Cubs Baseball: Hot Rods Speed Past Cubs
South Bend’s Tyler Payne hustles to first in Tuesday night’s game against Bowling Green. (Photo by Emma Reese)
SOUTH BEND – Emilio Gustave bounced a single through a drawn in infield in the top of the ninth to break a 3-3 tie as the Bowling Green Hot Rods defeated the South Bend Cubs 4-3 in front of a crowd of 4,831 on Tuesday night at Four Winds Field.
Reimin Ramos (W, 3-2) tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win for the Hot Rods.
Bowling Green (23-15, 54-51) got on the board right away in the top of the first inning. Centerfielder Josh Lowe singled to center with one out. Leftfielder Garrett Whitley followed with a line drive right at the third baseman that was misplayed for an error, allowing Lowe to advance to third. After Whitley stole second, Lowe scored on catcher Jonah Heim’s groundout to first for a 1-0 lead.
South Bend (15-23, 54-53) struck right back in the bottom half of the first. Third baseman Andruw Monasterio led off with a single to left that was bobbled by the Hot Rods outfielder, allowing Monasterio to reach second. With one out, Monasterio stole third base and then scored on centerfielder D.J. Wilson’s infield single down the third base line, tying the game at 1-1.
Bowling Green broke the tie in the 6th inning after both starting pitchers had kept the teams off the scoreboard after the first. With one out, Heim singled up the middle and advanced to second when designated hitter Ryan Tenerowicz singled through the left side. After a strikeout, third baseman Jim Haley ripped a double down the left field line that scored both runners and gave the Hot Rods a 3-2 lead.
The Cubs fought back with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning and another one in the bottom of the seventh. Wilson led off the sixth inning with a triple high off of the right-center field wall. With one out, first baseman Austin Upshaw plated Wilson with a groundout to first that cut the Hot Rods lead to 3-2. South Bend tied the game up in the bottom of the seventh inning off Hot Rods reliever Jayson McKinley. With one out, catcher Tyler Payne launched a 1-2 pitch over the left field wall for a solo homer and a 3-3 tie.
Bowling Green scored the winning run in the top of the 9th with some help from an errant throw by pitcher Jhon Romero (L, 1-1). First baseman Bobby Melley led off with a grounder back to Romero but his throw was wide of first and Melley ended up at second base. Haley then hit a deep fly ball to center and Melley tagged and just beat the tag at third. Gustave’s single to center then scored Melley for the winning run.
