Hartshorn Makes History, Cubs Upend Whitecaps 4-3
The South Bend Cubs (68-47) rallied to beat the West Michigan Whitecaps (55-62) by a 4-3 score on Saturday night at Four Winds Field. To start the comeback effort, top Cubs prospect Josiah Hartshorn belted his 20th home run of the year, becoming the first teenage Chicago Cubs prospect to
The South Bend Cubs (68-47) rallied to beat the West Michigan Whitecaps (55-62) by a 4-3 score on Saturday night at Four Winds Field. To start the comeback effort, top Cubs prospect Josiah Hartshorn belted his 20th home run of the year, becoming the first teenage Chicago Cubs prospect to have a 20-homer campaign in the 21st century.
Click here to view Saturday’s box score.
Both Saturday starting pitchers were terrific, as South Bend left-hander Pierce Coppola dueled with West Michigan righty Connor Fenlong. Coppola set a new South Bend career high with seven strikeouts in 5.0 hitless innings, allowing just two baserunners in total. In four appearances at Four Winds Field, Coppola has now allowed just one earned run across 17.0 innings.
With Fenlong hanging zeroes on the other side, West Michigan broke the scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning. Each of the inning’s first two Whitecaps reached against righty reliever Nate Williams, bringing up designated hitter Bryce Rainer. The No. 3 Detroit Tigers prospect took full advantage of the opportunity, hammering a curveball out of sight in right field. The three-run home run, Rainer’s 16th High-A long ball this year, gave West Michigan a 3-0 lead.
The Cubs answered in the bottom of the sixth, but not before Fenlong retired 16 consecutive South Bend hitters. The streak started when the Cubs had two runners on base to start the game and Fenlong struck out three in a row to end the first inning. Fenlong would finish his night with 5.2 innings of two-run work, striking out seven.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Cubs hit a pair of skyscraping home runs to pull back within a 3-2 margin. First, Hartshorn launched a solo home run to right field, tying the South Bend Cubs single-season record with his 15th High-A long ball of the year. Two batters later, shortstop Angel Cepeda lofted a solo shot to left, rounding the bases on his sixth Midwest League four-bagger of the year.
Facing the Whitecaps bullpen, the Cubs grabbed two more runs in the eighth to take the lead. Catcher Logan Poteet led off with a double, and Hartshorn tied the game with a single to right for his third hit of the night and 99th RBI of the season. Then, with runners on the corners and one out, Cepeda bounced a ball that could have been an inning-ending double play. However, West Michigan shortstop Juan Hernandez let the ball short-hop him, leading to a go-ahead single for Cepeda.
After West Michigan’s three-run sixth inning, South Bend’s bullpen did well to steady itself and secure the win. Williams struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning, and fellow righty Yoendris Gonzalez wrapped up the game with zeroes in the eighth and the ninth. Striking out three in his pair of frames, Gonzalez stretched his scoreless streak to five outings and earned his first High-A win.
The Cubs will go for the series win against the Whitecaps at 2:05 PM on Saturday, August 23. Right-hander Anhuar Garcia is scheduled to start for South Bend, while West Michigan has not yet announced its starter.