right-hander River Ryan is slated to start for Toledo.

SUNDAY BLUES: The I-Cubs fell to the Columbus Clippers 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park... Jordan Nwogu homered and had two RBI, while James Triantos and Justin Dean had multi-hit efforts...Iowa led 2-1 in the fourth inning before Columbus hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the fourth inning to take the lead for good...Antoine Kelly and Ethan Roberts tossed one scoreless inning of relief each, while Jayden Murray and Jaxon Wiggins pitched 1.0 inning and allowed one earned run apiece.

MAN OF STEELE: Left-handed pitcher Justin Steele made his second outing in a competitive game on Sunday versus Columbus... he pitched 2.0 innings and allowed one run on two hits...on Wednesday he made his first competitive outing since April 7, 2025 vs. Texas...he threw 1.2 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits...he was placed on the injured list on April 9, 2025 with left elbow tendinitis...Steele was named an All-Star in 2023 and has gone 32-22 with a 3.30 ERA (186 ER in 506.2 IP) in 102 games (91 starts) with the Cubs.

CHAS: Chas McCormick went 3-for-3 Saturday night and hit his 13th home run of the season...over his last 16 games, Chas is batting .389 (21-for-54) with three doubles, three home runs, and 11 RBI...Saturday night was the second time in this stretch he has recorded a three-hit game, also doing so August 20 versus Toledo... he had two three-hit games this year prior to this stretch, June 27 against Buffalo and April 29 at St. Paul.

JAX-ON: Chicago’s No. 6 overall prospect Jaxon Wiggins made his eighth appearance out of the bullpen Sunday afternoon, throwing 1.0 inning and allowing one run on one hit...it is the first run allowed by Wiggins in his eight appearances out of the bullpen, throwing 9.0 innings, allowing one run, striking out 11 and allowing five hits and six walks...Jaxon made his first appearance out of the bullpen this year on August 11 against St. Paul at the MiLB Field of Dreams game.

KIPP TO MY LOU: Iowa pitcher Grant Kipp pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen Wednesday night, striking out four...over his last four outings, Kipp has posted a 2-0 record with a 0.90 ERA across 10.0 IP (1 ER), allowing four hits and seven walks while striking out 15...Kipp matched his Triple-A high for strikeouts in an outing with seven on Aug. 21 at Toledo, hitting that mark twice more this year...his season high for strikeouts in a game is eight, doing so with Double-A Knoxville May 7 versus Birmingham and May 27 at Chattanooga.

AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect catcher Owen Ayers threw out his 35th and 36th runners of the season Thursday night between Advanced-A, Double-A and Triple-A, which is tied for 12th most of any player at those levels... he went 2-for-4 last Wednesday night, giving him his ninth multi-hit outing in 40 Triple-A games...he hit his third Triple-A home run August 29th versus Omaha, a go-ahead two-run shot in the fifth inning...he drew three August 28th for the second time this season, last doing so with Double-A Knoxville on April 24 against Chattanooga...on August 27th he collected his first walk-off hit since being promoted to Iowa on July 17...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...Owen reached base in 17 straight games dating back to Aug. 15, ending Saturday night...he slashed .234/.364/.375 (15-for-64) during the stretch and owns the fifth-longest streak by an I-Cub this season, trailingKevin Alcántara’s 42-game stretch.

KLOBO: I-Cubs reliever Gabe Klobosits tossed another scoreless inning Friday night...in his last 12 outings dating back to May 29, Klobosits has gone 1-1 with a 1.26 ERA (2 ER in 14.1 IP) and 14 strikeouts...in his last seven appearances he has allowed just one earned run...Gabe also picked up the save in the Field of Dreams game on Aug. 11 vs. St. Paul with a scoreless ninth inning.

RUNNER: James Triantos tallied another multi-hit game Sunday afternoon and now has 123 hits and 26 stolen bases on the season...the last I-Cub to match those numbers was John Andreoli with 130 hits and 43 stolen bases in 2016...James ranks among International League leaders in batting average (3rd, .307), doubles (6th, 27) and hits (7th, 123).

JUMPMAN: Iowa Cubs outfielder Jordan Nwogu hit his second Triple-A home run on Sunday afternoon... he collected his second consecutive multi-hit game Thursday night, going 2-for-4...it is the first time he has notched back- to-back multi-hit efforts at the Triple-A level...Jordan last recorded back-to-back multi hit games on April 8-9 with Double-A Knoxville against Rocket City...he tallied his first career three-hit game at Triple-A Tuesday night, and has raised his batting average this week from .186 to .235...it marked his first three-hit game since April 3 of this season with Double-A Knoxville...his last four-hit game came on Aug. 21, 2025 with Knoxville as he went 4-for-5 with two runs scored...Nwogu went 7-for-16 with two doubles, one home run, and four RBI in the series against Columbus.

TWO, THREE: Iowa Cubs’ infielder Owen Miller hit his 29th double of the season Tuesday night, which is third-most in the International League this season, trailing Indianapolis’ Ronny Simon (31) and former I-CubJonathon Long (34)...he also hit his seventh triple of the year on Tuesday, which trails 2026 I-Cub teammate BJ Murray for the league lead (9).

CONGRATS BJ!: Long-time Iowa Cub BJ Murray made his Major League debut Tuesday night vs. Milwaukee, going 1-for-4 with a single in the Cubs’ 9-4 loss...Murray had played in 118 games with Iowa this season, batting .294 (128-for-436) with 74 runs, 24 doubles, nine triples, 16 home runs, 68 RBI and 69 walks.

VERSUS TOLEDO: The I-Cubs and the Mud Hens are meeting for the fourth and final time of the 2026 season... Iowa won the series 4-2 in Toledo August 18 - 22...Toledo won the last series at Principal Park 4-1, with the finale cancelled due to rain...Iowa currently holds a season record of 8-9.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END: The I-Cubs are playing their final home series of the 2026 season at Principal Park this week...Iowa has a 28-40 (.411) record at home heading into the final homestand of the season... they also played Toledo in the final home series of the 2025 season, losing the series 1-5.

WICKS FLICKS: Tonight’s starting pitcher for the Iowa Cubs Jordan Wicks celebrated his 27th birthday last Tuesday...in his last five starts dating back to Aug. 5, the Kansas State product has gone 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA (6 ER in 22.2 IP) with 19 strikeouts and has surrendered 18 hits and eight walks...Jordan entered his start on Aug. 5 with a 7.09 ERA and has since lowered it to 5.79...he made the start on Aug. 11 vs. St. Paul at the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa and earned the win as he tossed 5.0 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits (one home run) and struck out two vs. allowing just one walk.