South Bend, Indiana – The Quad Cities River Bandits (32-39, 2-6) were held scoreless though the first eight innings of their series finale with the South Bend Cubs (44-27, 5-4) Sunday, but exploded for a seven-run ninth to defeat the Cubs 7-2 at Four Winds Field.
The victory marked Quad Cities’ first when trailing after eight innings this season.
Prior to the late-inning surge, starters Tanner Jones (Quad Cities) and Alfredo Romero (South Bend) kept the game scoreless and combined to allow just four base runners through the first five innings of the game. For Jones, the effort marked his sixth start of five-or-more-innings over his last seven outings.
South Bend’s Kane Kepley broke the 0-0 tie in the in the sixth, homering off the newly entered Aiden Jimenez to give the Cubs the game’s first lead.
Jimenez completed the sixth before Max Martin kept Quad Cities’ deficit at one with a scoreless seventh.
Cubs’ relievers Kevin Valdez (2.0 IP) and Eli Jerzembeck (1.0 IP, hold) quieted the Bandits in relief of Romero to bring the game to the ninth for Ethan Bell, who entered with a 2-0 lead after a wild pitch out of the hand of QC right-hander Kamden Edge allowed the Cubs their second run in the bottom of the eighth.
Quad Cities immediately put Bell in hot water, as Tyriq Kemp and Asbel Gonzalez both walked to begin the inning. After the right-hander struck out Blake Mitchell, Kemp stole third before Ramon Ramirez drove a game-tying two-run double to right-center field.
Bell remained on the hill for South Bend with the score knotted, but walked his third and fourth hitters of the frame, Nolan Sailors and Erick Torres, to load the bases and was replaced by Grayson Moore.
With game tied, the bases loaded, and one out, Connor Rasmussen gave Quad Cities its first lead, plating Ramirez from third on a groundout back to Moore, who threw to first after being unable to start a double play at second.
Four pitches later, Trevor Werner cleared the bases and propelled the River Bandits ahead 6-2 with a three-run homer, his fifth of the season and the 23rd of his High-A career. The mark leads all active River Bandits and is one shy of tying for the 10th-most in franchise history.
Before Moore would complete the inning, Kemp extended Quad Cities’ lead to five, driving in Angel Acosta with an RBI-single.
Edge (2-0) returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth and earned his second win of the season, retiring all three Cubs’ hitters he faced in the final frame.
Bell (3-1) was tagged with the loss for South Bend, recording just one out and surrendering five runs on one hit, four walks, and one strikeout.
After an off-day, Quad Cities returns to Modern Woodmen Park to begin a two-week homestand and a six-game series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Tuesday, June 30. First pitch for the series-opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.