Cubs Ride Five-Run Eighth to Take the Series Win

Box Score

WP: Eduarniel Nunez (1-1, 6.00 ERA)
LP: Osiris German (1-1, 13.50 ERA

South Bend wins in nine innings for the first time in three days, and clinched their second consecutive series victory.

For the first time all series, South Bend started off the scoring on an RBI double by Nelson Velazquez that drove in Tyler Durna. Edmond Americaan extended the Cubs lead in the following inning, scoring on a wild pitch after reaching base on a double.

It was 2-0 Cubs until the fourth inning, when Wander Javier hammered a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall for the first Kernels run. Cedar Rapids would tie it up on a sacrifice fly by Yeltsin Encarnacion in the following inning.

The game remained tied until the eighth, but the long-awaited return of Rowan Wick to the mound came in his rehab appearance in the sixth inning. Wick was dominant, tossing ten of thirteen pitches for strikes and sending down all three batters he faced on strikes.

Facing a tie game heading into the eighth, Velazquez reached first on a dropped third strike, hustling down the line on a wild pitch from Osiris German. German would throw just one strike to the next two batters, and balked with the bases loaded to bring in Velazquez for the go-ahead run.

But the Cubs were not done yet.

The next batter, Harrison Wenson, stroked a two-strike pitch down the third base line to clear the bases and give the Cubs a 5-2 lead. RBI singles from Josue Huma and Delvin Zinn extended the Cubs lead to 7-2.

Cedar Rapids would add one run in the ninth on an RBI base hit from Kyle Schmidt, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Cubs claimed their fourth straight win over the Kernels by a score of 7-3.

Eduarniel Nunez claimed his first victory as a South Bend Cub, following up Rowan Wick’s perfect sixth with two scoreless frames. Samuel Reyes got the start and allowed just two baserunners with three strikeouts in three scoreless frames. Durna extended his hit streak to a team-high seven games, and an eighth-inning walk extended Ryan Reynold’s on-base streak to ten games on his birthday.

Next Up: Max Bain (2-4, 6.32 ERA) vs Luis Rijo (0-0, 0.00 ERA). South Bend looks to tie their season-high win streak and even up the season series against Cedar Rapids. The first 1,000 ticketed fans get a camo hat, courtesy of WSBT, Napa Auto Parts and B100 on Sundae Funday.