South Bend Cubs RHP Dylan Cease pitched six hitless innings Wednesday. (Photo by Rikk Carlson)

South Bend Cubs RHP Dylan Cease and Kane County Cougars RHP Jon Duplantier were unhittable in separate Midwest League games Wednesday.

In his third start for South Bend, Cease lowered his ERA to 0.60 by pitching six scoreless innings. He didn’t give up a hit, but walked three while striking out seven. The top Chicago Cubs pitching prospect now has 22 strikeouts in 15 innings this season.

South Bend’s no-hit bid ended with one out in the 7th inning, when reliever Matt Swarmer gave up an infield single to Oneil Cruz. That ended up being the only hit of the game for the Great Lakes Loons, who lost 3-0 to the Cubs. South Bend scored all three of its runs on a bases-clearing double by Vimael Machin in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Duplantier was the star of Kane County’s game against the Beloit Snappers, striking out six batters without giving up a hit in 5.1 innings of relief. He walked one. The highly-touted Arizona Diamondbacks prospect hasn’t given up a run in 15.1 innings, and has 20 strikeouts.

Duplantier was a late scratch as a starter for Wednesday’s game because of impending rain, but as planned, he later entered the contest after a rain delay of two hours and 40 minutes. The game itself lasted almost four hours because the 1-0 contest went 17 innings, ending on a walk-off RBI single by Jason Morozowski.

Kane County and Dayton (both 9-4) remain tied for the best record in the Midwest League after the Dragons beat the Lansing Lugnuts in 11 innings. Hector Vargas drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded bloop single with no outs in the bottom of the 11th.

Lansing’s Bradley Jones continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-4 with a solo homer. His five home runs are tied for most in the Midwest League, and his 16 RBI pace the circuit. His .396 batting average is second only to teammate Bo Bichette’s .400 mark; Bichette went 1-for-4 Wednesday.

In Peoria, the Chiefs used 21 hits, six walks and three Kernels errors to beat Cedar Rapids 15-3. The offense was led by Tommy Edman, who went 4-for-6 with two triples, a double and two RBI. Dylan Carlson and Stefan Trosclair each went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer. J.R. Davis and Andrew Knizner each went 3-for-6 with a run batted in.

Jermaine Palacios was the only Kernels player with more than one hit. He drove in one of the team’s runs.