Wiggins’ Career Day Propels Cubs Past TinCaps 5-2
Fort Wayne, IN - Prior to August 10 last month, right-hander Jaxon Wiggins did not have a professional win on his stat line. Now on September 7, he has three. Wiggins won again on Saturday night at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, striking out a career high nine batters in
Fort Wayne, IN - Prior to August 10 last month, right-hander Jaxon Wiggins did not have a professional win on his stat line. Now on September 7, he has three. Wiggins won again on Saturday night at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, striking out a career high nine batters in five innings of one-run baseball as the South Bend Cubs beat the TinCaps 5-2.
Wiggins was opposed by Fort Wayne starter Jose Reyes, and both right-handers worked 1-2-3 1st innings. For the fifth time this week however, the TinCaps scored first to open the game. It came in the 2nd inning on Saturday, when Rosman Verdugo chopped a ball slowly towards third base. Cam Smith charged on the ball, threw it away past Brian Kalmer at first base, and the TinCaps got a run. The ball, however, went out of play, and Fort Wayne had the remaining runners go to second and third base, as opposed to getting a second run out of it.
This helped Wiggins, who limited the damage to just a run, and it helped him settle in. By the end of three innings, Wiggins had five strikeouts. In the 5th, the Cubs gave him the lead to work with. South Bend tied the game on a double-play ball, and later took the lead thanks to a base hit RBI from Pedro Ramirez. Ramirez has been on base in 15-straight games.
Up 2-1, Wiggins struck out three batters in his final inning, being the 5th. His final pitch was a 98 mile-per-hour fastball, blown past Kai Murphy. It was his ninth strikeout, setting a new career best. That’s after last Saturday, where he struck out a career high eight versus the Great Lakes Loons.
South Bend expanded the lead in the 6th when Jordan Nwogu blasted a single behind the third baseman Verdugo, and then Edgar Alvarez doubled in Nwogu. Lasting, a fielding error by pitcher Eric Yost allowed a third run to score in that 6th inning, making it 5-1.
Out of the bullpen, Luis Devers tossed shutout frames in the 6th and 7th, striking out two more TinCaps. In the 8th, Fort Wayne had their best shot to tie it or take the lead. They got a run via an RBI-groundout from Ethan Salas, and then had two runners on. The tying run was at the plate. Verdugo was the batter. He drove a ball to deep left field, but Nwogu had space on the warning track, making the catch.
In the 9th, Yovanny Cabrera sent down the TinCaps, in order, to pick up his seventh save of the season.
With the win, South Bend has the 3-2 series lead, and will go for the series victory tomorrow afternoon in the season finale. The final game of the 2024 Midwest League season starts at 1:05 PM ET. Right-hander Erian Rodriguez gets the start for South Bend.