The South Bend Cubs (55-36) snapped their six-game win streak against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (49-41) on Saturday night at Four Winds Field, dropping a 6-4 result. Wisconsin outhit the Cubs 12-5, overcoming deficits of 3-1 and 4-3 during the final three innings.
Click here to view Saturday’s box score.
Right-hander Kohl Franklin continued his rehab assignment as the Cubs’ starting pitcher, providing 4.1 innings for the second consecutive outing. Wisconsin put pressure on him early, scoring on a quartet of singles in the first inning. Right fielder Luis Castillo delivered the fourth single, going to left to drive in the game’s first run. Franklin allowed only one hit after the first inning, departing with the lead in the top of the fifth.
No. 11 Brewers prospect Josh Knoth made the start for Wisconsin, walking five across his 4.0 innings and allowing the Cubs to take the lead. In both of South Bend’s early scoring innings, third baseman Matt Halbach started the rally with one out. In the second, he singled ahead of catcher Logan Poteet’s double, setting up a two-run single up the middle from first baseman Michael Carico. In the fourth, Halbach took the first of four consecutive walks, Carico’s being the last to produce the Cubs’ third run of the night.
After righty reliever Grayson Moore relieved Franklin with 1.2 perfect innings, right-hander Eli Jerzembeck allowed Wisconsin to tie the game in the seventh. Catcher Blayberg Diaz singled to pull the Timber Rattlers within a run, and second baseman Daniel Dickinson walked with the bases loaded to tie the game. Right-hander Ethan Bell to record the third out with the bags still packed, preserving the 3-3 score.
Following the seventh-inning stretch, center fielder Kane Kepley manufactured a run to give South Bend another lead. After working a leadoff walk, the No. 5 Cubs prospect took both second and the plate on wild pitches, creating a 4-3 lead.
Wisconsin quickly erased that deficit in the eighth, as right fielder Luis Castillo whacked a leadoff triple and scored on a wild pitch. Diaz later recorded another key hit, driving in the go-ahead run with a single. The Timber Rattlers would add an insurance run against right-hander Jose Romero, going up 6-4 on Castillo’s RBI double.
All the while, Wisconsin’s bullpen stepped up to snap a seven-game losing streak, totaling 5.0 innings with one hit allowed. Right-hander Garrett Hodges finished the deal with 2.0 perfect innings, notching his second save of the year.
South Bend will try for a 5-1 series win against Wisconsin at 2:05 PM on Sunday, July 26. Cubs left-hander Pierce Coppola is scheduled to make his first Four Winds Field start against Wisconsin righty Ethan Dorchies.