South Bend Falls in Quad Cities Finale 8-2

South Bend, IN - After winning games on Thursday and Friday night over Quad Cities, the South Bend Cubs eventually had a chance to finish off their week-long series versus the River Bandits with a 3-3 split. Quad Cities brought their best to the ballpark the last couple days, winning the series and beating the Cubs on Sunday afternoon 8-2.

Tyler Schlaffer got the start for the Cubs, and now in back-to-back starts has fired his longest outing on the mound since undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Last week in Beloit, he exceeded three innings for the first time, and today, he went four strong innings with only one run allowed.

Quad Cities was on top first though in the top of the 1st, when Brett Squires doubled home Carter Jensen. South Bend quickly came back int the bottom of the 3rd when Jonathon Long singled, and brought home his fifth RBI in the last two games.

With a 1-1 tie, Schlaffer gave way to Chase Watkins out of the bullpen. Watkins was on the mound until Quad Cities loaded up the bases, for Angel Gonzalez to come in and strand the bags full. Gonzalez got the final out of the 5th, but South Bend ran into trouble over the next two innings.

It was a week of big innings for the River Bandits, with a nine-run rally yesterday, and now seven combined runs today between the 6th and 7th innings. The River Bandits also halted many rallies throughout the week, turning 15 double-plays in the course of the six-game series.

In the bottom of the 8th, South Bend picked up their final run, on a Yohendrick Pinango solo home run. Pinango was on base four times Sunday, with three walks and the long ball.

Out of the bullpen as well, Joe Nahas spun together 2.1 shutout innings with only a hit allowed, no walks, and two strikeouts.

Now with a 6-15 record, South Bend will pack up and head to Lansing to face off with the Lugnuts in Michigan’s capitol coming up starting on Tuesday night.