By MIKE MONACO

FORT WAYNE – After back-to-back nights of plentiful and on-demand offense, the South Bend bats fell silent in a 5-1 loss to Fort Wayne in Friday’s series opener at Parkview Field.

The Cubs (7-9) cranked out 26 runs and 32 hits in their previous two games — a pair of wins over Lake County at Four Winds Field — but managed just four hits against the TinCaps (5-8). South Bend entered the night leading the Midwest League in batting average (.278), runs (85) and hits (147).

South Bend starting pitcher Zach Hedges (1-1, 3.00 ERA) allowed three runs on seven hits and no walks in five innings. In their previous eight starts, Cubs starters had posted a 0.63 ERA (just three earned runs in 42.2 innings).

In the top of the first inning, Cubs second baseman Chesny Young extended his hitting streak to nine games with a double down the right-field line. After swiping third base — his team-leading seventh steal of the season — Young scored on Gioskar Amaya’s infield single to third base. South Bend has scored first in 14 of its 16 games this season.

The TinCaps bounced right back, however, with a run in the home half of the first and another in the second to climb ahead 2-1. Fort Wayne’s run in the first snapped a stretch of 32 innings pitched by the South Bend starters without allowing an earned run. The TinCaps added another run in the fourth off an RBI single by third baseman Duanel Jones. In total, Fort Wayne cracked five extra-base hits (three doubles, two triples) off of Hedges.

South Bend righty James Norwood worked scoreless sixth and seventh innings, but the TinCaps grabbed an insurance run on a Cubs error in the eighth, extending the margin to 4-1. Fort Wayne first baseman Trae Santos then ripped a run-scoring single to center field off South Bend righty James Farris.

After the first inning, South Bend only mustered six base-runners — walks in the second, third and ninth, a double in the fifth, a hit batter in the sixth and a single in the ninth.

Fort Wayne starter Thomas Dorminy struck out six in five innings. Reliever Seth Lucio followed with three strikeouts in two hitless innings, and T.J. Weir (eighth inning) and Bryan Verbitsky (ninth) finished the well-pitched victory.

South Bend and Fort Wayne square off in the middle game Saturday at 5:05 p.m. ET at Parkview Field. Cubs right-hander Trevor Clifton (0-1, 4.05 ERA) will oppose TinCaps righty Ernesto Montas (2-0, 0.82 ERA).