BELOIT—Sure, an 8-6 loss at the hands of the South Bend Cubs in extra innings of Sunday’s series finale was a bit of a downer for the Beloit Sky Carp, especially considering it was their first loss of the season at ABC Supply Stadium.
But, it was only one small dark cloud in what was otherwise an outstanding six-game series for the Sky Carp, a homestand that Beloit won 5-1. The Sky Carp have won seven of their first eight home games to kick off the season.
“We definitely played some all-around really good baseball this week,” second baseman Josh Zamora said. “We're looking to build off of it going into next week.”
South Bend (4-11) looked poised to finally get a win early on Sunday as starter Alex Williams struggled mightily. He allowed two walks and a single in the first inning but got out of it with back-to-back strikeouts.
He wasn’t so lucky in the second as Reivaj Garcia and Brian Kalmer brought runs home on groundouts, Brennen Davis hit a one-run single, Yohendrick Pinango smacked a two-run triple and a throwing error by Williams brought a runner home in a six-run frenzy.
With the 2022 11th-round pick’s outing ending after just three innings, where he allowed eight hits and two walks but struck out five, the bullpen came in needing to be perfect.
They nearly were with Anderson Pilar throwing three scoreless innings with six strikeouts and Ignacio Feliz punching out five in two frames as the duo allowed just three total hits.
“Anytime that you can run out to the field and go one-two-three and play behind the guy that pounds the zone and just works quickly is amazing,” Zamora said.
Dale Stanavich threw a spotless ninth inning to give Beloit’s offense a chance after the Sky Carp had steadily chipped away.
Torin Montgomery doubled in Brett Roberts, who had singled, in the fourth while Carlos Santiago blasted a solo homer to right before Johnny Olmstead smacked an RBI double to cut it to 6-3 in the sixth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Torin Montgomery singled in between a pair of strikeouts. Zamora, who is hitting .458 to start the year, hit an RBI single to center and, after Andrew Fernandez walked, Jorge Caballero brought the duo home and tied it up when he smacked a double into right field.
“This shows that we don't give up,” Zamora said. “We play pitch to pitch, and we're just out there trying to win pitches.”
Olmstead grounded out to end the rally, and a one-run double by Kalmer was followed by an RBI single from Parker Chavers off Stanavich to give the Cubs an 8-6 lead.
Roberts drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the 10th, but Montgomery struck out to end it.
Despite the setback, the Sky Carp blasted 12 hits as Yiddi Cappe, who is hitting .333, Montgomery, Zamora, Caballero and Olmstead all notched a pair of hits.
Beloit is hitting .253 as a team so far this season, good enough for second overall in the Midwest League.
“One through nine, even the bench guys, we got bats,” Zamora said. “You walk up and there's never a doubt that they could do something really fun.”
The Sky Carp, who are in third-place in the MWL, begin a six-game series in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
“Nothing changes and the work continues,” Zamora said. “That's all we have to do is keep our nose to the grindstone and keep winning pitches.”
• SATURDAY’S GAME: The Sky Carp drew a whopping 15 walks and scored all of their runs in the final four innings as they edged the Cubs in a slugfest 10-7.
Cameron Barstad smacked a solo homer in the eighth while Zamora finished 2-for-5. Cappe smacked a three-run triple in a four-run seventh inning.
Ike Buxton couldn’t even finish a full inning in his start as he got two outs while allowing four walks and an earned run. Five different relievers finished the afternoon for Beloit, and Holt Jones was the only one to throw a clean outing as he struck out a pair in two frames.
• FRIDAY’S GAME: Mark Coley II delivered the game-winning hit as his single into center field scored automatic runner Olmstead in a 10-inning 5-4 victory.
Joe Mack’s double had tied it at four in the eighth while Santiago hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Coley finished with three of the Sky Carp’s seven hits.
Karson Milbrandt was strong from the mound as he allowed just two earned runs on four hits and a walk while striking out six in six innings.
• SUNDAY’S BOXSCORE:
CUBS 8, SKY CARP 6
SB 060 000 000 2 — 8 13 2
Beloit 000 102 003 0 — 6 12 2
SOUTH BEND (ab-r-h-rbi) — Morel, 3b, 5-1-1-0, Davis, rf, 5-1-2-1, Rojas, dh, 5-1-2-0, Pinango, lf, 4-2-1-2, Kalmer, 1b, 5-1-1-2, Ramirez, 2b, 5-1-3-0, Hearn, c, 4-0-1-0, Garcia, ss, 5-1-1-1. Totals: 43-8-13-7.
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, cf, 6-0-0-0, Cappe, 3b, 6-0-2-0, Roberts, rf, 4-1-1-0, Montgomery, 1b, 5-1-2-1, Santiago, dh, 4-1-1-1, Zamroa, 2b, 4-2-2-1, Barstad, c, 1-0-0-0, Luttrell, ph, 1-0-0-0, Fernandez, c, 2-1-0-0, Caballero, lf, 5-0-2-2, Olmstead, ss, 5-0-2-1. Totals: 43-6-12-6.
E: Schlaffer, Pinango, Williams, Barstad. PB: Barstad. LOB: SB 9, Beloit 14. 2B: Kalmer, Montgomery, Cappe, Olmstead, Caballero. 3B: Pinango. HR: Santiago (2).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): SB, Schlaffer (3.2-3-1-1-1-5), Santana (2.2-5-2-2-2-3), Romero (1.2-1-0-0-1-4), Cabera (W,1-2,1.0-3-3-3-1-2), Nahas (S,1,1.0-0-0-0-1-1). Beloit, Williams (3.0-8-6-6-2-5), Pilar (3.0-2-0-0-0-6), Feliz (2.0-1-0-0-0-5), Stanavich (L,1-2,2.0-2-2-1-0-2).
WP: Schlaffer. HBP: Hearn (by Stanavich). T: 3:16. Att: 1,379.
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