Ruoff Mortgage Homestand Preview: August 5-10
MWL South Bend Cubs

Ruoff Mortgage Homestand Preview: August 5-10

Published on August 4, 2025 under Midwest League (MWL)
South Bend Cubs News Release


The South Bend Cubs' longest homestand continues with another six games this week against the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. It'll be the third time this season that the Cubs and TinCaps meet up for the Midwest League's Hoosier State rivalry. South Bend leads the season series 7-5 and won't face another East division club after this week.

Zeroing in on the second-half West division standings, the Cubs currently sit three games back of both Quad Cities, whom they just split a series with, and Beloit, the team they'll visit next week. Fort Wayne has more ground to make up, currently sitting six games back of West Michigan in the East division with 30 games to play. The TinCaps will have to find some new sources of offense, though, as they just had No. 3 MLB prospect Leo De Vries and 11-home run hitter Brandon Butterworth traded by the Padres at the deadline.

Cubs and 'Caps: After Fort Wayne won last year's 18-game season series with 11 wins, the Cubs are in the driver's seat to return the favor here in 2025. Fort Wayne got the better of South Bend at Four Winds Field in early May, going 4-2 behind a couple of first-inning explosions. The two Cubs wins were memorable ones on the mound, featuring a seven-inning masterclass from top organizational pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins and six hitless frames from the recently traded Ryan Gallagher.

When the rivalry shifted to Parkview Field in Fort Wayne during the middle of June, the Cubs played some of their best baseball. Benefiting from the advanced bats of rehabbers Felix Stevens and James Triantos, the Cubs won the week's first five games before dropping the series finale. South Bend stole a wild series opener on June 10, overcoming a 9-6 deficit with two home runs in the ninth inning to win 11-9. Over the next four games, they'd outscore the TinCaps 22-2, going on a dominant pitching run.

Premier Pitching: It wouldn't be shocking if the Cubs limit the TinCaps to two runs across four games once again this week. Since July 3, South Bend has the lowest team earned run average in all of affiliated baseball at 2.20. The Cubs' bullpen has posted even more preposterous numbers during that same stretch, recording an ERA of 1.24 (the next best MiLB relief group has an ERA of 1.88 since July 3). South Bend also enters the Fort Wayne series without an earned run allowed in 22 innings, the longest such active streak in all of Minor League Baseball.

What's interesting is that the Cubs have wasted most of their remarkable pitching when they've played at home. Over their last 11 games at Four Winds Field, the Cubs have allowed only 2.27 runs per game, giving up no more than five runs in a single contest. In those same 11 games, their offense has averaged even fewer runs per game at 1.91, leading to a team record of 4-7.

The Cubs have some momentum to work with, though, as they just won back-to-back weekend games to earn a series split with division-leading Quad Cities. On Sunday, they battled back from a three-error sixth inning in which they gave up the lead, scoring five runs in the eighth inning to walk away with a 6-2 victory. With only 18 home games remaining, they're still searching for their first series win at Four Winds Field since early April.

South Bend's players to watch...

Evan Aschenbeck, LHP: Three Midwest League weekly awards have ended up in the paws of Cubs as a result of matchups against Fort Wayne this year. In early May, former South Bend infielder Jefferson Rojas and former Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Gallagher respectively captured the league's Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week honors. From the June series came another Pitcher of the Week performance, as Evan Aschenbeck totaled seven innings of one-hit baseball on June 12 at Parkview Field. More recently, he pitched very well on Saturday against Quad Cities, turning in 5.1 scoreless innings to lower his season ERA with South Bend to 2.75. Factoring in his early-season work with Myrtle Beach, Aschenbeck has the best ERA among all 80-inning pitchers in the Chicago Cubs organization at 2.29.

Brian Kalmer, 1B: South Bend scored 16 total runs in this past week's series. Brian Kalmer drove in six of them, totaling four extra-base hits in his three starts. He put two of the Cubs' three wins on ice with key eighth-inning hits, ripping a three-run double off the top of the wall on Thursday and mashing his first Four Winds Field home run of the season on Sunday. Given the recent promotions of Andy Garriola and Jefferson Rojas and the trade of Ivan Brethowr, Kalmer has received opportunities to hit higher in the lineup over the past few weeks. He's taken full advantage, hitting better than .260 with an OPS north of .800 in 28 games since June 7.

Erian Rodriguez, RHP: The Cubs finished their last Fort Wayne series with three different seven-scoreless-inning starts. There was Tyler Schlaffer on June 11, Aschenbeck on the 12th, and then Rodriguez on the 14th. And because he pitched in the second game of a doubleheader, Rodriguez earned a complete game shutout with his seven-inning effort. The second-year South Bend righty comes off another lengthy start in his most recent outing, as he provided seven innings of two-run work on Wednesday against the River Bandits. Heading into the week, Rodriguez carries a commendable ERA of 3.06 through his first 10 High-A starts of the season.

Top prospects in the series...

South Bend: SS/2B Cristian Hernandez (Cubs No. 10), LHP Drew Gray (Cubs No. 25), OF Carter Trice (Cubs No. 30)

Fort Wayne: RHP Isaiah Lowe (Padres No. 8), C/1B Lamar King Jr. (Padres No. 11), OF Kai Roberts (Padres No. 20), INF Rosman Verdugo (Padres No. 21), RHP Clark Candiotti (Padres No. 24), OF Braedon Karpathios (Padres No. 27), RHP Josh Mallitz (Padres No. 29), RHP/DH Sean Barnett (Padres No. 30)

Schedule and probables...

Tuesday, August 5 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Connor Schultz vs. TBA

Wednesday, August 6 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Erian Rodriguez vs. TBA

Thursday, August 7 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Kevin Valdez vs. TBA

Friday, August 8 - 7:05 PM ET: RHP Brooks Caple vs. TBA

Saturday, August 9 - 7:05 PM ET: LHP Evan Aschenbeck vs. TBA

Sunday, August 10 - 2:05 PM ET: RHP Yenrri Rojas vs. TBA

Check out the South Bend Cubs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from August 4, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central