12
May
2017
Quad Cities falls back to .500 for first time since April 18
DAYTON, Ohio -- The Quad Cities River Bandits fell Thursday, 5-3, to the Dayton Dragons on a mild night at Fifth Third Field. Forrest Whitley surrendered three first-inning runs but just one over his final four innings. Jake Rogers had a pair of hits, including his sixth home run of the year, in the loss.
The River Bandits (16-16) are back to a .500 record for the first time since April 18, when they were 6-6 on the season. Rogers gave the Bandits the lead with a two-out solo homer in the first inning, but the Dragons (23-11) answered with three runs in the home half. John Sansone capped off the inning with a solo homer. The Bandits got a run back in the second when Taylor Jones singled home Chuckie Robinson. Robinson had two hits, including a double, in the game. Dayton answered on the home side with back-to-back two-out hits with T.J. Friedl tripling home a run to make it 4-2 Dayton.
That score held until the seventh, when the Bandits used three hits to get a run back. Rodrigo Ayarza got the RBI knock that got Quad Cities within a run and put runners on the corners with one out. But a flyout to shallow center and groundout ended the inning. Dayton got the run back in the eighth when Taylor Trammell tripled to lead off the inning then, after two straight strikeouts had Erasmo Pinales on the verge of getting out of the inning, a wild pitch allowed the late insurance run to score.
Whitley (1-2) went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out six. Whitley has allowed seven runs in four first innings this season (15.75 ERA) but just a 0.75 ERA (one run, 12 innings) after the first. Ryan Hendrix (3-1) allowed just one hit in three scoreless relief innings to earn the win, striking out seven. Joel Kuhnel retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save of the year.
Quad Cities looks to even the series and get back above even water on Friday in a 7:00 ET, 6:00 CT, matchup with the Dragons. RHP Jorge Alcala (2-0, 2.22) gets the start for Quad Cities against RHP Andrew Jordan (3-3, 4.75) for Dayton. You can join Jake Levy 15 minutes prior to first pitch for the River Bandits On-Deck Show, powered by Hampton Inn and Suites Davenport, on 1170 AM K-BOB, riverbandits.com and the TuneIn app.
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