Nwogu And Morel Homer in Cubs 4-0 Shutout Victory

PEORIA, IL - On Tuesday night Peoria dealt the South Bend their fourth shutout loss of the season, the Cubs flipped the script on Thursday.

Sam Armstrong respond from a rough outing last week in Wisconsin with a lights out performance in front of a packed house of 6,128 at Dozer Park. Armstrong hit Brody Moore with the very first pitch he delivered and then utterly dominated the rest of the way en route to five shutout innings with just one walk, and a career-high seven strikeouts. He got some help defensively from Ethan Hearn who threw out two runners trying to steal.

Jordan Nwogu finished a triple shy of the cycle and opened up the scoring in the second inning. With two outs and no one on base he hammered a solo shot to left field off Brycen Mautz to put the Cubs on the board first. That would prove to be the game-winning hit.

Nwogu ignited the second Cubs rally as well, once again with two outs and zero men aboard. Still facing Mautz, the powerful Cubs outfielder drilled a double to the wall in right-center. Hearn followed with a walk and then Matzo fell behind Rafael Morel 3-and-0. The southpaw proved in a fastball that Morel demolished on a ringing line over the yellow line in left field to extend the lead to 4-0.

Nick Hull took over after Armstrong and was simply untouchable. He punched out seven, including the final five batters he faced in three shutout innings. Jack Patterson came on to close out the game, walking the first two batters but retiring the final three in order to maintain the shutout.

The Cubs halted their season long seven-game losing streak with the victory.

Fresh off a 5-for-5 night in game three of the series, Reivaj Garcia singled on the first pitch he saw Thursday night and then added a double to left his next time up. His 7-for-7 stretch ended with a comebacker to the mound in the fifth.

The triumvirate of Cubs arms combined for 15 strikeouts, one shy of a season high set on Opening Day.