Lansing’s three-run seventh inning downs Quad Cities
DAVENPORT, Iowa – The River Bandits fell to the Lansing Lugnuts 3-2 on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Josh Rojas hit his third home run in two nights. Rodrigo Orozco drove in two runs with a double and made a game-clinching diving catch to seal the Lugnuts win.
The Bandits (18-9, 55-40) received six strong innings from Abdiel Saldana on the mound, shutting out the Lugnuts (47-46, 10-17). In the seventh, Saldana (5-2) allowed back-to-back singles with one out to set up a scoring chance for Lansing. Mattingly Romanin hit a ball in the hole. Bandits shortstop Osvaldo Duarte fielded and flipped to second looking for a force, but threw the ball into right field, allowing Ridge Smith to score from second, making it 1-0 Lugnuts. Saldana hit the next batter, leading to the end of his night. Devon Carr came on with the bases loaded and allowed a two-run double to Orozco, extended the lead to 3-0 Lugnuts. Rojas hit a two-run homer – his eighth – in the 8th to slice the margin to 3-2 Lansing.
After allowing 20 runs in game one of the series, three runs of support were enough for the Lugnuts hurlers. Yennsy Diaz twirled six shutout innings in his start. Diaz (2-2) held the Bandits to five hits and also struck out five batters. Jared Carkuff allowed two runs over two innings and Nick Hartman pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save. Saldana’s final line was 6.1 innings, three runs, six hits, four strikeouts and one walk.
The finale of the three-game series is Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park at 6:35 p.m. It’s Fireworks Friday presented by Smart Toyota of the Quad Cities and Make-a-Wish Night sponsored by Olympic Steel.
The pitching matchup features Bandits LHP Patrick Sandoval (0-1, 3.38) against Lugnuts RHP Osman Gutierrez (2-7, 9.60). Jake Levy and Connor Onion have pregame coverage beginning at 6:20 p.m. on riverbandits.com and 1170 AM KBOB.
