By Mike Monaco

SOUTH BEND — South Bend scored in four of the first five innings and rolled past Cedar Rapids, 9-4, to win the series Friday night at Four Winds Field in front of 6,895 fans.

The Cubs (25-29) scored four runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to pull away from the Kernels (35-20) and take the rubber match of the three-game set. Eight of South Bend’s nine starters reached base and eight either scored or drove in a run.

“That was a complete team win,” said second baseman David Bote, who walked twice and added a two-run double. “I think what really helped us today was scoring in multiple innings, just keeping the pressure on them every single inning. Every single inning their pitchers were working hard trying to get us out, and everyone was keeping to the approach, staying through the middle and making good swings on some pitches.”

South Bend starter Jake Stinnett allowed three runs in 5.1 innings and fanned five, including three in the first two innings.

“When he is in the zone, his pitches move tremendously,” manager Jimmy Gonzalez said. “And guys just cannot hit that hard.”

Relievers Daniel Lewis (1.2 innings) and Jordan Minch (two innings) handled the duration of the night.

The Cubs have won back-to-back series and five of their last six games.

For the fourth consecutive game, South Bend scored in the first inning. Leadoff man David Bote walked, and shortstop Gleyber Torres sliced a single to right field, shuttling Bote to third. Two batters later, left fielder Yasiel Balaguert’s groundout plated Bote to give the Cubs a 1-0 advantage.

The Cubs added another in the second. Third baseman Jesse Hodges reached on a one-out infield single and scored from first on right fielder Jeffrey Baez’s double.

Kernels third baseman T.J. White got Cedar Rapids on the board in the fourth with an RBI single to score shortstop Nick Gordon, who started the frame with a double. Cedar Rapids designated hitter Brett Doe tied the game with an RBI single, but Cubs right fielder Jeffrey Baez gunned down the would-be go-ahead run at the plate to preserve a 2-2 game heading to the bottom of the fourth.

South Bend then cracked six hits for four runs in the last of the fourth. Catcher Cael Brockmeyer, first baseman Gioskar Amaya, Hodges and Baez strung together four consecutive singles, and Bote and Torres chipped in run-scoring knocks of their own to push the Cubs back ahead 6-2.

South Bend center fielder Rashad Crawford made a deep running catch to save a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Then in the bottom of the stanza, Brockmeyer singled, and Amaya and Hodges worked walks. With the bases loaded for Baez, Brockmeyer scurries home on a wild pitch. Amaya scored on Baez’s groundout to widen the gap to 8-2.

The Kernels scratched out a run in the top of the sixth off a hit batter, three walks and a wild pitch. The Cubs got it back in the eighth when Encarnacion golfed an RBI single to right-center field, pushing the advantage to 9-3.

Cedar Rapids notched a run in the ninth, but Minch closed the door to ensure the victory.

South Bend welcomes the Quad Cities River Bandits to Four Winds Field on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET in the lidlifter of a three-game series. Cubs right-hander Jeremy Null (5-1, 1.78 ERA) will oppose River Bandits righty Francis Martes (0-0, 0.69 ERA).