Cubs Hammer Lugnuts 9-3
Lansing, MI - In one of the most complete victories of the year on Wednesday afternoon, 9-3, against the Lansing Lugnuts, the South Bend Cubs got it done in style both at the plate and on the mound. It was a notable win, as South Bend has taken the stranglehold
Lansing, MI - In one of the most complete victories of the year on Wednesday afternoon, 9-3, against the Lansing Lugnuts, the South Bend Cubs got it done in style both at the plate and on the mound. It was a notable win, as South Bend has taken the stranglehold of this six-game series in Michigan’s capital, and are up to 8-15 on the season.
Seven Cubs in the batting order extended hitting and on-base streaks in the victory. The longest of which belongs to Jefferson Rojas. The 19-year-old is now up to 16 straight games with a base hit, the longest in the Midwest League and at the High-A level. Brett Bateman has been on base in 10 games in a row. Additionally, Pedro Ramirez is up to a nine-game hit streak, Yohendrick Pinango is up to eight straight with a hit, and 16 consecutive games on base. Jonathon Long has a six-game hit streak, Reivaj Garcia has hits in five in a row, and Ethan Hearn’s is at four straight.
South Bend was on the board first with a Pinango single, after Bateman reached base to lead-off the game for a second straight day. Lansing tied it in the 2nd innings against Will Sanders, capitalizing on a couple of errors and a hit-by-pitch, plus a walk. But Sanders worked a strong start and pitched a season-high 3.2 innings.
From the 3rd until 8th innings, South Bend scored five unanswered runs, with Rojas stretching his hit streak to 16 in the 3rd. The 4th inning saw Ed Howard and Pedro Ramirez produce RBI, with Howard tripling home Ethan Hearn for his first run knocked in of the year.
Reivaj Garcia impressed with a season-high three RBI day, and two base hits. He’s batting .271 on the year. Ethan Hearn had his best day of 2024 as well, going 3/4 with three runs scored, a home run, and an RBI. That puts Hearn’s average at .281.
Every Cub starter reached base at least once, and the bullpen took it the rest of the way. After Sanders departed with only an unearned run surrendered in 3.2 innings, Sam Armstrong entered. Armstrong saw his season long consecutive scoreless innings streak end on Wednesday, but he took it all the way up to 17.2 straight innings without allowing a tally to begin the year.
Still, Armstrong earned the win, with his ERA now sitting at 0.51.
Yovanny Cabrera earned the save, and recorded the final five outs to secure the win. South Bend now heads into Game 3 of the series on Thursday night with two victories, and will send right-hander Brody McCullough to the mound, looking for their first three game winning streak of the season. First pitch from Jackson Field is set for 7:05 PM.