Cubs come up short in 6-3 loss to Lansing

Lansing, MI: Taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 3rd inning in game two of a three game set against the Lansing Lugnuts, the South Bend Cubs looked to be on their way to tying the series on Saturday night.

Much like last night, the Lugnuts did not give in early and answered to South Bend's early lead. South Bend's Michael Cruz got it started when he clobbered his eighth home run of the season to deep right-center field over the 407 foot sign for the game's first run. Cruz now puts himself into second place on the team in home runs tied with Jared Young.
The Cubs added a pair shortly after in the top of the 4th when Chris Carrier scored on a Roberto Caro double down the right field line. Two batters later, Caro came home after Christian Donahue chopped a grounder up the middle for his seventh RBI of 2018.
It was a commanding 3-0 lead in the 3rd for South Bend.
Starter Javier Assad looked to be cruising through the first two frames. Assad has pitched better at home compared to on the road through the season, but he picked up three strikeouts through the first two innings.
The 20-year-old right hander ran into trouble for the first time in the bottom of the 3rd. Reggie Pruitt led of the inning by reaching on an error by the first baseman Jared Young. After stealing second, Pruitt scored easily when Samad Taylor smashed a double into the left center gap.
The Lugnuts were not done after that, either. Taylor came home quickly on a Ryan Noda RBI single. After three innings, Lansing put themselves in striking range down only 3-2.
Assad came back to the mound for the 4th. That's when the damage was really done. On a hit-batter and five hits, the Lugnuts plated four runs in the 4th to take a commanding lead of their own at 6-3.
The only batter for Lansing that did not pick up a hit on Saturday was left fielder Brock Lundquist. Ironically, Lundquist leads the team in home runs and RBI with 40 runs driven in. On a night that Lansing did not need their slugger, they got the job done as every other Lugnuts batter had at least one hit.
Assad took the loss for the Cubs after throwing four innings and allowing six runs on eight hits. Only four of the runs in the game were earned for Assad. The bullpen gave South Bend a chance to come back. Enrique De Los Rios and Yapson Gomez tossed a combined four scoreless innings, with only two hits allowed. De Los Rios' ERA drops all the way down to 1.89 after the three shutout innings.
With the loss, the Cubs fall back to .500 at 34-34 on the campaign. They will have the opportunity to finish one game above .500 tomorrow afternoon when they face the Lugnuts in the final game of the series and first half at 1:05 p.m. Right hander Brendan King is scheduled to start for the Cubs.