Six-Run First Inning Leads Cubs to Second Consecutive 8-5 Win

On Wednesday night at Four Winds Field, the Beloit Sky Carp and South Bend Cubs repeated the series opener’s outcome. The Cubs won 8-5 again, moving into a 2-0 series lead by scoring six runs in a single inning for the second consecutive night. They improved to 6-11 overall and 6-2 at home, while the Sky Carp fell to 6-10 for the year and are now 1-9 in their last 10 games. South Bend now owns the best home record in the Midwest League West division.

Click here to view Wednesday night’s box score.

The Cubs opened the night by teeing off against No. 3 Miami Marlins prospect Noble Meyer, hanging seven runs on the right-hander in three innings. Center fielder Carter Trice kickstarted South Bend’s six-run first frame with an RBI double to left-center, extending his on-base and hit streaks to 12 and eight games, respectively. Second baseman Reivaj Garcia followed by striping a two-run double off the top of the right-field wall. The Cubs’ biggest blow later left the bat of catcher Ariel Armas, who ripped his first Four Winds Field home run 365 feet over the fence in left. The three-run missile from Armas, his second long ball of the season, gave the Cubs a 6-0 lead through one inning.

Inning number two brought more of the same hard contact for South Bend, beginning with a no-doubt home run by shortstop Cristian Hernandez. The leadoff laser beam traveled 423 feet to left, striking the bottom of the Tiki Hut. Hernandez now has two long balls for the season, and his Wednesday night blast gave South Bend a 7-0 lead through a pair of innings.

On the South Bend mound, right-hander Luis Rujano made the first Four Winds Field start of his career, turning in a near-perfect first three innings. The former 13th-rounder struck retired nine of the first 10 hitters he faced, walking just one and allowing no hits. However, he ran into trouble with a big lead in the third, as each of Beloit’s first three hitters in the inning reached. First baseman Brock Vradenburg doubled in a pair of runs after left fielder Fenwick Trimble walked with the bases loaded to get Beloit on the board.

With Beloit still threatening in a 7-3 game in the fourth, South Bend turned to right-hander Sam Thoresen out of the bullpen. Thoresen inherited two runners in scoring position with one out, facing the bottom two hitters in the Sky Carp order. He struck them both out and would go on the punch out five in total across 2.1 innings of one-run baseball.

In the bottom of the fourth, left fielder Ivan Brethowr rebuilt South Bend’s lead a bit. The 6-foot-6 seventh-rounder from last summer’s draft, who entered the night as the Midwest League’s on-base percentage leader, added on with a long home run. As the solo shot, Brethowr’s second of the season, landed on the berm in left-center field, South Bend moved into an 8-3 lead.

Beloit would scratch across two more runs over the final five innings, ultimately bringing the tying run up to bat during the top of the ninth. Right-hander Johzan Oquendo shut down the Sky Carp rally, though, closing out the ninth with a strikeout. Although he gave up an unearned run, Oquendo extended his season-opening streak without an earned run conceded to 10.1 innings. Before he pitched on Wednesday, left-hander Marino Santy and right-hander Yovanny Cabrera combined for 2.1 scoreless frames.

Trice and Armas led the Cubs offensively in game two of the series. The former posted doubles in back-to-back at-bats to start the game before working a walk in the fourth, while the latter tied his career high with three RBI and caught two base-stealers to boot.

With 80-degree temperatures expected in South Bend for the first time this season, the Cubs and Sky Carp will return to the field for game three at 7:05 PM on Thursday. It’ll be a marquee matchup on the mound featuring Marlins No. 25 prospect Karson Milbrandt for the Sky Carp and Cubs No. 10 prospect Jaxon Wiggins for South Bend.