South Bend shuts down Beloit
SOUTH BEND, IN - The South Bend Cubs pitching staff shutout Beloit through seven innings and kept the Sky Carp to just three hits to take a 6-1 victory on Thursday night at Four Winds Field. With the win, the Cubs snap Beloit’s five game win streak and regain sole
SOUTH BEND, IN - The South Bend Cubs pitching staff shutout Beloit through seven innings and kept the Sky Carp to just three hits to take a 6-1 victory on Thursday night at Four Winds Field.
With the win, the Cubs snap Beloit’s five game win streak and regain sole possession of first place in the second half.
The Sky Carp had plenty of baserunners in the early going but failed to capitalize on Porter Hodges’ lack of control. The South Bend starter walked two in the first, and then loaded the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch in the second, but Beloit squandered both chances.
South Bend grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second with a BJ Murray RBI single against Beloit starter Edgar Sanchez.
In the bottom of the third, Cubs top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong electrified the crowd with a leadoff triple into the corner in right. Federico Polanco committed a throwing error on the throw to third, which allowed Crow-Armstrong to dash home for a little league homer.
Later in the inning, Luis Verdugo ripped an RBI double to make it 3-0 Cubs.
From there, both offenses quieted down as Sanchez didn’t allow a run in his final three innings of work.
The Sky Carp managed just one hit against Hodge in his five innings, and the righty worked around a whopping six walks to earn the victory.
Beloit showed some life in the top of the eighth by loading the bases, and Kyler Castillo scored Victor Mesa Jr on a sacrifice fly, but that was all the offense Beloit could muster.
The Cubs put an exclamation point on the win with a 2-run homer from Pablo Aliendo in the bottom of the eighth before the Sky Carp went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth.
The series will continue tomorrow with a doubleheader, with game one set to get underway at 4:35 CT. Game two will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first seven-inning contest.
Evan Fitterer will start game one, while Jake Walters gets the nod for his first High-A start of the season in game two. Fans can tune into the action for free on the Big Radio App.