Cubs Rally Back From 5-0 Down, Dominate 10th Inning in 12-8 Win

LANSING, MI – In a season full of close losses on the road, leading to a 1-17 record away from Four Winds Field, the South Bend Cubs seized the moment on Friday night at Jackson Field. Going down 5-0 to the Lansing Lugnuts after five innings, they stormed back with 12 runs in the game’s second half to win 12-8 in 10 frames. Left fielder Rafael Morel powered South Bend’s surge, hitting a pair of two-run home runs, one that started the comeback and another that gave the Cubs their first lead of the night in the 10th. Capturing just their second road win of the season, the Cubs improved to 10-27 overall, dropping the Lugnuts to 21-16.

Click here to view Friday evening’s box score.

Having already won the first three games of the series, Lansing bolted out of the gate with a four-run first inning in game four. South Bend starting pitcher Nick Dean avoided hard contact, but the Lugnuts still found soft spots in the Cubs’ defense, totaling five hits in the inning. The fifth, a knuckling two-run double from designated hitter Rodney Green Jr., brought in two runs to cap off Lansing’s four-run inning.

Lansing starter pitcher Yunior Tur matched his offense with an effective start of his own, setting down the first 12 hitters he faced on only 29 pitches. After he worked around a leadoff double to notch a fifth scoreless inning, Tur received an additional run of cushion on right fielder Jared Dickey’s single. Lefty South Bend relievers Chase Watkins and Evan Taylor combined to surrender only one additional run in the ensuing four innings, affording their teammates an opportunity to fight back.

Fight back they did, beginning with the bottom of the order in the top of the sixth. First baseman Drew Bowser led off with a single, and Rafael Morel followed with a two-run home run, torching his second long ball of the season beyond the berm in left field. The Cubs would score again in the seventh, as third baseman Reginald Preciado’s first of three consecutive doubles turned into a run on catcher Ariel Armas’ single. Lansing countered with another two-out run on second baseman Casey Yamauchi’s single, putting the Cubs behind 6-3 after seven innings.

Another two-run home run pulled the Cubs even closer in the top of the eighth, though. This time, center fielder Andy Garriola added to a stellar defensive night by playing long ball. His team-leading sixth home run of the season landed in the same spot as Morel’s, narrowing Lansing’s lead to 6-5. The two-run shot, hit off Lansing reliever Yehizon Sanchez, finalized Tur’s line at four runs allowed in a career-high 7.1 innings. South Bend tied it against Blaze Pontes in the ninth, as Preciado led off with another double to center and touched home on an Armas groundout.

Evan Taylor, who had already struck out two to work around a leadoff single in the eighth, threw a perfect bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. The Cubs, who entered Friday 0-4 in extra-inning games and did not score in extras during Tuesday’s 10-inning loss to Lansing, took full advantage of their additional opportunity to hit. Morel led off the 10th and hammered an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left, giving South Bend an 8-6 lead with his second two-run missile of the night. After shortstop Jefferson Rojas extended his on-base streak to 17 games and his hit streak to 7 with a single, designated hitter Edgar Alvarez brought in two more runs with a single to left-center. Armas capped off the six-run inning with an opposite-way single, sending the Cubs to the bottom of the 10th up 12-6.

Lansing picked up a couple of consolation runs against Taylor, as shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer stung a two-run double to left field. However, right-hander Joe Nahas came on from the bullpen with one out to record and did the job with a strikeout. The punchout put an end to a game that featured 20 combined runs and 28 combined hits – 14 for each team.

South Bend and Lansing will duel again at 7:05 PM on Saturday. Right-hander and reigning Midwest League Pitcher of the Week Ryan Gallagher will pitch for the Cubs against Lugnuts righty Kyle Robinson.