Cubs Baseball: Wilson’s Homer Can’t Get Cubs Over Bandits
DJ Wilson homered Thursday in a 5-3 South Bend Cubs loss to Quad Cities. (Photo by Emma Reese)
SOUTH BEND – The South Bend Cubs dropped their second consecutive game against the Midwest League’s Western Division-leading Quad Cities River Bandits 5-3 while being outhit 10-7.
Since returning home from a road trip in which they swept the Dayton Dragons in four games while scoring a total of 46 runs, the South Bend offense has only tallied five runs in their first two games of a six-game home stand of interleague play.
WHAT HAPPENED: Quad Cities took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on
RBI-triple that bounced out of the glove of D.J. Wilson who’s outstanding diving attempt nearly snatched the ball.
The Cubs came back in the bottom of the frame thanks to a River Bandits fielding error to allow Isaac Paredes to reach first, which was followed by Wilson’s two-run shot to put South Bend up 2-1.
Continuing in the top of the fifth, the River Bandits tied the game 2-2 after Cubs reliever, John Michael Knighton threw the ball away in a pickoff attempt to allow Ronnie Dawson to advance to second. Then, with two outs, Daz Cameron doubled to deep left-centerfield to tie the game.
Quad Cities offense stayed hot in the top of the sixth as Chas McCormick singled and Tyler Wolfe reached on a fielding error before Josh Rojas hit a three-run bomb to right field to give the Houston Astros Midwest League affiliate a 5-2 lead.
The Cubs added a run in the bottom of the eighth when Chris Pieters scored on a wild pitch, but they could not capitalize with runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game.
With the loss, the Cubs are now 48-42, which puts them in second place of the Eastern Division of the Midwest League overall. In order to make it into the playoffs, they must finish in one of the top two spots of the Eastern Division behind only the West Michigan Whitecaps and Dayton Dragons who have both already clinched their playoff birth in the first half of the season.
KNIGHTON STRUGGLES: Coming in to relieve for Tyson Miller starting in the top of the fifth inning, Knighton gave up four runs on six hits in two innings pitched. Similarly, in his last outing, the Jasper, Alabama native gave up three runs, all homers, over two innings pitched against the Dayton Dragons on July 10.
Overall, he is 2-1 with a 5.30 ERA in 13 appearances for South Bend this season. Yet, in six appearances for the Eugene Emeralds, he is 1-1 with a 0.96 ERA.
