Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits (40-40, 10-7) extended their win-streak to a season-best seven games and slugged their way to an 18-8 victory over the Peoria Chiefs (38-45, 6-11) on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park.
The River Bandits’ 18 runs and 19 hits both marked season-highs. Quad Cities has now out-scored Peoria 42-16 through the first three games of the six-game series.
Even with the Bandits’ offensive outpouring, their win was still classified a comeback, as Jack Gurevitch gave the Chiefs a 1-0 in the first inning with a two-out homer off Quad Cities’ starter Blake Wolters.
The Bandits responded instantly in the bottom of the first thanks to Ramon Ramirez, whose RBI-ground out tied the game 1-1. One batter later, Derlin Figueroa put the River Bandits ahead with an RBI-double, his sixth since the start of July.
After recording two of his night’s five strikeouts in a scoreless second, Wolters saw the Chiefs swing back in the third, knotting the game at 2-2 with an RBI-single from Michael Dattalo.
A half-inning later, Nolan Sailors’ ninth triple of the season brought Ramirez home from first base, and put River Bandits back ahead 3-2. The outfielder’s triple total ties for the best in Minor League Baseball this season.
The fourth inning was all Quad Cities’ with the River Bandits storming out to an 8-2 lead. With the bases loaded, Diego Guzman struck for a two-run double. Then, an RBI-single from Asbel Gonzalez sent Angel Acosta home and ended Chiefs’ starter Ty Van Dyke’s night on the mound.
Despite the pitching change, QC’s bats continued to produce against Chirstian Worley, as Guzman scored on a wild pitch before Ramirez plated a run with an RBI-groundout to put his club ahead six.
Gurevitch’s RBI-double and Michael Datallo’s RBI-single trimmed Quad Cities’ lead to 8-4 in the top of the fifth, but Wolters was still able to complete the frame and a 5.0-inning start for the first time as a River Bandit.
Quad Cities tacked on two more in the sixth and pushed ahead 10-4, as Peoria reliever Patrick Galle walked Derlin Figueroa with the bases loaded before Jose Cerice drove in a run on a fielder’s choice.
The Chiefs tagged left-hander Jordan Woods for a run in the top of the seventh courtesy of Gurevitch’s second home run of the night, but the Bandits punched back with a second-five run inning come the bottom half.
Nolan Sailors’ second of three hits, an RBI-single, stuck Galle with his second of two runs allowed, while Ramirez greeted Domic Freeberger with a two-run homer, elevating the River Bandits’ lead to 13-5.
After the long-ball, Angel Acosta punctuated a string of five-straight base runners against the Chiefs reliever and extended a hit streak out to nine games with a two-run single to put the Bandits up 15-5.
Peoria cut its deficit back down to single digits in the top of the eighth inning, starting with an RBI-single off the bat of Christian Martin. The next hitter, Jalin Flores, lined a two-run double to left-field to shrink Quad Cities’ lead to 15-8.
The frame would be the last pitched by Woods, who allowed four runs, three earned, over 3.0 innings of relief.
In the bottom of the eighth, Blake Mitchell homered for the third-straight game, parking his 16th home of the season onto the left field berm off Chiefs’ right-hander Jawilme Ramirez. Acosta cemented the Bandits’ 18-8 advantage with his second-straight RBI-single five batters later.
Yimi Presinal collected the game’s final three outs in the ninth, retiring all three batters he faced, including the game-ending strikeout of Anyelo Encarnacion.
Gonzalez, Sailors, and Torres all recorded three-hit games during the Bandits’ offensive boom, while Ramirez led the way in run production, driving in four as part of his fourth-straight multi-RBI performance. The Royals’ No. 7 prospect ranks second in the Midwest League with 66 in 72 games.
Wolters (1-7) earned his first High-A win on the mound for Quad Cities, while Van Dyke (3-3) took the loss for Peoria after allowing a season-high eight earned runs in his 3.0-inning start.
The River Bandits return to action at Modern Woodmen Park tomorrow for game four of the six-game set and send Tanner Jones (2-4, 5.31) to the bump opposite the Chiefs’ Tanner Jones (2-3, 5.09). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.