Cubs Win Suspended Game 4-1, Lose Scheduled Game 4-2 Against Kernels

The South Bend Cubs (62-39) split the two games they finished on Thursday at Four Winds Field against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (39-64). The Cubs won Wednesday’s scheduled game, which was suspended into Thursday, by a 4-3 score, and they dropped Thursday’s scheduled contest 4-2 in seven innings.

Click here to view the suspended game’s box score. Click here to view the scheduled game’s box score.

Game two of the series began Wednesday night with a High-A debut on the South Bend mound. Right-hander Braylon Myers made his first Midwest League start, allowing one run in 3.0 innings before rain suspended the contest during the third inning.

Working against left-hander Michael Carpenter, the Cubs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Shortstop Angel Cepeda led off with a double, coming around on a sacrifice fly from first baseman Josiah Hartshorn. First baseman JP Smith II tied the game for Cedar Rapids in the second inning, belting a solo home run to left field. The long ball was Smith’s 16th of the year and his first at the High-A level.

Pitching dominated as the game resumed Thursday evening, with Cedar Rapids right-hander Adrian Bohorquez tossing 5.0 scoreless innings to keep the game tied. The Cubs had a good look against him in the sixth but left the bases loaded. Meanwhile, right-handers JP Wheat and Brayden Spears combined to cover the final six innings for South Bend. Both dealt with their share of runners, Spears stranding the bases loaded in the seventh, and Wheat navigating around three walks with the help of an infield double play and a diving grab from center fielder Alexey Lumpuy.

The Cubs broke the deadlock with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, starting the inning with four consecutive singles from the top of their order. Hartshorn delivered the lead with his second hit and RBI of the night, scoring Cepeda. Third baseman Matt Halbach then produced a sacrifice fly, and Lumpuy cracked an RBI double to the wall in right field for his first High-A hit and RBI. Spears and the Cubs would wrap up a 4-1 victory in the top of the ninth.

Both starting pitchers found success in the seven-inning game, taking a 1-1 tie into the sixth inning. For the Cubs, right-hander Nazier Mulé completed 5.0 innings for the first time this season, striking out six. Mulé used a 2-5-3 double play with the bases loaded to finish his fifth inning, and the only run he allowed came on a home run in the fourth. It was Smith II who went deep to left again, hitting his 17th of the year and second in as many games against South Bend.

Right-hander Reed Moring made the start for Cedar Rapids, pitching 6.0 quality innings made even more impressive by the comebacker he wore in the bottom of the fourth. With one out in the inning, Moring took a line drive from right fielder Jose Escobar off the right thigh, still making the off-balance throw to first for the out. The Cubs would score against him in the fifth, though, as Lumpuy led off with a double and came around to score on second baseman Michael Hallquist’s sacrifice fly.

Whereas the eighth inning decided the earlier game, the sixth determined the nightcap. The Kernels scratched three runs across against righty reliever Adam Stone, as second baseman Quinn McDaniel and first baseman Miguel Briceno each collected an RBI single. Left fielder Kade Snell responded for South Bend with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning, going the opposite way to left for his seventh long ball of the season.

Right-hander Cole Peschl notched the save for Cedar Rapids in the bottom of the seventh, setting the Cubs down despite a two-out single from first baseman Michael Carico.

Ahead in the series 2-1, the Cubs will face the Kernels again at 7:05 PM on Friday, August 7. Right-hander Alfredo Romero is scheduled to pitch for South Bend against Cedar Rapids righty Merit Jones.