Cubs Baseball: Oddity Turns Away Cubs
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South Bend’s Chris Pieters had a solid offensive night, reaching base five times. (Photo by Emma Reese)
SOUTH BEND – The Lake County Captains beat the South Bend Cubs 5-3 for the second night in a row thanks to four home runs and a questionable overturned call in the top of the ninth inning. The Cubs have now lost four straight games for their longest losing streak of the season.
After being eliminated from the Midwest League’s first half playoff picture with last night’s defeat, the Cubs looked to get back in the win column in Game 2, but a late overturned call reversed the momentum and, potentially, the outcome of the game. Overall, South Bend played one of their cleanest defensive games all season, but could not capitalize with runners in scoring position.
In 10 innings of play, they went 2-9 in scoring opportunities. Similarly, a pair of South Bend base runners were caught stealing while two more committed untimely mistakes to give the Captains four outs on the base paths.
WHAT HAPPENED: The South Bend offense turned the page from the night before and got off to a fresh start in the second inning of Saturday night’s ballgame.
Ignited Chris Pieters’ leadoff triple, Adonis Paula got the Cubs on the board by following with a RBI-double and later scored on Roberto Caro’s RBI-single giving the Cubs a 2-0 lead after two innings.
Two frames later, Junior Soto single handedly cut the lead in half with a moonshot home run that cleared the batters eye in centerfield and was estimated as traveling 452′ with an exit velocity of 107 mph.
South Bend’s resilient offense came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Luis Ayala’s RBI-double. Coming as no surprise to the Cubs dugout, Ayala is now hitting .375 with two doubles and two triples with 10 RBIs while there are two outs with runners in scoring position.
Soto later willed the Captains within one run again in the top of the sixth with his second home run of the night.
In the top of the ninth inning with the Cubs leading 3-2, Soto hit a leadoff triple that appeared to bounce off the metal fence that sits atop the padded wall in left field, but after the umpires talked it over, the triple was overturned and ruled as Soto’s third long-ball of the night.
South Bend Cubs Team Manager Jimmy Gonzalez then immediately emerged from the dugout to dispute the overturned call, saying that the ball must clear the fence to be a home run, but the umpires did not budge on their decision.
Gonzalez was eventually ejected and the game went into extra innings tied 3-3.
Then, in the top of the 10th inning, Logan Ice hit a two-run shot, Lake Counties fourth homer of the game, to give the Captains a 5-3 lead that the Cubs could not overcome.
FOUR WINDS FIELD GROUND RULES: As stated in the official Four Winds Field Ground Rules, “Any batted ball that clears the metal railing above the wall is a home run with the exception of the left and right field exposed concrete walls, next to each foul pole. A ball is considered a home run in those areas if the batted ball clears the top of either concrete wall. If a ball becomes lodged between or under padding, it is dead.”
Since Minor League Baseball does not allow instant replay, the play was not reviewable.
CHRIS PIETER”S BIG NIGHT: Pieters produced his best night at the plate since returning from a month long stint on the disabled list. As the cleanup hitter, Pieters went 3-3 with two walks and one run scored.
Before Wladimir Galindo went to the disabled list on June 11 with a leg injury, Pieters often fluctuated between the fifth and seventh spots in the lineup, but now that Galindo is out, Pieters may be the middle of the lineup piece South Bend is looking to fill.