Road trip ends in 5-1 defeat

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Cole Roederer broke a 1-1 sixth-inning tie with an RBI triple and the South Bend Cubs (35-31) beat the Lansing Lugnuts (30-36), 5-1, on Thursday night at Four Winds Field.

The Lugnuts split the four-game series with the Cubs and finished their 10-day, three-city road trip with a 6-5 record.

Trailing 1-0 entering the fifth, the Nuts tied the score against South Bend All-Star southpaw Brailyn Marquez on a Luis De Los Santos two-out double and a Reggie Pruitt RBI triple.

But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Roederer turned around a pitch from Will McAffer (Loss, 1-2) for a two-out RBI triple of his own, knocking in Tyler Durna, to put the Cubs up, 2-1. McAffer then threw a wild pitch on ball four to Chris Morel, bringing in Roederer to give the Cubs a two-run lead.

An inning later, Durna struck his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to right, to supply the final margin.

Mike Pascoe came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning, recording the final two outs before departing on an injury suffered while catching a line drive off the bat of Morel. Regular third baseman Jesus Severino , enjoying a day off, was brought in as an emergency pitcher to notch the final out, inducing Gustavo Polanco to ground out to second.

South Bend reliever Brendan King (Win, 1-0) pitched three perfect innings in relief of Marquez, striking out three.

Lansing starter Cobi Johnson allowed one run in five innings in a no-decision, allowing three hits and two walks and striking out six.

Now the road-weary Lugnuts return to Michigan's state capital for a three-game series against the Bowling Green Hot Rods from June 14-16, including Star Wars Night with post-game LAFCU Fireworks on Saturday, July 15th. To live the Lug Life and purchase tickets to Sunday or throughout the 2019 season, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
 
# # #