South Bend’s Yeiler Peguero was 2-3 with a solo home run, RBI single and three runs scored. (Photo by Emma Reese)

SOUTH BEND – The Lake County Captains snapped the South Bend Cubs’ nine game winning streak, defeating the Cubs 9-6 Sunday afternoon at Four Winds Field. In the race for the Midwest League Second Half Eastern Division Wild Card slot, South Bend, the Class-A Affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, remains two games behind the Bowling Green Hot Rods, who lost 8-5 to the West Michigan Whitecaps.

South Bend’s efforts got off to a rocky start after starting pitcher Tyson Miller (L, 6-6) made an early exit. The first batter of the game, Lake County shortstop Luke Wakamatsu hit a hot ground ball up the middle which deflected off of Miller’s right foot, for a single. After throwing one pitch to the next batter, second baseman Alexis Pantoja, Miller came out of the game. Miller was replaced by reliever Bailey Clark. Pantoja singled to right field off of Clark, and advanced to second when South Bend right fielder Chris Pieters made a play on Wakamatsu, who was safe at third. The next batter, center fielder Connor Capel, scored Wakamatsu on a sacrifice fly to left. The scoring continued when designated hitter Logan Ice sent a two-run home run over the right field wall. The top of the first ended with Lake County up 3-0 when left fielder Jose Vicente was caught stealing after having been walked.

Lake County, the Class-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, added a run in the top of the third to extend their lead. Capel led off the inning with a walk. He then advanced to third when a pick off attempt from Clark went wild. Capel scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Ice. Due to the throwing error by Clark, Capel’s run was unearned. South Bend answered back in the bottom of the third. Second baseman Yeiler Peguero sent a deep fly ball into the left field seats to bring the score to 4-1.

Aided by defensive miscues, the Captains added four more runs in the top of the fourth, to extend their lead to 8-1. Right fielder Todd Isaacs led off with a single to left field. Isaacs was erased on the basepaths when Wakamatsu grounded into a fielder’s choice. Pantoja followed with a double to right, moving Wakamatsu to third. Up next, Capel singled to right and scored Wakamatsu. With Pantoja on the way to third on the hit, the right fielder’s throw sailed over the head of third baseman, Andruw Monasterio. Capel moved up to second on the throw, and Pantoja scored on the error. First baseman Emmanuel Tapia batted next. He sent a soft line drive to center field, which landed for a hit. However, the South Bend center fielder D.J. Wilson misplayed the ball, allowing Capel to score on the error, with the batter moving to second base. Ice followed with a hit to right that scored Tapia for the fourth run of the inning.

The Cubs added another run in the bottom of the fifth, to make the score 8-2. Peguero reached on a lead-off walk. He moved up to second on a line-drive single to center by Monasterio. Later, Wilson was walked to load the bases. Pieters followed with a line-drive single up the middle that deflected off the glove of Lake County pitcher, Juan Hillman (W, 7-9). With the ball just out of reach of the infielders, Peguero rushed home to score.

South Bend closed the gap to 8-5 in the sixth. Catcher Tyler Payne drew a walk from Hillman. Left fielder Luis Ayala got things going with a single to right field, moving Payne to second. Peguero followed up with a single to left that drove home Payne and pushed Ayala up a base. After Hillman was lifted for a relief pitcher, Cesar Ventura, Monasterio added to the total with a line-drive single to left field that plated Ayala and delivered Peguero around to third base. Ademan kept the action going with a sacrifice fly to center, which sent Peguero home. Up next, Wilson sent a line drive to right field which moved Monasterio to third, for the fourth hit of the inning. A Pieters fly ball out to left field ended the three run rally.

Lake County came back to add a run in the top of the seventh inning, sending their lead to 9-5. Third baseman Jorma Rodriguez led off the inning with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch by South Bend relief pitcher Tyler Peyton, and advanced to third on a Wakamatsu ground out. A Pantoja line drive hit Peyton in the chest and bounced away to allow Rodriguez to score, and Pantoja was safe at first with a single. Pantoja’s hit was the third time in the game that a batted ball hit a pitcher.

South Bend scored their last run in the bottom of the ninth. Wilson led off with a hard hit double off the top of the center field wall. Next, Pieters dropped a slow roller in the grass in front of home plate. The ball was fielded by catcher Jose Vicente, who threw Pieters out at first. While the play was being made at first, Wilson exploited the fact that the plate was unguarded and hustled all the way from second to score. The game ended in a 9-6 loss for South Bend when Upshaw hit a ball back to Lake County pitcher Henry Martinez, who was able to turn a double play.