Pertuz and Caissie Power Cubs Past Loons in Opener 6-4

South Bend, IN – The South Bend Cubs play their best baseball at Four Winds Field. Prior to their six-game road trip against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last week, South Bend won 11 of 12 games at home, including a six-game sweep of the Peoria Chiefs. Tuesday night in Downtown South Bend was no different, as the Cubs defeated the Great Lakes Loons by a final of 6-4.

Improving their record to 24-16 on the season, the Cubs scored multiple runs in both their first and last trips to the plate in the game. The first inning is when Lance Rymel’s team set the tone. Hard throwing right-hander Daniel Palencia worked a scoreless initial frame on the mound, and the Cubs quickly got him some run support. Going against righty Emmet Sheehan, the scouting report on the Los Angeles Dodgers 2021 first-rounder was that he keeps control of the strike zone. He had not given up a run in his first two Midwest League starts.

Sheehan ran into trouble right away after walking Cole Roederer to begin the bottom of the 1st. He had Roederer down in the count 0-2, but Roederer came back to work the free pass. Yeison Santana also walked a batter later, then Yohendrick Pinango blooped a double up the left field line. That brought Roederer home, and the Cubs took their first lead.

They extended that advantage in the first courtesy of Jake Washer bringing his on-base streak to 16 games on a walk, a two-run double from Owen Caissie, and an RBI groundout by Jake Slaughter. Through all of that, the starter Sheehan was taken out of the game before the Slaughter at-bat, and he did not record an out. The first man out of the bullpen was right-hander Cole Percival, and the run he surrendered in the inning was charged to Sheehan.

In all, Sheehan gave up four earned runs. Luckily for him, the Loons would take him off the hook for the loss. Percival put a standstill to any Cubs momentum by working five scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

After Palencia departed for the Cubs with one unearned run given up, Riley Martin was the scheduled piggyback reliever. Martin allowed three runs, but got two of the biggest outs of the game when Great Lakes had the bases loaded. A 6-4-3 double play turned by Fabian Pertuz, Santana, and Washer ended the 4th inning and prevented the Loons from taking the lead.

As the game traveled to the mid and late innings tied at 4-4, the Cubs bullpen kept things quiet on the Loons side. Eduarniel Nunez earned his fifth win of the season with two no-hit and shutout frames. He also added two strikeouts.

The best defensive play of the game of the Cubs came courtesy of catcher Pablo Aliendo, who made a miraculous sliding play on a bunt popped up in foul ground by Edwin Mateo. Aliendo went crashing into the third base side dugout barricade and made the catch. He was down on the field in pain briefly, but got up and took his at-bat in the bottom of the 8th inning.

The Cubs then went back to work at the plate. A new man stepped on the mound for the Loons in righty Antonio Knowles. On the season, he had not given up a single earned run in nearly 15 innings. That didn’t stop the Cubs from getting to him.

The first batter of the inning was Jake Slaughter, who drew a lead-off walk. Jordan Nwogu also walked a batter later. With two men aboard, Pertuz delivered the dagger on a sharply lined double into the right-center field gap. Slaughter and Nwogu both easily scored to give the Cubs the 6-4 lead.

In the 9th, Hunter Bigge put away save number four on the season and the Cubs celebrated the win as the sun still had not fully gone down.

With the series opening win in their back pocket, South Bend will turn around quickly for game two on Wednesday morning at 11:05 AM. ‘Education Day’ from Four Winds Field will feature star lefty Jordan Wicks on the mound for the Cubs.