Davenport, Iowa – Royals’ top prospect Blake Mitchell hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season Tuesday, but the River Bandits were over-powered by the Lansing Lugnuts, as Quad Cities fell to the Athletics’ affiliate 12-4 at Modern Woodmen Park.
Mitchell’s first-inning solo shot off Jackson Finley helped Quad Cities plate the game’s first run for the fourth-straight night and after Lansing tied the game on a Josh Hansell balk in the top of the second, an RBI-double from Austin Charles and an RBI-groundout off the bat of Jose Cerice pushed the Bandits back in front 3-2 after the first pair of frames.
Hansell, who struck out six over a 4.0-inning start, kept the lead intact through his longest outing of the season, but the Lugnuts’ bats came to life come the right-hander’s departure and retied the game 3-3 in the fifth on L.P. Langevin’s wild pitch.
In the sixth, Justin Riemer tagged Dash Albus for a two-run single to give Lansing its first lead of the night. That advantage grew to 6-3 two batters later when Bobby Boser launched the first of four Lugnuts’ home runs, a two-run blast to left-center field.
While Quad Cities’ bats failed to mount additional resistance against Finley, Lansing continued to lean on the long ball, hitting a pair of two-run homers off Cory Ronan in the seventh thanks to Riemner and Devin Taylor—Taylor finished 3-for-4 and a triple shy of the cycle.
Casey Yamauchi lifted his team-leading fourth homer of the year against Jacob Widener in the eighth, pushing the Nuts’ lead to 12-3.
After Finley’s exit, the River Bandits had no newfound success against relievers Luis Carrasco (1.0 IP) or Gerlin Rosario (1.0 IP), despite getting a base runner to third against each in the seventh and eighth respectively.
Mitchell worked a bases loaded walk against Abel Mercedes with two outs in the ninth, but Quad Cities finished the game hitless with men in scoring position (0-for-11) and stranded nine men on base.
Finely (2-1) earned the win for Lansing, completing a career-high 6.0 innings with four strikeouts to help the Lugnuts snap a seven-game losing streak, while Albus (0-1) was saddled with both his first High-A loss and blown save, surrendering five runs in 1.0 inning of relief.
Quad Cities returns to Modern Woodmen Park for game two of the six-game series tomorrow morning and sends Emmanuel Reyes (0-0, 1.29) to the mound opposite Lansing’s Steve Echavarria (1-0, 3.38). First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.