Marquez continues dominance with 8 K's in 5-1 win

South Bend, IN: The South Bend Cubs are riding their hottest stretch of baseball over the 2019 season and won their fifth consecutive game by beating the West Michigan Whitecaps 5-1 on Wednesday night at Four Winds Field. 

The Cubs have won both games of the series to start their eight game homestand. Setting the tone tonight for the win was starting pitcher and Chicago Cubs number one pitching prospect Brailyn Marquez. In his last home start, the lefty struck out 14 Lake County Captains. Tonight, he continued his dominance by striking out six batters in six no-hit innings. 
The stuff that Marquez had tonight was equally as nasty as last time out against Lake County. With a fastball touching triple digits, and his nasty slider, Marquez did not allow a hit in what would be his fifth win of the season. Marquez walked just one batter in the game and his ERA is down to 3.61. 
Over his last two starts, Marquez has struck out a combined 22 batters in 12 combined innings. 
Offensively, five of the nine South Bend hitters had two hit games. Picking up the extra base hits for the Cubs were Marcus Mastrobuoni, Clayton Daniel, and Andy Weber. Weber smacked the Cubs lone triple on Wednesday. 
Out of the bullpen, Casey Ryan and Brian Glowicki combined for three innings of one-run baseball to send West Michigan packing. Going into the 9^th inning, the Whitecaps had just two hits. They finished with five. South Bend had 14 hits of their own.
With the win, the Cubs move to 58-48 on the season and still maintain their two-game lead over Lansing for the Eastern Division wild card spot. Since Bowling Green lost to Dayton, South Bend is just two games behind the Hot Rods for 1^st place. 
The Cubs will have the chance to win the series tomorrow night against the Whitecaps with first pitch at 7:05 PM. Faustino Carrera is the expected starter for South Bend.