Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits shut out the Cedar Rapids Kernels for the third time this season, blanking the Twins’ affiliate 2-0 on Thursday night behind 5.0-scoreless innings from starter Justin Lamkin.
The Royals’ No. 13 prospect (MLB Pipeline) scattered four base runners and stuck out six over his effort, lowering his Midwest League-best earned run average to 1.27 in the process.
Fellow top prospects Ramon Ramirez and Blake Mitchell produced Quad Cities’ two runs, with Ramirez dropping his campaign’s fourth home run in front of the Modern Woodmen Park Ferris Wheel in the second and Mitchell plating Angle Acosta with an RBI-double in the third.
Kernels’ starter Jason Doktorczyk allowed both River Bandits runs, but only one was earned due to a catching error on first baseman Rayne Doncon in the third. The right-hander matched Lamkin by completing a 5.0-inning start of his own and struck out five despite the losing effort.
After Lamkin’s departure, Ryan Ure worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the shutout bid alive in the sixth before L.P. Langevin pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, striking out a pair along the way. The duo earned their second and first holds of the year respectively.
Kamden Edge was tasked with the ninth and stranded the tying runs on base en route to his first professional save, striking out Eduardo Tait to lock up Quad Cities’ second win of the series.
The River Bandits return to Modern Woodmen Park for game four of the six-game set and send Josh Hansell (0-3, 4.50) to the mound opposite Cedar Rapids’ (2-0, 5.79). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park.