DYERSVILLE – The dust had barely settled from the fireworks following a Ben Cowles home run when Jordan Nwogu crushed a pitch 420 feet into the left-field corn.
Nwogu’s homer was the highlight of a five-run inning for the Iowa Cubs, who beat the St. Paul Saints 6-3 on Aug. 11 before a sellout crowd of 7,096 in a new stadium located at the Field of Dreams movie site.
The game was an opening act for the Aug. 13 Major League Baseball contest between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies.
There were younger and newer stars on hand for the minor-league matchup, which featured the top affiliates of the Chicago Cubs and the Minnesota Twins. But an older and familiar face was among the headliners. Nwogu, a 27-year-old third-round pick by the Cubs in the 2020 draft, had a big hit.
The Iowa designated hitter broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning by blasting the second of back-to-back homers. It was the first Triple-A homer in a long and winding minor-league career for the former promising prospect. Nwogu finally reached Iowa for the first time in his career this month.
“I was just looking for something close,” he said. “And he threw something in and I turned on it.”
The Cubs took control of the game thanks to three home runs in the inning. Nwogu’s was the most memorable.
“It means the world, honestly, to see that some of the hard work I’ve been putting in is starting to pay off,” he said. “I’m just hoping to keep it going.”
Jaxon Wiggins shined in his first relief outing of the season
Wiggins, a 24-year-old, made his first relief appearance of the season. The hard-throwing right-hander went 0-3 with a 7.76 ERA with 37 strikeouts across 31.1 innings in 11 starts this season. Wiggins missed substantial time this season with inflammation in his elbow.
There are high expectations for Wiggins, who is ranked as the fifth-best prospect in the system according to MLB Pipeline and the top overall pitching prospect in the organization. He showed promise out of the bullpen, tossing one hitless and scoreless inning in the sixth. Wiggins walked one, struck out two and topped out at 98.2 mph with his fastball.
If you like home runs, this is the park for you
The big-league park at Field of Dreams has shown it can produce plenty of power. The 2021 MLB contest between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees produced eight home runs. Five balls left the park in Tuesday’s Triple-A game, including three by Iowa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 things that stood out in Tuesday’s Iowa Cubs game at Field of Dreams
Reporting by Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
