Davenport, Iowa – Derlin Figueroa launched his team-leading 20th home run of the season Thursday, as the Quad Cities River Bandits (47-48, 17-15) defeated the Dayton Dragons (54-43, 15-16) 8-4 at Modern Woodmen Park.
The blast ties Figueroa atop the Midwest League leaderboard this year and marks Quad Cities’ eighth 20-home run season in franchise history (since 1960).
Before “Figgy” could elevate and celebrate, Jose Cerice drove in the River Bandits’ first run of the night and extended his team-best on-base streak to 23 games with a two-out RBI-single in the first. Two batters later, Erick Torres made it a 2-0 Quad Cities’ lead with a run-scoring single of his own.
Figueroa’s two-run blast came in the third and plated Blake Mitchell who reached via the first of his night’s two walks for a 4-0 Bandits’ advantage.
All four runs came against Dragons’ starter Deivi Villafana. The right-hander worked through the fourth, but surrendered four runs on four hits, and two walks with six strikeouts before his departure.
Quad Cities’ starter, Blake Wolters, gave up just three baserunners over the first four innings of the game, but got tagged for three-straight Dragons hits to begin the fifth, including a three-run homer from Mason Neville that shrunk the Bandits’ lead to 4-3.
After Wolters rebounded with a scoreless sixth and secured his first High-A quality start, the River Bandits’ bats got back to work and struck for three runs against Bryace Archie in the bottom half.
Following an RBI-triple from Torres, his first of the season, Hyunchan Um cranked an RBI-double for his first River Bandits hit. Um, Quad Cities’ catcher, became the first South Korean-born player to suit up for the franchise since 2014 and just the second ever
Later in the sixth, Tyriq Kemp made it 7-3 River Bandits with an RBI-single through the right side of the infield.
Along with Um and second baseman Pedro Roque, left-hander Rob Hensey made his River Bandits’ debut Thursday and did so out of the bullpen. The former Reds farmhand allowed an RBI-single to Peyton Stovall in the seventh, but worked out of a base loaded jam in a scoreless to of the eighth.
Figueroa made it a three-RBI night in the bottom half and brought home Mitchell with a sacrifice-fly.
Yimi Presinal closed out the win for Quad Cities and picked up the final three outs of the contest, including a game-ending strikeout of Victor Acosta.
Wolters (2-7) earned the win for the River Bandits, allowing three runs over a career-high 6.0 innings on five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. Villafana (0-1) was saddled with his first Dragons loss in his second High-A start.
Quad Cities returns to Modern Woodmen Park for game four of the six-game series tomorrow night and sends Royals’ No. 3 prospect David Shields (8-5, 4.11) to the mound opposite Dayton’s Kyle McCoy (4-3, 4.98). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.