Cubs Split Saturday Doubleheader With Peoria, Winning 4-2 Before 4-2 Loss

In a doubleheader that featured two seven-inning games on Saturday afternoon at Four Winds Field, the Peoria Chiefs and South Bend Cubs played to a split. The Cubs captured the opener by a 4-2 score to win the series before the Chiefs answered with a 4-1 victory in the finale. Heading into Sunday’s sixth and final game of the series, the Cubs carry a 4-4 record, while the Chiefs are winless no longer at 1-7.

Click here to view the game one box score and here to view the game two box score.

Right-hander Ryan Gallagher made his professional start on the mound in game one for the Cubs. Last summer’s sixth-round draft selection out of UC Santa Barbara struck out three in four innings without an earned run allowed. Peoria did produce an unearned run in the third inning, scoring first for the fourth consecutive game to start the series.

The Chiefs’ 1-0 lead didn’t survive the next half-inning, which the Cubs sparked in a two-out, nobody-on situation. Shortstop Cristian Hernandez lit the fire by extending his season-opening hit streak to seven games with a single up the middle. After a plunking of left fielder Andy Garriola, right fielder Ivan Brethowr stroked a single to center field, scoring Hernandez to tie the score. An additional run, the go-ahead tally, came home shortly after that on a bases-loaded walk by Peoria starting pitcher Cade Winquest. He would finish his outing with two runs allowed in three innings and later take the loss.

After Gallagher polished off his start with a scoreless fourth inning, the Cubs repeated their third-inning performance with another two-run frame that arose from humble beginnings. With two away and no runners aboard yet again, center fielder Carter Trice and third baseman Reivaj Garcia worked consecutive walks at the bottom of the order. Up came Hernandez, who skied an RBI double to the left-field wall after a third South Bend run had previously scored on a wild pitch. Hernandez would swipe third base later in the inning, capturing his team-leading seventh bag of the year.

With the Cubs up 4-1 through four innings, Peoria didn’t go away quietly down the stretch of the shortened game. The Chiefs acquired a run in the top of the fifth, as leftfielder Ian Petrutz bounced an RBI single against Cub reliever Angel Hernandez. The left-hander didn’t allow any further Peoria production, though, striking out cleanup-hitting center fielder Joshua Baez with two runners on for the third out. South Bend’s impressive bullpen cruised from there, with Hernandez working around a leadoff hit-by-pitch in the sixth and right-hander Vince Reilly securing his second save of the season on a strikeout in the seventh.

Peoria struck first once more in the second game, ultimately tagging Cub starter Connor Schultz for eight hits and four earned runs in 4.1 innings. The Chiefs opened the game with back-to-back singles, the second of which left the bat of Petrutz and brought in a run. Schultz got into a groove after that, retiring 10 in a row, including the first hitter he faced in the fourth. Later in that inning, however, the Chiefs doubled twice, with third baseman Trey Paige delivering an RBI single in between the pair of two-baggers. An inning later, right fielder Zach Levenson handed Schultz the parting gift of a two-run single. Right-hander Yovanny Cabrera kept South Bend in it with 2.2 scoreless innings as the lone man out of the Cubs’ bullpen.

After coming from behind to win each of the series’ first four games, the Cubs couldn’t muster much beyond their run in the fourth inning. Designated hitter Ariel Armas collected his first South Bend RBI with a fielder’s choice, making good on Brethowr’s leadoff double and stolen base. The Cubs certainly had opportunities to hang right with the Chiefs early, but double-play balls silenced South Bend rallies in the second, third, and fourth innings. The Cubs would add a late run in the seventh on third baseman Reginal Preciado’s RBI single, but Angel Gonzalez closed them out after Peoria starter Jose Davila turned in five innings of one-run ball.

Peoria and South Bend will meet one more time on Sunday before going their separate ways. The series finale will get started at 2:05 PM, with Hancel Rincon scheduled to make his second start of the series for Peoria and Kenten Egbert set to make his Four Winds Field debut for South Bend.