Kalmer Crushes Grand Slam in 8-4 Victory Topping Peoria

South Bend, IN - The solid week for the South Bend Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinal affiliate Peoria Chiefs continues, after a dominating 8-4 victory on Friday night. South Bend has now won three of the first four this week, and received a five-RBI game from Brian Kalmer, which included a grand slam in the 4th inning.

Ty Johnson got the start for the Cubs, and has now gone six consecutive shutout innings since his final start before the All-Star Break at Dayton. Johnson went three scoreless frames, along with five strikeouts.

Tyler Santana was the first man out of the South Bend bullpen, and after hanging a zero in his first inning, the Cubs went to work offensively in the bottom of the 4th. Until tonight, South Bend didn’t produce a run this season off of Inohan Paniagua. The starter for Peoria had worked three shutout innings, until three consecutive base hits were roped by Ethan Hearn, Ed Howard, and Parker Chavers.

The next batter was Kalmer, who crushed a grand slam over the left field wall to take a 4-0 lead. It was Kalmer’s ninth homer of the season, and third this week.

Peoria responded with a pair of runs in the 5th on a sacrifice-fly and via an error, but South Bend never surrendered the lead. Chase Watkins tossed two scoreless out of the ‘pen, and another rally was waiting for the Cubs in the 7th.

Ed Howard singled home Ethan Hearn, and Kalmer came up again and drove in his fifth run of the night. An error in left by Darlin Moquete pushed across another tally on the play, and South Bend led 8-2.

To end the night, Angel Gonzalez worked the final six outs to close things, and the Cubs earned their 10th victory of the second half.

The Cubs will look for a series win on Saturday evening when the two clubs clash again at 7:05 PM. Right-hander and Chicago Cubs #19 prospect Jaxon Wiggins will make his second Midwest League start, after debuting with the team last week.