Cubs Lose 7-6 to TinCaps After Leading 6-0

W: Sam Keating (1-4, 10.13 ERA)

L: Tanner Jesson-Dalton (1-1, 9.35 ERA)

SV: Jose Geraldo (2)

BOX SCORE

It was a tough, self-inflicted defeat for the South Bend Cubs (18-24) on Tuesday night against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (19-23).

Matteo Bocchi (4 IP, H, 0 R, 8 K, 2 BB) came out firing for South Bend in his second pro start and first at Four Winds Field. For the second straight outing he went out and threw four scoreless frames while allowing just one base hit. On this occasion the right-hander also struck out a career-high eight batters, including six strikeouts the first time through the order.

And the Cubs provided the Italian plenty of run support.

Bradlee Beesley (2-5, RBI, R, SB) led things off in the third inning by legging out an infield single. Then with one out Nelson Velazquez was hit by a pitch and a double steal set up two runners in scoring position for Jake Slaughter (1-4, 2 RBI, SB, R). The third baseman delivered a two-RBI single to put the Cubs on the board first. Jacob Olson flew out to right but then the floodgates opened for the South Bend offense.

The Cubs next five batters all singled.

Jake Washer picked up an RBI-single to right to make it 3-0. Josue Huma singled two pitches later and then stole second to once again put two runners in scoring position. Edmond Americaan followed three pitches later with another two-RBI single, this one into shallow right-center.

Delvin Zinn (2-4, 2 SB) stepped up next and ripped his second single of the game. One pitch later Beesley singled for the second time in the inning, this time driving in Americaan to make it 6-0 South Bend.

Tyler Suellentrop came in for South Bend on the mound in the fifth inning, his first appearance in high-a since being called up yesterday. The right-hander didn’t make it out of the inning, facing seven batters and walking five of them. With the score 6-2, Samuel Reyes was the next man out of the Cubs bullpen. He came in and allowed a pair of singles; a two-RBI single to Kelvin Melean and an RBI single from Justin Lopez.

All of a sudden the lead was down to 6-5.

And from the last batter of the third inning until the start of the ninth, South Bend sent up 16 batters to the plate and they were all retired.

Fort Wayne tied things up on a Jonny Homza single to center in the sixth that scored Jawuan Harris. The TinCaps took the lead on another Homza single, this one coming in the eighth.

Zinn stepped up to bat to lead things off in the bottom of the ninth with the Cubs trailing 7-6. He reached via a walk and stole second with still nobody out. But the next three batters were retired, ending with Velazquez sliding headfirst into first base trying to beat out a grounder to first base to end the ballgame.

Tuesday night’s loss was the sixth loss in a row for South Bend, tying a season high.

Next up: Max Bain takes the mound for the Cubs in game two of this series vs. Gabe Mosser of Fort Wayne. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm ET at Four Winds Field.