[jksander]

April 9, 2027: This evening we opened the 2027 Midwest League season with a home game at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium, facing the Quad City River Bandits in front of 4,900 fans. The weather was definitely not welcoming for baseball ... partly cloudy, 36 degrees and an 11 mile per hour wind blowing out to left. But hey, at least it’s not snowing! We started 23-year-old lefty Drew Grey, who was 7-2 last year with a 3.29 ERA, striking out 159 in 112 innings’ work here in South Bend. He went up against Juan Oramas, a 21-year-old Venezuelan right-hander who went 7-8 last year for the St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State league, with a 4.72 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 116.1 innings.

Quad Cities got on the board with an RBI single in the top of the fourth by first baseman Jairo Mendez, but Grey was able to get us out of the inning without further damage. We took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a two-run homer over the wall in center by shortstop Luis Maza, and left fielder Alexis Hernandez, who had singled in the third, hit a power bomb out of left field to make it 3-1! We brought out right-handed middle reliever Yenrri Rojas in the top of the sixth, with Grey at 81 pitches. Our catcher Abel De Leon hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to add to the lead, and third baseman Cristian Hernandez batted in another pair with a single as we took control. Rojas handled his business through the seventh, sending us into the stretch with a 6-1 lead, and he did it again in the eighth as he kept their hitters guessing every time. Starlyn Pichardo, another righty middle reliever, came in for the non-save opportunity in the top of the ninth with a five-run lead to protect, and he promptly loaded the bases, which had me immediately warming up our closer, Mirton Blanco. A run scored on a groundout to first by pinch hitter Sandro Gaston, but Pichardo then got their designated hitter, Roni Cabrera, to strike out looking, giving us two outs with men on second and third. He didn’t even blink, striking out their star center fielder in the leadoff spot to clinch the 6-2 win!

Drew Grey started the season out with a win and a 1.80 ERA thanks to just three hits in five innings with a walk, eight strikeouts and an earned run. Rojas then picked up a three-inning hold with three hits and a strikeout, and though he got into some trouble, Pichardo used his four pitch arsenal to finish with a hit, two walks, two strikeouts and just one earned run as we held on to win. We outhit the River Bandits 11-7, led by Cristian Hernandez with three hits, a run and two RBIs, while Alexis Hernandez added three hits, a run and an RBI.

April 10, 2027: This is some cold weather even for northern Indiana at this time of year ... we drew nearly 5,000 fans to the stadium this afternoon for game two of three against the River Bandits, despite 33 degree temps and a 10-miler blowing left to right across the field. Gabriel Hughes got the start for us ... he missed all of last year after tearing his UCL back in August of ’25 while he was part of the Colorado Rockies organization. We just picked him up as a minor league free agent in late March, and the 25-year-old’s future is riding on how well his new ligament lets him pitch. He has great command, so the Cubs are really hoping to see him do well early. He pitched tonight against Quad Cities’ Trevor Martin, who was signed out of the Frontier League last summer and went on to pitch to a 4-3 record and 2.19 ERA for the River Bandits in just the last two months of the Midwest League season.

Judging by his early results tonight, I’d say Hughes’ ligament was repaired perfectly. He struck out seven batters in the first four innings with just one hit against him, throwing just 55 pitches, and he got through the sixth thanks to a flyout to left and a heads-up 7-2 double play to stop a run from scoring at home, keeping the game knotted at zero into the bottom of the fifth. Middle reliever Runelvis Toribio came in to pitch in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of the frame Cristian Hernandez hit a solo blast out of center, his first of the year, to give us a 1-0 lead! Irving Vasquez came out of the pen for the first time this season in the top of the seventh and he pitched around a runner on second to get out of the inning with our lead still safe. Vasquez got us an out in the eighth as well, and then we brought in Freilyn Silverio to combat the lefty-heavy portion of their lineup with a runner on first. Unfortunately, with two outs, he threw an ill-timed fastball to their shorstop Derlin Figueroa, and he hammered it out of the park for three runs and the lead. Juan Bello came out of the pen to pitch in the top of the ninth, trailing by a pair, and he struck out the side to keep us in this one. We just weren’t able to make anything happen, losing this one 3-1 to fall back to .500.

Hughes gave us five innings with three hits and eight strikeouts, but Silverio blew the save and took the loss, allowing a hit, a walk and two runs in the eighth before getting his two outs. Quad Cities outhit us 7-5 tonight ... leadoff man Cristian Hernandez’ homer was one of his two hits tonight, and he’s now hitting .625 through his first two games.

We’ve got one more game against Quad Cities tomorrow afternoon at 2:35, and then we’ll spend all of next week in Fort Wayne, playing the Tin Caps for a six-game series.
 
April 11, 2027: We’ve got 23-year-old prospect Cesar Ruiz, who is up from single-A ball for the first time after putting together a 7-13 record and 4.53 ERA last year, pitching against Quad Cities’ Oscar Rayo, a 25-year-old who got a brief glimpse of AA ball last year only to come quietly back down to earth. Last year in A+ he was 7-10 overall with a 4.17 ERA and 155 K’s, but he’s getting old enough that expectations are getting closer to “now or never” if he doesn’t make the jump up soon.

We took an early lead with an RBI single by Andrews Cruz in the bottom of the first, and in the bottom of the third we added on with a two-run double by Darlyn De Leon to put us ahead by three! Alexis Hernandez hit a three-run bomb out of center field in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 6-0 game, and with two outs in the top of the sixth we finally went to the bullpen, bringing out Adrian Santana to relieve Cruz, who had thrown 87 pitches. Alexis Hernandez hit another RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, and Santana made it into the eighth inning, getting an out while we warmed up his relief. Yafrerlyn Vasquez came out with one out to take control, pitching around an infield single to get two quick outs and preserve the shutout. Luis Maza hit his second homer of the year, a solo bomb out of center, to make it an eight run lead in the bottom of the eighth. Vasquez stayed out to finish the game, putting runners on the corners but holding tough as we won this one 8-0, our first shutout of the season!

Cesar Ruiz started his season out 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA thanks to a three hit effort over 5.2 innings, walking three and striking out eight! Santana and Vasquez covered the remaining 3.1 innings with three hits, a walk and a strikeout between them. We outhit them 14-6 this afternoon, led by Alexis Hernandez with four hits, three runs and four RBIs, while Luis Maza also hit four times, scoring three and driving in one. With Cristian Hernandez hitting .500 through our first three games as well, we have a legitimately solid top three in our lineup.