SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Los Cabritos Maldichos de South Bend (13-12) ended Steven Echavarria’s night early and rolled to a 9-1 series-opening victory over the Lansing Lugnuts (11-17) on Tuesday evening at Four Winds Field.
Los Cabritos Maldichos, the South Bend Cubs’ Copa de la Diversión identity, translates to Cursed Goats, alluding to the Chicago Cubs’ Billy Goat Curse, infamously placed on the franchise in 1945 by William Sianis when he was banned from bringing his pet billy goat in to Game 4 of the World Series vs. the Detroit Tigers. It was broken 71 years later when the Cubs won the 2016 World Series.
No curse was broken on this night, but South Bend did halt a five-game losing streak. Kane Kepley tripled in the first and third innings to help build a 3-0 lead, and South Bend used five singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly to score five runs in the fourth inning and put the game out of reach.
Nuts starter Echavarria was tagged for seven hits, three walks and eight runs in three innings-plus, striking out one. Ryan Brown followed with three scoreless innings, and Gerlin Rosario tossed two innings, allowing a run on one hit and three walks.
The Lugnuts’ only run came in the fourth inning against reliever Adam Stone: Ali Camarillo led off with a single, moved to third on a Davis Diaz double, and scored on a Devin Taylor groundout.
Both Camarillo and Diaz finished 2-for-4 with a single and a double.
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Samuel Dutton** starts the second game of the six-game road series, taking on Cubs right-hander Koen Moreno at 11:05 a.m. Wednesday.
The Lugnuts play in South Bend through Sunday, May 10, returning home from May 12-17 to host the Quad Cities River Bandits. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.
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