Hernandez Perfect in Debut, Quad Cities Drops Series Opener to South Bend

South Bend, Indiana – Former second-round pick Ben Hernandez threw a perfect inning in his High-A debut, but the Quad Cities River Bandits lost game one of their three-game series to the South Bend Cubs 8-1 on Friday night at Four Winds Field.

Although the Bandits would score the first run of the game, taking a 1-0 lead on Jean Ramirez’s RBI-walk in the top of the second, Quad Cities would fail to score for the remainder of the night, stranding nine men on base and batting just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

South Bend wasted no time answering the opening salvo in the bottom of the frame and tied the game against Bandits’ starter Ben Kudrna on Ethan Hearn’s RBI-triple.

The Cubs then posted their first of two multi-run innings, jumping in front 4-1 with a three-run third, which featured RBI-singles from Jefferson Rojas and Parker Chavers. Ed Howard drove in a run on a groundout.

While Kudrna (4-5) would settle down and pitch a scoreless fourth and fifth inning—even striking out the side in his final frame—the Cubs tagged the right-hander with the loss and four hits on a season-high eight hits.

Cubs’ starter Erian Rodriguez only lasted 2.0 innings, but was followed by Chase Watkins (4-1), who earned the win with a scoreless inning, and Nico Zeglin, who tossed 3.0-scoreless innings and earned a hold in his Midwest League debut.

Jose Romero (1.0 IP) and Marino Santy (2.0 IP) also worked scoreless outings out of the Cubs’ bullpen.

South Bend tacked on four more against Chase Isbell in the sixth, extending the lead to 8-1 on RBI-singles from Reivaj Garcia, Brett Bateman, and Pedro Ramirez. The right-hander was forced from the game after recording just one out.

A.J. Block put a stop to the Cubs’ rally and completed the sixth before tossing a scoreless seventh.

Hernandez finished on the night on the hill for Quad Cities and, in his High-A debut, twirled a one-two-three bottom of the eighth with a pop up and a pair of groundouts.

Quad Cities will look to avoid its ninth series loss of the season on Saturday and sends Henry Williams (2-4, 4.48) to the mound opposite Jaxon Wiggins (0-0, 0.00), who is scheduled to make his first appearance as a South Bend Cub. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.