Game Notes June 27: Iowa Cubs vs. Buffalo Bisons

IOWA CUBS (2-2, 32-44) vs. BUFFALO BISONS (2-2, 37-42)

June 27 • 6:08 PM CT • Principal Park • Des Moines, IA

RHP Grant Kipp (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Grant Rogers (2-6, 5.34)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Iowa Cubs and the Buffalo Bisons are set to play the fifth of a six-game series at Principal Park tonight... right-hander Grant Kipp is set to start in his Triple-A debut with Iowa...right-hander Grant Rogers is scheduled to start for Buffalo.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: The I-Cubs offense surged in a 12-1 victory over Buffalo last night... Owen Miller and Kevin Alcántara recorded four hit games, Jonathon Long had a home run and six RBI, and Christian Bethancourt hit a home run...after allowing the Bisons to score a run in the first inning, Iowa would go on to score 12 unanswered runs and hold Buffalo scoreless over the final eight innings ...right-hander Andrew Wantz started for Iowa, throwing four innings and allowing just one run, while Ty Blach came on to throw 5.0 scoreless innings and strike out six.

TRI: Chicago Cubs’ No. 9 prospect James Triantos is batting .345 (29-for-84) with eight doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI in 20 June games...James currently has a season-high 11-game hitting streak, batting .370 (17-for-46) with four doubles, one home run, and nine RBI during the stretch...Triantos is ranked tied for fifth in the International League with 83 hits on the season...Triantos is just one home run 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’ 83 hits and 17 stolen bases are numbers matched by just three other players in the IL, Nashville’s Luis Lara Gwinnett’s Jim Jarvis and Indianapolis’ Ronny Simon.

THE JAGUAR: Kevin Alcántara went 4-for- 5 with two runs scored, two doubles, and an RBI last night...the four-hit performance was the second for Kevin this season after accomplishing the feat on Wednesday against Buffalo...since returning to the Iowa lineup on June 10 after being optioned by Chicago, Kevin is batting .380 (19-for-50) with 13 runs scored, seven doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and eight walks...Kevin extended his on-base streak to 33 games last night with a single ...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 the longest active streak in the International League and second longest active streak in Triple-A...the on-base streak is the longest in the International League this season, and the fourth longest in Triple-A.

PACK THE PARK: The Iowa Cubs announced an attendance of 11,508 fans last night... marked the largest crowd at Principal Park since Aug. 23, 2019 when the I-Cubs had an attendance of 13,138 vs. Nashville...it is the most fans any Iowa Cubs game has seen this season.

JONNY LONG: Chicago’s No. 6 prospect Jonathon Long went 3-for-5 with a home run and six RBI last night...the six RBI by Long matched his career high for most RBI in a game, last doing so on May 14, 2025 with Iowa against St. Paul...in 20 June games, he has 19 runs scored, eight doubles, five home runs, and 17 RBI...on June 18-19, he hit home runs in consecutive games for the first time this season.

MILLER TIME: Iowa infielder Owen Miller went 4-for-5 with two RBI, and a triple, falling just a home run short of the cycle... this is his third game this season with four hits after doing so on May 25 and May 29 at Indianapolis...Miller is tied with I-Cubs teammate BJ Murray for second in the International League in triples (4).

BJ BALLIN’: I-Cubs infielder BJ Murray recorded two hits last night, giving him six multi-hit efforts in his last eight games...Over the last eight games, he is batting .500 (17- for-34) with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, four RBI, and four walks...Wednesday marked the second time Murray has had back-to-back three hit performances this season, last doing so April 21-22 vs. Louisville...BJ recorded a home run and a triple Tuesday night, becoming the first I-Cub to do so since Hayden Cantrelle on Aug. 17, 2025 vs. Worcester...BJ ranks among International League leaders in batting average (1st, .330), triples (2nd, 4), hits (2nd, 86), OPS (3rd, .963), on-base percentage (2nd, .427), total bases (5th, 140) and extra-base hits (5th, 32).

THE GRAND BALL: Kevin Alcántara hit the seventh grand slam of the season for Iowa on Wednesday, surpassing the season total the I-Cubs have had for grand slams over the last two seasons...the most grand slams Iowa has hit in a season since 2017 is eight, done in 2023...Kevin’s grand slam was the fourth grand slam Iowa has hit during this 12 game homestand in Des Moines after Owen Miller hit one on Tuesday, Jonathon Long hit one on June 19 and Ben Cowles hit one on June 17.