Davenport, Iowa – Derlin Figueroa’s launched his team-leading 12th home run of the season Saturday, but the Quad Cities River Bandits (24-30) dropped their fourth game in six matchups against the South Bend Cubs (34-19) this week, falling 13-2 at Modern Woodmen Park.
After Bandits’ starter Blake Wolters opened the game with back-to-back walks of Kane Kepley and Ty Southisene, South Bend quickly took advantage and jumped ahead 2-0 on Josiah Hartshorn’s two-run double.
In the second, Quad Cities’ left fielder Luke Pelzer made an athletic catch at the base of the wall to deny the Cubs a run and take away a hit from Kepley. But South Bend got its run in the third, as Cole Mathis found grass in right field for an RBI-single.
Three home runs off Wolters strengthened the Cubs’ lead to 8-0 in the fourth, with Christian Olivo and Miguel Useche each hitting a pair of two-run shots, while Hartshorn mixed in a solo blast.
Usche’s homer knocked Wolters from his start after 3.2 innings, which saw the Royals’ No. 22 prospect allow a career-high run total on a career-high matching eight hits and four walks.
Nick Conte shut down South Bend’s rally in the fifth, working a ground ball out of Alex Madera to end the inning. The right-hander then took Quad Cities safely through the fifth and sixth.
South Bend got back into the run column against Ryan Ure in the seventh, plating runs on a double play, Drew Bower’s bases loaded walk, and Kepley’s RBI-single. Ure completed the frame, but not before the Cubs pushed ahead 11-0.
South Bend catcher Justin Stranskey tagged Mason Miller for a run in the top of the eighth, scoring Cole Mathis with a two-out RBI-single.
Despite moving three of their first five base runners into scoring position against Cubs starter Will Sanders, who toed the rubber as part of a Triple-A rehabilitation assignment, Quad Cities failed to break through over the right-hander’s 4.0-inning performance.
JP Wheat handled a clean fifth inning out of South Bend’s bullpen before turning the ball to Koen Moreno. The 24-year-old struck out three batters over his first two scoreless innings, but after giving up an infield single to Ramon Ramirez, saw his club’s shutout bid end on Figueroa’s two-run homer in the eighth.
South Bend plated its 13th and final run in the ninth against Quad Cities’ infielder Diego Guzman, who took the mound in place of Miller and saw Mathis reach on a Figueroa fielding error as Kepley scored.
While Quad Cities’ offense stranded nine men on base and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, Erick Torres and Angel Acosta proved bright spots at the bottom of the River Bandits’ lineup as the pair combined to go 6-for-8 with three singles each.
Wheat (2-1) earned the winning decision out of South Bend’s bullpen, while Wolters (0-5) was saddled with the loss for Quad Cities.
Quad Cities closes out its seven-game series with South Bend tomorrow afternoon and sends Tanner Jones (2-3, 5.87) to the mound opposite Nazier Mule (1-2, 4.80). First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.