South Bend Sprints Past Loons with Three Homers

The Great Lakes Loons knew that they’d have a tall task ahead of them to tally much offense Thursday night in South Bend, Ind., with the South Bend Cubs starting a consensus top-15 prospect in the Cubs’ system.

Four hits and no runs certainly did not get the job done.

And though the game began as a pitchers’ duel, South Bend found their offense, smacking three home runs to defeat Great Lakes, 5-0, at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium.

The Cubs (25-17) took the lead for the first time in the third inning, thanks to a two-out solo shot by Cole Roederer, his first blast of the year. That was the lone blemish on the record of Kendall Williams (L, 0-2), who had his best start as a Loon. Despite a tough-luck loss, the righty was superb, allowing one earned run on four hits and no walks in five innings of work, picking up three strikeouts.

Meanwhile, lefty D.J. Herz (W, 1-0) spun a gem of his own. The southpaw starter tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out three. Herz was the Minor League Pitcher of the Year in the Chicago Cubs’ system last season, and so far, has a strong case to repeat that honor in 2022. The only Loon able to muster a hit against him was Juan Zabala, making his season debut. Zabala was activated off the development list Thursday afternoon.

Great Lakes (24-18) did a bit more damage against right-handed reliever Sheldon Reed in his debut for South Bend. After a perfect sixth, Reed allowed two hits in the seventh but did not allow a run, striking out a pair in his two frames. Reed was added to the South Bend roster earlier in the week, getting the promotion from Single-A Myrtle Beach. Edwin Mateo notched one of the two hits against Reed, the lone extra-base knock of the day for the Loons, a two-out double.

It was the night of the longball for South Bend. Owen Caissie, a consensus top-ten prospect within the Cubs system, hit a two-run bomb in the seventh inning, his fourth of the season, to triple the Cubs’ advantage. South Bend added two more in the eighth on Yohendrick Pinango’s sixth big fly of the season. That put the Cubs ahead by what would be the final score, 5-0.

The Loons, High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, would get one more hit in the game. Max Hewitt led off the eighth inning with a single, his first hit in professional baseball. After Hewitt signed with the Dodgers last August, he did not play for an affiliate until earning the call-up to Great Lakes earlier this month. After that, Bradford Deppermann (SV, 1) retired the next six Loons in order, including three punchouts, to earn the save and confirm the South Bend win.

The game was played in just one hour, 58 minutes, a new season-low for a regulation Loons contest. Wednesday’s game in South Bend was similarly short, clocking in at exactly two hours. No half-inning saw more than 23 pitches in an inning, and only four half-frames saw 20 or more. Seven of the 17 half-innings had 10 pitches or fewer.

The Loons and Cubs both played errorless baseball Thursday night, marking just the fourth time the Loons have lost an errorless game, with 15 error-free wins.

The Cubs now hold a 2-1 series lead going into the fourth contest of the six-game series Friday night. Right-hander Manuel Espinoza (2-2, 1.72 ERA) gets the start for the Cubs, facing Loons right-hander Nick Nastrini (0-0, 3.75 ERA) in a 7:05 p.m. first pitch from “The Cove” in South Bend. Pregame coverage begins with the Loons On-Deck Circle, driven by Garber Chevrolet Midland, kicking off at 6:50 p.m.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.