August 30 Game Notes: Iowa Cubs vs. Omaha Storm Chasers

IOWA CUBS (26-30, 56-72) vs. OMAHA STORM CHASERS (25-29, 58-70)

August 30 • 1:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA**RHP Javier Assad (0-3, 7.32) vs. RHP Lucas Braun (3-1, 4.57)**

TODAY'S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Omaha Storm Chasers are set to play the finale of a six-game series at Principal Park today...right-hander Javier Assad is slated to make his 7th start this season with Iowa...Omaha is scheduled to start right-hander Lucas Braun.

KEEP IT ROLLIN: The I-Cubs earned their fourth consecutive victory last night, defeating Omaha 7-6...B.J. Murray, Jackson Cluff, and Owen Ayers homered while Ben Cowles had two RBI...trailing 5-1 in the fourth inning, Iowa rallied to score five runs over the next two innings...tied 6-6 in the eighth inning, Cowles laced the go-ahead RBI double down the first base line...Jayden Murray (1.2 IP) earned his first win of the season and Eduarniel Nunez recorded the final out to earn his fourth save of the season.

COMEBACK CUBS: Iowa earned their fifth come from behind victory in their last nine games last night...four of those wins have come when they have been trailing and down to their final three outs...Thursday night the I-Cubs secured their third victory this season when trailing after eight innings, all coming in their last eight games...they notched two comeback wins last week in Toledo...last Thursday, down to their final out, James Triantos laced an RBI double off the left field wall to tie the game in an eventual 5-4 victory in ten innings...down to their final two outs on Saturday, they rallied to tie the game on an RBI single from Ethan Hearn before winning 7-3 in ten innings...prior to this stretch, Iowa was 0-50 in games when trailing after eight innings.

WALK IT OFF: The I-Cubs earned their second consecutive walk-off win Friday night and their fifth walk-off win of the season...Thursday’s victory was the first walk off win for Iowa since June 17 when James Triantos hit an RBI single to walk it off in a 6-5 victory over Indianapolis in ten innings...it was the first time this season Iowa has earned a walk-off victory when trailing heading into the ninth inning...the last time Iowa earned a walk-off victory in nine innings when entering the inning trailing was May 8, 2024 in a 9-8 victory over Columbus.

FOUR ON THE BOUNCE: The I-Cubs have won four consecutive games and eight of their last nine games, with three of those coming in extra innings...they also had a four-game winning streak from Aug. 20-23...Iowa has not won five consecutive games since April 1-5 at Louisville as they took the last five games of the series.

B.J. BALLIN’: Cubs No. 19 prospect BJ Murray hit a leadoff home run for the second consecutive game last night, giving him his first two career leadoff home runs...Murray has homered in consecutive games for the second time this season, last doing so August 11-12 against St. Paul...he tallied his ninth triple of the season Thursday night as he leads the International League in triples, three ahead of teammate Owen Miller and ranks tied for second in all the minor leagues...the nine triples are the most by an I-Cub since Arismendy Alcántara had 10 in 2015...BJ also ranks among IL leaders in total bases (3rd, 218), hits (4th, 128), walks (T-6th, 69), extra-base hits (T-3rd, 49), OPS (5th, .903) and on-base percentage (7th, .398).

CHAS: Over his last 10 games, Chas McCormick is batting .375 (12-for-32) with eight runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI, nine walks, and four stolen bases...McCormick’s streak of recording at least one RBI came to and end at four games last night, the second time this season he has achieved the feat, also doing so June 14-June 18...he has notched four multi-hit games during this stretch, including a three-hit game last Thursday at Toledo... it marked his third three-hit game of the season and first since June 27 against Buffalo...he reached base four times Wednesday, going 1-for-1 with three walks...the three walks are the most he has drawn in a single game in his professional career...since August 18, Chas is fifth in the IL in on-base percentage (.512), ranks fifth in walks (9), seventh in batting average (.375) and 10th in OPS (1.137).

ELECTRIC AVENUE: James Triantos stole two bases Thursday night, his fourth game this year with multiple stolen bases and bringing his season total to 27...it is the third most in a season of his career following 47 in 2024 and 28 in 2025...Triantos is one of two Cubs’ farmhands with at least 115 hits and 25 stolen bases, along with Knoxville’s Alex Ramirez...in addition, is he one of two players in the International League with such numbers, along with Indianapolis’ Ronny Simon...he currently ranks sixth in the IL in batting average (.304), four points and two spots above teammate Owen Miller (8th, .300)...Triantos made his Major League debut on July 25 and batted .125 (1-for-8) in seven games with Chicago.

KOHL WORLD: Iowa starting pitcher Kohl Franklin pitched 4.2 scoreless innings Wednesday, striking out a season high seven batters...the seven strikeouts were the most he has posted in a single outing since September 16, 2023 with Double-A Knoxville against Rocket City... Kohl had only pitched three combined times between the 2024 and 2025 seasons due to injury...prior to this season, he only made one career appearance at Triple-A, coming April 13, 2024 versus St. Paul before being shut down due to injury...since returning to Triple-A this year, he has a 2.70 ERA across four starts (16.2 IP) allowing five earned runs and striking out 17...Kohl was selected by Chicago in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The I-Cubs improved their record to 8-5 in extra inning games this season with the win last night...it marked Iowa’s fifth straight extra-innings win as they defeated Toledo 7-3 in 10 innings on Saturday, 5-4 in ten innings against Toledo on Thursday, Indianapolis 5-3 in 10 innings on Aug. 5 and Memphis 5-4 in 10 innings on July 18...it is the third extra innings win at Principal Park during the 2026 campaign and first since June 17 versus Indianapolis.

AYE-RS!: Chicago Cubs’ No. 2 overall prospect catcher Owen Ayers hit his third Triple-A home run last night, a go-ahead two-run shot in the fifth inning...Ayers threw out his 33rd runner of this season Friday night between Advanced-A ,Double-A and Triple-A, which is tied for 17th most of any player at those levels...he drew three walks Friday night for the second time this season, last doing so with Double-A Knoxville on April 24 against Chatanooga... On Thursday 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.

START ME UP: B.J. Murray led off last night’s game with a home run for the second consecutive game after also doing so on Friday night...it is the third lead off home run for the I-Cubs in their last seven games after James Triantos led off last Saturday’s game in Toledo with a home run... it gave Iowa just their fourth leadoff home run this year... prior to Triantos’ leadoff homerun last Saturday, Iowa’s lone leadoff home run of the season came from Justin Dean on March 31 at Louisville.

MORE OF A MORNING PERSON: Despite Iowa’s record this season, they have gone 22-24 in day games this season vs. 32-49 in night games...the 22 day-game wins are tied for third-most in the International League West Division this season...the Storm Chasers have gone 16-16 in such games this year.