Comeback Finishes Short as Dragons Beat Cubs 5-4
Dayton, OH - Despite a strong bullpen performance and not giving up a run beyond the 3rd inning, the South Bend Cubs came up just short at the hands of the Dayton Dragons by a final of 5-4 on Wednesday night. Dayton has won the first two games of this
Dayton, OH - Despite a strong bullpen performance and not giving up a run beyond the 3rd inning, the South Bend Cubs came up just short at the hands of the Dayton Dragons by a final of 5-4 on Wednesday night. Dayton has won the first two games of this week’s series, and South Bend dropped their fourth straight game.
The Cubs led early in this one. 2-0. Right-hander Brian Edgington made his Midwest League debut on the mound for the Dragons, just called up from Low-A Daytona. Edgington retired the first two that he faced in the 1st, then Pedro Ramirez singled. There was then a walk, hit-by-pitch, and a two-run infield single from Ed Howard. Edgington hit two batters in the 1st inning, after hitting just one man in over 71 innings at Low-A.
Up 2-0, South Bend sent right-hander Nick Dean to the mound. Coming off his first loss of the season, Dean surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the 1st on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout.
Tied at 2-2, Dayton would go on to score one more in the 2nd, and two in the 3rd to lead 5-2. Dayton has scored five runs in each of the first two games of this series, with all runs coming off starting pitchers. The South Bend bullpen has yet to allow a run.
Out of the bullpen, Mitchell Tyranski tossed 1.1 scoreless innings. Nick Hull then added two shutout frames of his own, before Tyler Santana spun together back-to-back scoreless innings.
South Bend would get themselves closer in the 5th, thanks to Rafael Morel. Crushing his third home run in six games in the month of July, Morel brought home two via a long ball. Also homering tonight was Morel’s brother, Christopher, for the Chicago Cubs in Baltimore. It was the first time that Christopher had homered in the Big Leagues on the same night Rafael homered in the Minor Leagues.
The Cubs would put the tying run on base multiple times through the rest of the game, but could not push across the tying tally.
Dayton and South Bend will get together again on Thursday night at 7:05 PM. Right-hander Sam Armstrong will be on the mound for the Cubs.