Lopez’s Grand Slam Charges Fort Wayne Comeback to Beat Cubs 4-3
Fort Wayne, IN - Heading to the bottom of the 8th inning, the South Bend Cubs were resting comfortably against the Fort Wayne TinCaps with a 3-0 lead in their back pocket. South Bend needed just six more outs to finish off Fort Wayne and take a 3-3 series split
Fort Wayne, IN - Heading to the bottom of the 8th inning, the South Bend Cubs were resting comfortably against the Fort Wayne TinCaps with a 3-0 lead in their back pocket. South Bend needed just six more outs to finish off Fort Wayne and take a 3-3 series split in their first away action of the year. In a zipping rally, the TinCaps loaded the bases and Justin Lopez crushed a grand slam to lead them to a 4-3 victory.
Things started on Easter Sunday in the positive direction for the Cubs, as flame-throwing right-hander Daniel Palencia took the hill for his second start of the series. On Tuesday, Palencia walked four batters and lasted just 2.2 innings. But today, he made it through a full three frames and still walked four, but he did not give up a run. Palencia cruised and struck out five Fort Wayne hitters.
A scoreless game rolled on until the top of the 5th, as the Cubs were also unable to manage a run against TinCaps starter Noel Vela. Vela punched out five hitters and went 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball.
The Cubs immediately got to the first man out of the Fort Wayne pen, Seth Mayberry. In the top of the 5th, Mayberry dealt a lead-off walk to Bradlee Beesley, then Yohendrick Pinango singled. The next batter was Alexander Canario, who ripped a double down the left field line to score two runs. All of Canario’s five RBI on the season came in this away series.
South Bend then extended their lead to 3-0 as Beesley came across to score his second run of the game on an infield single by Fabian Pertuz.
Plenty of run support was given to right-hander Manuel Espinoza, who fired four innings of shutout relief after Palencia departed. Espinoza punched out four batters of his own.
With only two hits in the game, Bailey Reid entered out of the Cubs bullpen for the 8th. Reid walked the lead-off man in Robert Hassell III, then got Joshua Mears to ground into a fielder’s choice. Each of the next two hitters walked to load the bases, then Lopez hammered his grand slam over the right field wall.
In the 9th, Pinango singled off of righty Alek Jacob to begin the frame. But then Jacob shut the door by striking out the next two, and getting a groundout back to the mound to end the game.
With the loss, the Cubs are 3-6 heading into an off day tomorrow. South Bend will be in action next when they head home to Four Winds Field to face off against the Beloit Sky Carp on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM.