Caleb Killian Begins Rehab in Cubs 7-0 Shutout Loss

SOUTH BEND, IN - Peoria dominated Tuesday night’s tilt, again taking the lead in the first and never trailing the rest of the way.

Despite the result the biggest storyline of the night was a positive, as Caleb Kilian began his major league rehab tonight with South Bend. The right-hander hit the 60-Day IL on March 28 with a shoulder strain and his journey back to the big league team began tonight at Four Winds Field. He sat 97-98 mph with his fastball and topped out at 100 mph in 0.2 innings. The 6-foot-4 man from Anaheim, California struck out two in the seventh but was tagged with 3 runs allowed on a couple of hits and a pair of walks.

If it weren’t for Kilian, there’s no doubt Darlin Saladin would’ve been the headliner after the 21-year-old right-hander, who was in the Dominican Summer League just two years ago, dealt 6.2 shutout innings. His high-ride fastball stymied the Cubs as Saladin worked his 11th straight start allowing two runs or fewer, while he additionally didn’t walk a a batter and struck out eight.

The Chiefs first three batters of the game all reached base and after Leonardo Bernal plugged one off the wall they had the bases loaded with no outs against Cubs starter Nick Dean. The former Maryland man punched out the red-hot Chris Rotondo for out number one, and then Won-Bin Cho sent a fly to deep left that went as a sac-fly to put Peoria ahead. Dean came back and struck out Miguel Villaroel to escape the jam allowing just one run.

After working through a scoreless second inning, the Cubs starter got the first two batters retired in the third before Peoria ignited some two out magic. Rotondo singled to extend his on-base streak to 22 games and Cho popped one up to shallow left that should’ve ended the inning but a miscommunication between Reivaj Garcia, Jefferson Rojas, and Jordan Nwogu allowed the ball to drop. Vallaroel then doubled to bring two runs home for his first two RBIs in High-A.

Brody Moore picked up two hits and walk once the night for the visitors, he began the fifth with a single. Moore stole second and got to third on the throw down from Ethan Hearn that skipped into center. Leonardo Bernal followed with a sac-fly to make it 4-0.

After Mitchell Tyranski spun 1.2 innings scoreless innings out of the bullpen, in came Killian. He walked two batters and allowed two singles in the frame, punching out a pair including the final batter he faced before exiting.

Nathaniel Herredia took over in the seventh for Saladin and the big lefty combined with Dionys Rodriguez got the final seven outs without allowing a hit.

Game three of the series is slotted for tomorrow at 5:45 p.m., with gates opening at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday’s game features a postgame concert and fireworks after the concert concludes.