Stevens Homers Again but Cubs Fall 3-2 to Whitecaps

Comstock Park, MI - The West Michigan Whitecaps have won the first three games of this week long series just north of Grand Rapids after defeating the South Bend Cubs on Thursday night by a final of 3-2. Every game so far in this series has been decided by two runs or less, and the Whitecaps have been victorious in each of the last two by a single tally.

Grant Kipp took the mound for South Bend in his second Midwest League start, after matching a career high of eight strikeouts in his last outing at Lake County. South Bend looked to be in business in the 1st inning, after a lead-off double by Ezequiel Pagan to start the game, but Whitecaps righty Garrett Burhenn finished off a scoreless 1st.

West Michigan plated two runs in the bottom of the 1st with a two-RBI single from Luke Gold. It was set up by base hits from Carlos Mendoza and Gage Workman. The Cubs had some fight back though, when they laced three singles in a row off of Burhenn via Pagan, Matt Shaw, and James Triantos. The Triantos single brought home Pagan to cut the lead to 2-1.

With Shaw’s single, the Chicago Cubs first-round pick extended his hitting streak to nine straight games. He has been on base in 10 in a row.

As the game went quiet, it stayed at 2-1 until the 8th inning. During the middle frames, dark, ominous clouds set in from the third base side of the park, and it started to rain. Tonight’s game started in a delay due to rain, and started at around 7:00 PM.

The rain falling did not lead to any wild pitch mistakes, as the Cubs bullpen was sharp. Right-hander Yovanny Cabrera made his High-A debut after being called up from the Myrtle Beach Pelicans earlier this week. Cabrera allowed a lead-off single on the first pitch he threw, but then locked down and retired six in a row.

Max Bain pitched a shutout 7th, but in the 8th, West Michigan added a key run of insurance when Isaac Pacheco doubled, and then later scored on an Austin Murr RBI groundout.

As the game went to the 9th, Felix Stevens came up against big righty Elvis Alvarado. Alvarado, who pitched on Tuesday against the Cubs, had an era near 7.00. Stevens launched a pitch deep over the right-center field wall for a solo home run, bringing it back to a 3-2 games. The Cubs got the tally right back as Stevens homered for the second time in as many days. He now has 10 home runs in 46 games with South Bend.

Alvarado locked in from there, however, and sent down the next three in a row to cap off the win for West Michigan.

With the loss, the Cubs fall to 18-26 in the second half, and will remain at least 6.5 games out of a playoff spot. The playoff leading Peoria Chiefs were postponed tonight in Lake County, and will play their second doubleheader of that series this week.

Game 4 of the series in West Michigan will follow on Friday night from LMCU Ballpark at 6:35 PM. Right-hander Brody McCullough will pitch for South Bend as they look to get in the ‘W’ column for the first time this week.