Davenport, Iowa – Royals’ fifth-round pick Aiden Jimenez struck out a game-high five batters in a scoreless professional debut Friday, but the Quad Cities River Bandits were shut out for the second time this week by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, falling 9-0 at Modern Woodmen Park.
Even though the Timber Rattlers drew a pair of walks and totaled three hits over the River Bandits starter’s 3.0-inning debut, none of the knocks left the infield, while two of the punchouts came against baseball’s No. 95 overall prospect, Andrew Fischer.
Quad Cities’ success on the mound would end with Jimenez’s departure, as the Timber Rattlers plated all nine runs with help from 11 walks over the next six innings.
Wisconsin took its initial lead thanks in large part to free passes in the fourth, jumping ahead 1-0 on a Jacob Widener wild pitch that allowed Josiah Ragsdale—who walked and stole his way to third—to score the game’s opening run.
The Rattlers then batted around in the fifth, taking advantage of four Widener walks on a Ragsdale sacrifice-fly, Luis Castillo’s RBI-single, and Tayden Hall’s two-run double.
Wisconsin advanced its lead to 6-0 in the sixth, adding a run against Nick Conte on a Ragsdale triple, his first hit of the series.
Kamden Edge took over on the mound for Quad Cities in the seventh and succumbed to the Bandits’ lone error of the game—a poor throw on Pena’s steal of second that allowed the Brewers’ shortstop to advance to third and then score on Fischer’s sacrifice-fly.
While L.P. Langevin entered in the eighth and retired the Ratters in order for the first time since the first inning, Wisconsin tagged the right-hander for a run on a Pena sacrifice-fly before moving ahead 9-0 against Angel Acosta—a River Bandits’ infielder who picked up the final out of the game only after Blayberg Diaz’s RBI-double.
Quad Cities’ bats had no answer for T-Rats pitching, which allowed just two hits and held the Bandits hitless with runners in scoring position (0-for-6).
Starter Bryce Meccage struck out three and handled the first 4.0 innings before passing the ball to Chandler Welch (1-0), who earned the win after twirling 3.0 perfect frames and earning his second win of the season.
Jack Seppings closed out the final 2.0 innings on the hill, completing his second scoreless effort of the series.
Widener (0-1) was saddled with the loss in his one-inning season debut, allowing four runs (three earned) on no hits, six walks, and two strikeouts.
The River Bandits return to Modern Woodmen Park for game four of the six-game set tomorrow night and send Dash Albus (0-0, 5.40) to the mound opposite Wisconsin’s Wande Torres (0-0, 3.86). First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.