The South Bend Cubs post-All-Star Break nine-game homestand carries on this week following a weekend series victory over the Peoria Chiefs! South Bend is set to welcome the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to Four Winds Field for the first time this year, with the last series played between these two being one of the best all season. This week can also act as a potential Midwest League playoff preview, as the Timber Rattlers up until Sunday held the first-place spot in the second-half West Division standings.
The reason why Wisconsin dropped out of first place? They were no-hit on Sunday at home by the Quad Cities River Bandits. QC hammered Wisconsin to end the weekend by a final of 11-0, with the no-hitter being thrown in combined fashion by Kendry Chourio and Emmanuel Reyes. Up until yesterday, Wisconsin had held the first place spot for the second-half pretty much since we crossed the midway point of the season in June. And with that, it has certainly been a while since South Bend has seen Wisconsin in person. You have to go all the way back to May, in what was one of the best offensive series in South Bend Cubs history.
Let’s take you back to the middle of May. South Bend had just left on the first of their two 12-game road trips that they have played this season. With stops against Wisconsin and then the defending MWL champion West Michigan Whitecaps, we knew that whatever would happen during those two weeks would probably help define what the Cubs were going to do in the first-half. Obviously, thing turned out pretty good for the Cubs, who are heading to the postseason.
But it wasn’t just how the Cubs played that week in Appleton, it was how they truly dominated. The two teams played just five games that week, due to Sunday’s game being cancelled in that series. Even so, the Cubs took four of five games, and twice scored 20 or more runs in the series. South Bend plated 25 runs on May 14 and 24 on May 16. And by the way, the other two Cubs victories featured games where they scored 10 runs and nine runs respectively. It was incredible. South Bend as a unit though was outstanding. The Cubs threw the ball well that week, played spectacular defense, and annihilated Wisconsin pitching with their bats.
You would imagine the ‘Rattlers still have that sour taste in their mouths and want to deliver some revenge this week. But now the pressure is going to be on for Wisconsin. This is a massive series coming up for them. Now that they dropped out of first place, the Beloit Sky Carp lead the West Division second-half standings by a half-game over both Quad Cities and Wisconsin. The Cubs, who are in the postseason, are only 3.0 games back of first place as they try to go win both halves. If that happens, the second place team in the division would then get the playoff spot.
This goes without saying, but South Bend wants to keep playing quality baseball down the stretch. They did exactly that this weekend against Peoria, taking two of three games after dropping the opener on Friday. Both the South Bend Cubs and the Chicago Cubs followed similar scripts this weekend. They each lost Friday and won on both Saturday and Sunday. Pretty similar games too. Neither club looked very good on Friday, then both had big rebound wins on Saturday, before each cruised to victories on Sunday.
And as mentioned, Wisconsin still has plenty of firepower on their roster. Although former Milwaukee Brewers first-round pick Andrew Fischer has moved on to Double-A, as well as slugger and former Lake Central High School star Josh Adamczewski doing the same, Wisconsin has plenty of guys in their lineup that can hurt you. Another former first-rounder Braylon Payne is as good of a top of the order guy as there is in this league. It will be fun to watch him and Kane Kepley go at it for who is the better lead-off guy again. Luis Peña is one of Milwaukee’s top prospects in the middle infield, and we saw him last September here at Four Winds Field with Jesus Made. Made has since moved on to Double-A, but Peña continues to play well with a .304 average. From a power standpoint, Marco Dinges and Eric Bitonti have swung it well all season for the ‘Rattlers. We saw plenty of Dinges last year in Downtown South Bend as well.
The big question of the week is can Wisconsin throw the ball better than they did against the Cubs the first time, and can they rally back from a tough series against Quad Cities? It was all River Bandits on Sunday in that no-hitter. So we will definitely see what kind of resiliency that the Timber Rattlers can put together.
It is currently a log jam right now atop those second-half standings in the West. The Cubs can rest knowing they are in the postseason, but South Bend controls its own destiny here. Which is something that is a privilege, and the Cubs will look to follow up a great weekend with an even better week.
Players to watch on South Bend…
Michael Hallquist, INF: There is something about new South Bend Cubs infielder Michael Hallquist and debut games. In his Chicago Cubs organization debut earlier in July at Beloit, he homered in his first MiLB at-bat. Three years of independent baseball led Hallquist to that point. He followed that up with launching a home run in his Four Winds Field debut as well this weekend. When a guy comes in from indy ball, and they get their first taste of Four Winds Field and what it is like to be a South Bend Cub, it always puts a smile on your face when they express how thankful and grateful they are just to have a chance to play at a place like this. Hallquist made that more than known this weekend, relishing the chance to get to call this clubhouse home and to play in front of the crowds that he does. Hallquist appeared on Monday night’s Cubbie Corner episode with Brendan King and Tyler Reidy on WSBT Radio and discussed the feeling about being underwater with everything that has thrown at him through his first three weeks in the Cubs organization, but all of it is a good thing. When you come from indy ball, you just don’t have the same amenities available to you that you do when you are a Cubs prospect. Plain and simple. From technology, to food, to the ballpark itself, living situations, whatever. Hallquist is admirably walking into each day with appreciation for what he has, and it has been a thrill to watch this guy do his thing back in the state of Indiana, where he shined with the Ball State Cardinals for one season in his collegiate career.
Logan Poteet, C: We have talked plenty this season about the depth of the Cubs lineup. The season started with key role players like Drew Bowser, Reggie Preciado, Miguel Useche and others towards the bottom of the Cubs order. As anticipated with promotions, injuries, and trades, new names have worked into the fold with the usual suspects of the South Bend lineup to continue to make this starting nine one of the most dangerous in all of the Midwest League. On Saturday night, Logan Poteet hit ninth in the Cubs order. Not because of anything he did wrong, but that’s how deep this lineup is. Poteet hit 14 home runs to begin the season at Low-A Myrtle Beach, and pretty much every night for the Pelicans was hitting third or fourth. Poteet being a bottom of the order guy in South Bend is such a threat to any pitcher, because typically the bottom of the order, guys are going to see more fastballs. Poteet absolutely hunts fastballs. And if a guy makes a mistake and leaves one over the heart of the zone, it’s going to get pounded. On the final day of the regular season last year, Poteet hammered his first professional home run against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, and also caught the majestic end of season start from Kenten Egbert that nearly resulted in a complete game shutout. Poteet arriving back in South Bend pairs him in a fantastic catching core with Justin Stransky and Dilan Granadillo, and gives the Cubs a serious 1-2 punch at the DH spot daily, knowing you can put Poteet there for a righty with power, and Michael Carico there when a lefty is needed in the lineup. Poteet being back in town is a big deal, and it’s going to just continue to make this lineup one through nine insanely productive.
Alfredo Romero, RHP: Alfredo Romero is starting to put together quite the month of July in the South Bend Cubs rotation. He has continuously shuffled between the rotation and the bullpen this year, but even though his role has not been constant, his ability to fool hitters has. The 23-year-old did give up four runs over 4.2 innings before the All-Star Break at Cedar Rapids, but much of that line did not tell the tale of how good he was in that game. He showed it even more so and put up the solid numbers on Saturday night, going four strong scoreless innings with just one walk and four strikeouts. Romero has exactly four K’s in all three of his July outings. But the low walk numbers are really what is most important. Romero has walked just one man in five straight outings. Which is huge. Romero multiple times this season has walked five in a game. And it’s tough when he was working through those command issues, because his stuff was so good. Batters on the season are hitting just .192 against Romero. There is maybe one or two examples this season of Romero getting hit hard, besides that, anytime he has gotten into trouble was because of the walks. Not the case over the last month’s time. He’s once again looking like that guy that spun together four shutout innings in his Midwest League debut on a cold night in April against Peoria. Now that Kevin Valdez has gone to Double-A Knoxville, you would imagine Romero is going to get the shot to start more consistently down the stretch here. If so, he’s got a great opportunity to be a starting pitcher for the first-round of the postseason if this pace keeps up.
Schedule…
Tuesday, July 21 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Jostin Florentino vs RHP Ethan Dorchies
Wednesday, July 22 - 12:05 PM ET: TBA vs LHP Wande Torres
Thursday, July 23 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Mason McGwire vs TBA
Friday, July 24 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Alfredo Romero vs RHP Jayden Dubanewicz
Saturday, July 25 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Kohl Franklin vs RHP Josh Knoth
Sunday, July 26 - 2:05 PM ET: LHP Pierce Coppola vs RHP Ethan Dorchies
Catch the entire six-game series in South Bend on 96.1 FM and 960 AM Sports Radio WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Brendan King and Tyler Reidy on the call.