TinCaps Walk Off With Win Over Cubs
By MIKE MONACO
FORT WAYNE – After overcoming a three-run deficit in the eighth and a one-run margin in the ninth, Fort Wayne walked off in the 10th with a 7-6 win, handing South Bend its fourth consecutive loss Thursday night at Parkview Field.
Fort Wayne second baseman Felipe Blanco ripped a two-out walk-off double to reel in Trae Santos in the bottom of the tenth.
South Bend scored in four of the first six innings, snatched an early 5-2 lead and appeared set to coast to a skid-snapping victory. But Fort Wayne scored three in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game.
In the top of the ninth, Cubs second baseman Jason Vosler ripped a one-out double to right field. Three batters later with two outs, Cubs left fielder Charcer Burks drove in Vosler with an RBI single to right field, putting South Bend up 6-5. The TinCaps put runners at first and second in the bottom of the ninth against Cubs reliever Francisco Carrillo after a hit batsman and a South Bend error. Nick Torres singled to left field, but Burks gunned down Blanco at the plate to preserve the 6-5 lead. Fort Wayne did even the score, 6-6, though, on an RBI single to right field off the bat of Franmil Reyes.
The Cubs have lost their last three games by a combined five runs. Trey Martin (2-for-5), Cael Brockmeyer (2-for-4, two runs), Vosler (2-for-4) and Burks (3-for-4) spearheaded a 13-hit effort by the South Bend offense.
South Bend starting pitcher Jeremy Null worked efficiently in his second start of the season, scattering seven hits over six innings of two-run ball. The 6-foot-7 righty, who tossed five shutout innings Friday against Bowling Green, struck out six and didn’t issue a walk. Null (1-0, 1.64 ERA) hasn’t surrendered a free pass in 11 innings this season.
South Bend wasted little time surging ahead early. In the top of the second inning, third baseman Jesse Hodges jumped on a 2-0 pitch from TinCaps starter Taylor Cox and cracked a two-run home run down the left field — just inside the foul pole — to lift the Cubs ahead 2-0. The round-tripper was South Bend’s third of the season and the first since Cael Brockmeyer’s walk-off shot on Opening Night.
Fort Wayne nudged onto the board in the third inning after Null began the night with two perfect frames. With runners at second and third and two outs, TinCaps shortstop Franchy Cordero clocked an RBI single to left field to plate Nick Vilter and pull Fort Wayne within one, 2-1.
South Bend grabbed the run right back in the fourth when Vosler snuck an RBI single into right-center field, scoring Brockmeyer and extending the lead to 3-1. But Fort Wayne cultivated more two-out offense in the last of the fourth, and first baseman Duanel Jones drove in center fielder Edwin Moreno with an RBI single to left field to make it 3-2.
The Cubs loaded the bases to start the top of the fifth. With nobody out, shortstop Chesny Young lofted an RBI single to deep right field. David Bote scored from third to push South Bend ahead 4-2, but Burks was nabbed at the plate looking to score from second. Cox then induced an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play to halt the threat.
Hodges hauled in Brockmeyer from third and pushed the lead to 5-2 in the sixth with a fielder’s choice hit up the middle.
The TinCaps loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth after Cubs reliever James Norwood issued two free passes. Jones then smacked a bases-clearing double to tie the game, 5-5.
South Bend and Fort Wayne wrap up their three-game series Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET at Parkview Field. Cubs right-hander Erick Leal gets the ball opposite TinCaps righty Dinelson Lamet. Leal earned a no-decision Saturday against Bowling Green after allowing four runs (two earned) in five innings.