Cubs hold on to beat Hot Rods 5-4 in series finale

Bowling Green, KY: It came down to the wire, but the South Bend Cubs snuck past the Bowling Green Hot Rods on Monday afternoon to take their weekend series two games out of three to end their 10-game road trip. With a final of 5-4, the Cubs end the long away trip with a record of 3-7. 

Overall, South Bend improves to 54-59 on the season. They are still very much in contention for the postseason, coming in before the game today at just one game out of the wild card spot in the Eastern Division. Now, if Dayton loses tonight to West Michigan, South Bend has the possibility to be tied for the second half wild card position. 
Monday's matinee from Bowling Green Ballpark went exactly the way South Bend needed it to for the first seven innings. 
Dominant pitching from your starting pitcher? Check. 
Erling Moreno had his best start in a Cubs uniform in 2018 against the Hot Rods. In 6.2 masterful innings of scoreless baseball, Moreno allowed just five hits and struck out four batters. He earned the win to bring his record to 1-3. On 85 pitches, Moreno fired in 52 strikes. 
Early timely hitting from your batting order? Check. 
With the first five runs of the ballgame, South Bend plated a run in the top of the 1^st thanks to leadoff man Jose Gutierrez. Gutierrez, who was sent to the Cubs from Myrtle Beach earlier in the series, clobbered his second home run in as many days to open the scoring. 
Three more runs came in the top of the 3^rd off of Bowling Green starter Alex Valverde. The right hander Valverde took the loss in the rubber match and sees his record fall to 5-7. Heading to the bottom of the 8^th, South Bend was cruising with a 5-0 lead. Then, the Bowling Green bats woke up.
After Moreno exited, right hander Jake Steffens needed just one pitch to get the final out of the 7^th inning. But in the 8^th, Steffens allowed three runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning. Reliever Ben Hecht then had to come in to get the Cubs out of the jam. He escaped by getting the final out with no further damage. 
In the 9^th, it was the same story. Hecht trotted out to the mound for his first full inning. Bowling Green was able to plate a run to make the game 5-4, but that was all they were able to get against the right hander Hecht. With the tying run at second base, and the winning run at the plate, Hecht got Ronaldo Hernandez to ground out to end the game. The Cubs took the finale 5-4 and now leave Bowling Green with a series win.
Next up for South Bend is a seven game homestand where they will face the Great Lakes Loons and Lake County Captains. With an off day tomorrow, the Cubs will take on the Loons in game one of a three game set with first pitch coming at 7:05 PM on Wednesday night.