By Mike Monaco

SOUTH BEND – South Bend right-hander Jake Stinnett continued his strong stretch of starts with seven one-run innings, and Gioskar Amaya drove in four runs, as the Cubs downed Great Lakes, 10-3, in Friday’s middle game at Four Winds Field.

South Bend (30-30 second half, 59-68 overall) evened the series with the Loons (25-34 second half, 63-64 overall) at a game apiece ahead of Saturday’s rubber game.

“I’m happy for everybody, everybody working hard every day,” Amaya said.

Stinnett allowed the lone run on six hits and just one walk over seven frames. Stinnett, Chicago’s second-round pick in 2014, fanned three. In his last six starts, Stinnett has struck out 33 and walked just six.

The Cubs began the night seven games behind West Michigan for second place—and a wild-card spot—in the Midwest League’s Eastern Division.

Cubs right fielder Jeffrey Baez (4-for-5, three runs, three singles, three-run home run) recorded another multi-hit night. Baez’s average had dropped to .176 on July 9. Since then, he’s hit in 34 of 41 games with 24 multi-hit efforts, raising his average to .285. Amaya drove in four runs with three hits of his own.

“I just tried to put the ball in play, tried to help my team in different situations,” Amaya said. “I just made adjustments trying to hit the ball to the middle and trying to hit the good pitches.”

With runners at the corners and nobody out in the top of the first, Stinnett fired a wild pitch to the backstop, and Loons leadoff man Michael Ahmed scored to make it 1-0.

The Cubs knotted the score, 1-1, in the home first when Baez scored after a fielder’s choice and a Great Lakes error.

South Bend snatched the lead, 2-1, in the third when designated hitter Charcer Burks knocked a sacrifice fly to center to plate shortstop Bryant Flete, who began the inning with a double down the left-field line.

Amaya cracked a solo home run to left field in the home sixth to extend South Bend’s lead to 3-1.

Then with the bases loaded in the seventh, Amaya blasted a three-run, two-out double to the left-center wall to push the margin to 6-1. Two batters later, left fielder Kevin Encarnacion slapped an RBI single to right field to make it 7-1.

The Loons got a run back in the eighth when center fielder Logan Landon lashed a solo shot to left field to start the inning. Later, with the bases loaded, Cubs center fielder Rashad Crawford made a leaping catch near the fence in left center to maintain the five-run advantage.
In the bottom of the eighth, Baez clubbed a three-run home run to left field, widening the gap to 10-2.

Great Lakes loaded the bases in the ninth, and second baseman Jimmy Allen punched a sacrifice fly to center.

South Bend and Great Lakes wrap up their three-game series Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET at Four Winds Field. Cubs right-hander Zach Hedges (3.73 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Loons lefty Michael Boyle (4.32 ERA).