Comeback Effort Falls Short as Dragons Triumph Over Cubs 4-3

South Bend, IN - Since winning the series opener on Tuesday night, the South Bend Cubs have dropped four ballgames in a row to the Dayton Dragons. Saturday afternoon at Four Winds Field was a back-and-forth tug-of-war, but the Dragons held on and outlasted the Cubs by a final of 4-3 to take an already guaranteed series win this week.

Interestingly, the Dragons have played some of their best baseball against the Cubs over the last two seasons, as they also won a series in Dayton last year. South Bend would have to put a win together on Sunday evening in order to walk away with two wins from this homestand.

Saturday got started with Brandon Birdsell taking the mound for South Bend. Birdsell, who had given up two runs in a game for the first time in his career last time out at Beloit, surrendered two tallies in the top of the 1st inning as Dayton took an early advantage. Both Blake Dunn and Tyler Callihan singled to begin the game, and they both game home on a bouncing ball single up the middle by Ruben Ibarra.

Birdsell settled in as things went along, but just as he was getting comfortable. Justice Thompson cranked a two-run homer out of the yard to double the Dayton lead to 4-0.

That’s when things changed. First off, the South Bend bullpen went to work. Beyond the 4th inning and the Thompson round tripper, Dayton did not have a single baserunner the rest of the game. It was five consecutive scoreless innings thrown.

Didier Vargas worked back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the 5th and 6th. Zac Leigh returned to the South Bend bullpen on his rehab stint and fired a scoreless 7th, and Frankie Scalzo Jr. took it the rest of the way with no problem posting two shutout frames in the 8th and 9th.

That gave the Cubs a chance to get back in the game.

Thanks to a Kevin Alcántara single and a bouncing ball error put in play by Ezequiel Pagan, South Bend sliced the lead in half at 4-2.

Bryce Ball made it a 4-3 game in the 7th with his laser single into left, and the Cubs were also in business in the 8th. With back-to-back singles by Fabian Pertuz and Ethan Hearn, Scott McKeon rolled a ball softly to the left side. It was picked up by Dayton third baseman Austin Callahan. With Pertuz sprinting past Callahan, the base umpire made a call to rule Pertuz out, due to obstruction with Callahan.

The crowd did not like the call, and the inning ended shortly after. In the 9th, South Bend put the tying run at second, and the winning run at first, but the comeback bid ended as the Dragons closed things out.

With the loss, the Cubs see things get tighter in the Midwest League West Division after starting the day tied for the top spot with Cedar Rapids, and with Beloit being a half-game back, Quad Cities just one game, and Peoria two games.

The series finale is set for Sunday night between Dayton and South Bend as the Cubs look to end the series strong. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM as Richard Gallardo takes the mound for South Bend.