Early lead flies away against Loons in series opener

South Bend, IN: After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead over the Great Lakes Loons, the South Bend Cubs could not hold on Saturday night at Four Winds Field and fell to the feisty Great Lakes squad by a final of 4-3. 

The Cubs have now lost four games in a row, including the quick two game series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps. Saturday night featured another close one run game that South Bend was unable to come back in. 
Thanks to an Austin Filiere double off the right center field wall in the first frame, the Cubs scored the game's first run when Miguel Amaya crossed the plate on Filiere's 20^th double of the season. At the end of three innings, the Cubs possessed the 3-1 lead. 
That's when Great Lakes took control. Drew Avans smashed his second home run of the year high over the right field wall against Cubs reliever Maikel Aguiar to tie it at 3-3. Aguiar came in relief of the starter Ryan Williams, who worked five innings of three run baseball with two strikeouts. 
The game deciding run for the Loons also came against Aguiar, who took his first professional loss in the game. With the bases loaded, Avans brought in his second RBI of the game on a sac fly scoring Josh McLain. Great Lakes had come all the way back to take their first lead of the game 4-3. 
The best chance for South Bend to get back in the game came in the bottom of the 8^th. After loading the bases because of Christian Donahue singling, Amaya reaching on an error, and Delvin Zinn being hit by a pitch, Rafael Narea struck out with the bases juiced and the Cubs left them loaded. 
With the loss, the Cubs see their record fall to 56-67 on the year. Tomorrow afternoon, Chicago Cubs star pitcher Yu Darvish is expected to take the hill in his second rehab start at Four Winds Field. First pitch is set for 2:05 PM. Tickets are available at SouthBendCubs.com