Toyota Road Report: July 7-12

One more series remains for the South Bend Cubs before we hit the All-Star Break, and they'll spend it on the western end of the Midwest League. The Cubs (45-32, 6-9 second half) are set to visit the Cedar Rapids Kernels (33-45, 2-12 second half) for a six-game set this week. The Kernels are the only West Division team South Bend has not yet played, and they'll make a return trip to Four Winds Field for the final week of the regular season.

Since locking up a postseason spot with their first-half West Division title on June 13, the Cubs have played up-and-down baseball, dropping two of their last three series. With plenty of pieces moving around in their offense, the Cubs struggled to score and lost five of six games last week at Beloit to begin their 12-game, two-week road trip. The Sky Carp bookended the series with shutouts, blanking the Cubs twice in a 14-inning doubleheader on Sunday. South Bend's only victory occurred on Saturday in a game suspended from Friday after one inning of play. Kane Kepley launched a three-run home run to resume action, and a special performance from the bullpen sealed a win on the Fourth of July.

Looking ahead to Cedar Rapids, the Cubs won't have the services of top-30 Cub prospects Josiah Hartshorn and Mason McGwire when the weekend arrives. The two will be headed to Philadelphia to take part in the MLB All-Star Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park, a game that will air on NBC at noon ET on Sunday, July 12. It's the first time in South Bend Cubs history (dating back to 2015) that two players have been pulled from the South Bend roster to represent Chicago in the Futures Game.

As far as the Kernels go, the Cubs should have a nice opportunity to get back on track this week. Not only did they take two series from the West Division champion Kernels last year, but they also run into a 2026 Cedar Rapids club that has struggled mightily. The Kernels are 10-27 since May 21 and, in the second half, have both the worst record (2-12) and run differential in the Midwest League (-63). Cedar Rapids is the only team in the league that has allowed more than 100 runs in the second half, so look for the South Bend offense to get right after a slow week against the Sky Carp.

Players to watch on South Bend…

Jose Escobar, OF: While top prospects like Kane Kepley and Josiah Hartshorn have captured most of South Bend's hitting headlines this year, nobody in the Cubs' lineup has been better than Jose Escobar across the past month. Since making his High-A debut on May 28, Escobar ranks third in the Midwest League with 63 total bases. Combining extra-base power with an ability to pile up hits in short spurts, the 21-year-old has a case for being the best bat in the system not ranked among the Cubs' top 30 prospects. Escobar has found another level across his last two weeks of play, recording 8 hits and 9 RBI in South Bend's last home series against Quad Cities before tallying an absurd 12 hits this past week in Beloit. He has also crushed three home runs across that two-week stretch, adding strength to the middle of the Cubs' lineup.

Ethan Flanagan, LHP & Brayden Spears, RHP: The best way to detail South Bend's two pitchers to watch is not to break them down separately, but to tell the story of the game they pitched in. Last Friday, with the Cubs already trailing the series 3-0, inclement weather made a mess of the game in Beloit. First pitch was delayed by more than an hour, and once the game started, only an inning was played before additional precipitation suspended the remainder of the contest to Saturday. That situation cut off the third rehab start of right-hander Jaxon Wiggins, forcing the bullpen to eat up 8.0 innings on the Fourth of July.

Ethan Flanagan and Brayden Spears made astonishingly easy work of that task, holding the Sky Carp to two runs and securing a 7-3 South Bend victory. Since blowing a save in his return from the Development List on June 21, Flanagan has looked like his best self, recording a 4-inning save on June 27 against Quad Cities before posting 4.2 innings with 0 walks and 5 strikeouts in the aforementioned Beloit outing, which earned the southpaw his first High-A win.

Spears, who also walked none in 3.1 innings of scoreless work to record the save on Saturday, has rediscovered his early-season form after a bumpy end to the first half. Remember that Spears, who always pitches multiple innings out of the bullpen, only allowed multiple runs in an appearance one time through Memorial Day. He currently owns a three-game streak of conceding no more than one run, and he has an awesome ratio of 11 strikeouts to 1 walk across his last 9.0 innings.

Schedule and Probables…

Tuesday, July 7 - 7:35 PM ET: RHP Mason McGwire vs. RHP Xavier Kohlhosser

Wednesday, July 8 - 1:05 PM ET: RHP Nazier Mulé vs. RHP Riley Quick

Thursday, July 9 - 7:35 PM ET: RHP Kevin Valdez vs. RHP Kolten Smith

Friday, July 10 - 7:35 PM ET: LHP Pierce Coppola vs. LHP Cesar Lares

Saturday, July 11 - 7:35 PM ET: RHP Alfredo Romero vs. RHP Adrian Bohorquez

Sunday, July 12 - 2:05 PM ET: LHP Cole Reynolds vs. TBA

Catch the entire six-game series in Cedar Rapids on 96.1 FM and 960 AM Sports Radio WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Tyler Reidy on the call.