Ruoff Mortgage Homestand Preview: August 19-24

Every game left on the South Bend Cubs’ 2025 schedule is their most important of the season. Eighteen contests remain, including a dozen at home, as the Cubs share first place in the West division second-half standings with the Beloit Sky Carp. However, for all intents and purposes, the Cubs are a game back of the Sky Carp because Beloit owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

This week presents another test for the Cubs, who will welcome the Cedar Rapids Kernels to Four Winds Field. The Kernels are the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins and have the best overall record in the West division (64-50) after winning the first-half title and clinching a playoff berth in June. The Cubs oppose them at 49-64 overall and 26-21 in the second half.

Confident Cubs: In a must-have series for the postseason chase, the Cubs answered the bell last week, going on the road to first-place Beloit and taking four of six games from the Sky Carp. The Cubs have now won five consecutive full-week series on the road, and they are 12-4 since the July 31 trade deadline. They’ll have an opportunity to keep rolling at home this week winning eight of 12 games on their last homestand.

In Beloit, pitching paved the way to victory for the Cubs, holding the Sky Carp to three runs or fewer in all four South Bend wins. Right-hander Connor Schultz and Erian Rodriguez were brilliant on Tuesday and Wednesday, combining for 10 innings with four hits, three walks, and 14 strikeouts. Righty Kevin Valdez was good on Thursday as well, posting 5.1 innings of one-run ball. The Cubs’ bullpen took center stage on Saturday, sweating out seven innings of scoreless work to secure a 5-3, series-clinching win. South Bend still has the lowest bullpen ERA in all of Minor League Baseball since July 3 at 1.88.

Offensively, the Cubs didn’t need to do much, often taking what the Sky Carp gave them. Across the first two games of the series, South Bend took 23 walks, only scoring four runs in the opener before exploding for 12 on Wednesday. In the game-two beatdown, second baseman Drew Bowser churned out five RBI from the nine-hole. Of note, the Cubs came from behind in three of their four victories in Beloit.

Kernels Coming to Town: Even though they’ve already played Cedar Rapids 12 times, the Cubs haven’t yet faced the Kernels at Four Winds Field in 2025. Cedar Rapids leads the season series 7-5, but the Cubs won a road series in the last matchup at the end of June. That week was one of the strongest of the year for the Cubs’ offense, which powered six home runs in four victories.

Since that series – and for the entire second half – the Kernels have essentially been a .500 ballclub. Their pitching staff has struggled all year, but it’s been especially rough since the season’s midway point. In second-half play, only the anemic Dayton Dragons have a worse team ERA than the Kernels’ 4.80 mark. Cedar Rapids has played up-and-down baseball lately, ending July on a 13-4 run before starting August in the gutter with an 0-6 week at West Michigan. The Kernels bounced back last week, though, claiming five of seven games against Quad Cities at home thanks to better results on the mound.

Cedar Rapids has put together a much more consistent year at the plate, ranking second to West Michigan in runs scored, extra-base hits, batting average, and OPS. The Kernels lean on a trio of 100-game players who have been with them since Opening Day – Danny De Andrade, Kyle DeBarge, and Brandon Winokur. The three of them are all top-25 Twins prospects and fill up the Midwest League leaderboards. DeBarge is especially dangerous as a 62-stolen base man, and he also is 16-for-40 this season against the Cubs.

South Bend’s players to watch…

Rafael Morel, OF/INF: Morel has had a tough time finding his bat this season, although he’s performed very well all over the field defensively from day one. However, like most of the Cubs in the lower half of the batting order, he has shown signs of turning things around in recent weeks. Since the month of August began, Morel is hitting .277, a full 100 points higher than his full-season average of .177. He played a major role in the Cubs’ series win at Beloit, starting all six games and going 9 for 23 with three doubles, six runs batted in, and a stolen base. Morel notched his first three-game of the season on Tuesday, and then he one-upped himself with his first four-hit game of the year on Wednesday.

Grayson Moore, RHP: After struggling through the first half of the summer, Moore has settled in as one of the Cubs’ most consistent bullpen arms. Since July 5, he’s the only full-time reliever in all of High-A without an earned run allowed and at least 13 innings pitched. Moore has also quietly been a strikeout machine, punching out 33 in his 24.1 innings for the full Midwest League campaign. He was especially dominant last week at Beloit, making two scoreless appearances with five strikeouts across a pair of innings.

Connor Schultz, RHP: Since the All-Star break, Schultz has served as the Cubs’ tone-setter, serving as the starting pitcher in series openers. He’s quietly been outstanding in the role, posting a 2.70 ERA across his last four starts and averaging five innings every time he takes the ball. The first-year Cub turned in his cleanest starting performance yet last Tuesday in Beloit, striking out five and walking none in five innings with no earned runs allowed. His command as a member of the rotation remains a sight to behold, as Schultz has only five walks to go with 37 strikeouts when working as a starter this year.

Top prospects in the series…

South Bend: SS/2B Cristian Hernandez (Cubs No. 11), OF Kade Snell (Cubs No. 20)

Cedar Rapids: C Eduardo Tait (Twins No. 2, MLB No. 54), LHP Dasan Hill (Twins No. 9), SS/2B Kyle DeBarge (Twins No. 13), SS Brandon Winokur (Twins No. 15), RHP Jose Olivares (Twins No. 25)

Schedule and probables…

Tuesday, August 19 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Connor Schultz vs. RHP Ty Langenberg

Wednesday, August 20 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Kevin Valdez vs. RHP Jacob Kisting

Thursday, August 21 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Nazier Mulé vs. RHP Jose Olivares

Friday, August 22 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Brooks Caple vs. LHP Garrett Horn

Saturday, August 23 - 7:05 PM ET: LHP Evan Aschenbeck vs. LHP Dasan Hill

Sunday, August 24 - 2:05 PM ET: RHP Yenrri Rojas vs. TBA