Cubs Cruise to Whitewash Over Loons 5-0

South Bend, IN – Behind a rock-solid performance at the plate, on the mound, and in the field, the South Bend Cubs earned their fourth shutout victory of the season as they blanked the Great Lakes Loons by a final of 5-0. South Bend used three home runs to their advantage and played at their most efficient pace of the season. As the last out was recorded before the sun fully set, Thursday’s game was played in one hour and 58 minutes.

The game that was previously the shortest of the season came in an hour and 59 minutes back in April. On Wednesday morning, the Cubs and Loons played a game at 2 hours exactly. The pitch clock may impact some things, but it does not give South Bend Cubs lefty DJ Herz any trouble. Herz was spectacular in game three of the series, as he worked five innings of shutout baseball to earn his first victory of 2022.

In the way that Herz works on the mound, he always looks in control and never rushed. Sometimes it even looks like he paces the pitch clock. Regardless, he was in command of his stuff versus Great Lakes. The outing started on an interesting note, as Cubs manager Lance Rymel was ejected from the game on the second batter of the evening.

Bench Coach D’Angelo Jimenez took over the managing duties, and the Cubs did not miss a beat. Herz kept on mowing Loons hitters down, but ran into trouble in the top of the 5th as his pitch count was rising. Close to his pitch limit, Herz gave up a single to catcher Juan Zabala. The next batter was Max Hewitt. Down to his last available pitches of the night, Herz induced a 6-3 double play to end the frame.

That big twin killing came as South Bend was already leading 1-0, courtesy of their first home run of the night. Cole Roederer smacked his first home run at Four Winds Field since 2019 deep over the right field wall against starter Kendall Williams for an early advantage. That was the lone mistake Williams made, who tossed five innings of one run ball.

The 7th and 8th innings are what made the difference on Thursday, however. Right-hander Sheldon Reed made his South Bend Cubs debut and worked two shutout frames. Then the Cubs added some insurance to their lead. Owen Caissie rocketed one of the longest home runs of the season at home so far past the bridge over the right-center field wall to make it a 3-0 game. It was Caissie’s fourth round tripper of the season. The homer came versus righty Robbie Peto.

An inning later, another new Loons pitcher, Kevin Malisheski, surrendered the third South Bend long ball of the game as Yohendrick Pinango blasted a no doubter on a line drive that carried past the right field party deck. The exit velocity was determined to be 110 MPH off his bat.

Brad Deppermann worked a six out save and fired shutout innings in the 8th and 9th to cap off South Bend’s 25th win of the season. With the 5-0 victory, the Cubs extended their league best home record to 18-6, and now lead the series two-games-to-one.

The two former division foes are back to it once again on Friday night at 7:05 PM. Right-hander Manuel Espinoza is the expected starter for South Bend.