Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Without even recording a hit in the opening frame, the Quad Cities River Bandits jumped out to a four-run first-inning lead Thursday and trounced the Cedar Rapids Kernels 12-1 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Fueled by six walks, two wild pitches, a hit batsman, and a passed ball the River Bandits knocked Cedar Rapids’ starter and Twins No. 6 prospect Dasan Hill out of the ballgame nine batters and two outs into the night.
Jose Cerice and Tyriq Kemp each worked a pair of bases loaded walks, while Ramon Ramirez and Cerice scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball respectively to give Emmanuel Reyes a 4-0 lead before even taking the mound.
Quad Cities’ starter allowed just one run over his fourth-straight start of 5.0 or more innings, surrendering a solo shot to Jacob McCombs in the bottom of the second. But that swing came after Kernels reliever Christian Becerra allowed an RBI-double to Ramirez and an RBI-single to Nolan Sailors in the top of the frame.
Ramirez struck for a second RBI-double in the top of the fourth off Sam Rochard, while Kemp drove in a run on a ground ball to give Quad Cities a 8-1 advantage after four.
Reyes threw 55 of 79 total pitches for a strike (69.6%) and collected two of his night’s five strikeouts to finish off his fifth and final frame.
River Bandits’ relievers Mason Miller and Cory Ronan each completed a pair of scoreless innings to close out the game, combining for five strikeouts of their own while scattering just three total Kernels base runners.
Quad Cities’ bats tacked on four more runs over the final three innings of the night to push the score to 12-1.
A wild pitch from Kernels’ right-hander Xavier Kolhosser allowed Blake Mitchell to score in the eighth before a Harry Genth balk and a Ramirez sacrifice-fly added two Bandits tallies in the ninth.
Ramirez finished the night with his seventh multi-hit, multi-RBI game of the year, going 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI. The Royals’ No. 7 prospect leads the High-A level in runs batted in with 43 over 41 games this season.
Reyes (4-2) lowered his earned run average to the league’s second-best mark (2.91) with the winning effort, while Hill (1-4) was pegged with the loss, allowing four runs on six walks over 0.2 innings.
Quad Cities returns to Veterans Memorial Stadium for game four of the six-game set tomorrow night and sends Jordan Woods to the mound for his High-A debut opposite Cedar Rapids' Ivran Romero (2-2, 8.20). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.