South Bend Storms Past TinCaps 9-5

Fort Wayne, IN - In a winding and weaving Thursday night at Parkview Field in Downtown Fort Wayne, the South Bend Cubs snatched this week’s series lead with their second straight victory since dropping the opener on Tuesday, winning by a final of 9-5. The Cubs trailed in the game twice, and also led by four runs twice.

Will Sanders got the start for the Cubs, with lefty Jagger Haynes pitching for the TinCaps. Both starters were making their fourth appearance against their respective opponent. For Sanders, he had pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings on the season against Fort Wayne.

For a third straight night though, it was the TinCaps on the board first. Fort Wayne led 1-0 early, although they did not pick up a base hit in the 1st inning. Kai Murphy walked, reached second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sac-fly from Ethan Salas.

It would not stay that way for long. In the 2nd, Haynes lost command of the strike zone, walking two and giving up a hit to load the bases. Edgar Alvarez came up with the bags juiced, and crushed a grand slam over the tall right field wall for his first professional home run, and the first lead of the evening for South Bend. It was 4-1.

Same can be said for Fort Wayne though. The lead for the Cubs was short-lived, and Ethan Long tied the game in the bottom of the 2nd with a three-run homer. It was a 4-4 game heading to the 3rd.

In the 3rd, Fort Wayne jumped in front against Sanders 5-4 thanks to a base hit from Tyler Robertson. Earlier in that 3rd inning, South Bend was quite close to turning their second triple play in as many days. A ball laced to left was caught by Alvarez, Fort Wayne thought he dropped the ball, two runners advanced to second and third. The runner at second Nerwilian Cedeño never tagged the bag at second, so South Bend tagged him out. The runner at first Salas originally looked to be out, but the umpires ruled he did tag first base before heading to second. So only two outs were recorded. Wild stuff.

The hot potato game of playing with the lead continued when South Bend tied the game at 5-5 in the 4th. Cam Smith moved his South Bend Cubs hitting streak to nine straight games with a base hit, plating Pedro Ramirez. South Bend’s first lead since the grand slam came in the 6th, via a double from Ezequiel Pagan. It was 6-5.

Pedro Ramirez had another big night with three hits, it was his second game with at least three knocks in the series. Alvarez also had three hits, including the slam.

Into the late innings, South Bend’s bullpen was lockdown good. Nico Zeglin tossed three shutout innings, and escaped a bases loaded jam in the 7th by striking out Salas and Devin Ortiz with the bags full. Zeglin’s Midwest League ERA is down to 0.33.

With some insurance, the Cubs scored exactly one run in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. The 9th inning tally came on Brian Kalmer’s 11th homer of the season, deep over the left field wall. Up 9-5, Sam Thoresen recorded the final six outs of the game. Five of the six outs he chalked up were strikeouts.

With the win, South Bend has a 2-1 series lead, and will go at it again Friday night at 7:05 PM. Right-hander Nick Dean gets the start for the Cubs.