Indians erupt with back-to-back ninth-inning homers to beat Cubs 7-4

Nick Cimillo changed the game with one swing, and Dominic Fletcher finished it with the next one. Tied 4-4 heading to the ninth at Principal Park, the Indianapolis Indians opened the inning with consecutive homers from Cimillo and Fletcher, then added Enmanuel Valdez’s double into the right-field corner to turn a tense road game into a 7-4 victory over the Iowa Cubs in front of 6,134 fans.

The finish gave Indianapolis the last word in a game that had already swung back and forth several times. Davis Wendzel started the scoring with a first-inning double, Cimillo drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second, and Jhostynxon Garcia followed with a solo homer in the fourth as the Indians built a 3-0 lead. Iowa answered with two-run innings and then briefly took control in the seventh, when Brett Bateman doubled home a pair to put the Cubs ahead 4-3.

Indianapolis did not stay down long. Ronny Simon tripled in the eighth and Garcia brought him home with another sacrifice fly to square the score at 4-4, setting the stage for the ninth-inning power burst that emptied the energy out of the ballpark. Cimillo, a 26-year-old right-handed hitter and catcher drafted by Pittsburgh in the 16th round in 2022 out of Rutgers, got the inning started by driving an elevated fastball over the left-field wall. Fletcher followed immediately by lifting a sweeper over the right-field fence, a fast response that turned a tie game into a comfortable cushion in two pitches.

The bullpen then finished the job. Yunior Marte earned the win despite allowing a run, and Jaden Woods handled the ninth for his first Triple-A save. Doug Nikhazy took the loss after giving up the final four runs. The result mattered beyond one night’s drama because Indianapolis had already been asked to answer after Iowa beat it 11-7 on Friday and 13-7 in the series opener on June 16, and this time the Indians closed the door when the pressure peaked.

Cimillo’s homer fit a month that has started to make him harder to ignore. He entered the game with seven homers and a .766 OPS in 2026, and the late blast was another reminder that his bat has been carrying real impact, not just isolated noise. Fletcher’s homer added another layer to that story, giving Indianapolis a middle-order surge that has become central to its best stretches and making the final inning look like more than one big night at the plate.