BURLINGTON, IOWA (June 26, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits took advantage of two late errors by the Burlington Bees to even the series with a 7-5 victory at Community Field. Burlington missed out on several opportunities to tie or take the lead, stranding nine on base in the game and six in the final four innings.
The game entered the seventh inning tied 5-5. With one out, Jeremy Pena was hit by a pitch and quickly stole second base to move into scoring-position. Bees reliever Tyler Smith struck out Ross Adolph in the next at-bat for the second out of the inning. Austin Dennis then hit a chopper to third that was fielded deep in the hole by Kevin Maitan and looked like it would end the inning. However, Maitan’s throw was low and skipped away from first-baseman Connor Fitzsimons, allowing Pena to score and give the River Bandits a 6-5 lead.
Quad Cities (3-2, 46-25) would tack on an insurance-run in the eighth with some help from another Burlington miscue. David Hensley did much of the heavy-lifting as he lined a one-out single into center to start the threat. The first baseman quickly stole second and, when the throw from catcher Harrison Wenson bounced into center-field, advanced to third. Alex McKenna drove him in with a groundball to the right side that gave the Bandits a 7-5 cushion.
Jose Rivera picked up the win by escaping an assortment of tough jams throughout his 5.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He escaped a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the sixth and stranded two runners in scoring-position in the seventh. Rivera also walked a pair of hitters with two outs in the ninth to bring the winning-run to the plate before striking out Spencer Griffin to end the game. The right-hander collected six strikeouts.
The Bandits grabbed an early 2-0 lead on Pena’s solo home-run and an RBI double from Oscar Campos in the third. Jose Bravo, the Bandits starting-pitcher, was dominant the first time through the order and had surrendered just one hit entering the fourth. In that frame, Burlington (2-4, 41-35) strung together six hits and plated five runs to jump in front 5-2 and knock Bravo from the game after 4.0 innings. Bravo and Rivera combined to record 13 strikeouts in the contest.
Facing their first deficit of the game, the River Bandits did not wait long to even the score, scoring three in the next half-inning. They loaded the bases on a walk and two singles, chasing starter Hector Yan from the game before an out was recorded in the fifth. Parker Joe Robinson came out of the bullpen and quickly fired a wild pitch to reduce the Bees' lead to 5-3. Dennis lifted a sacrifice-fly to the warning track in left to pull the Bandits within one and the game was tied on a Campos RBI single to center.
Campos led the Bandits with a 3-4 day at the plate and also drove in two runs. Pena and Adolph added two hits of their own. Burlington outhit the River Bandits 11-9 and eight of the nine players in their lineup tallied at least one.
The series shifts to Davenport for the final two games beginning with a 6:35PM tilt at Modern Woodmen Park on Thursday night. The River Bandits will go with RHP Felipe Tejada (2-0, 3.32) on the mound in a meeting with Burlington’s RHP Robinson Pina (4-2, 3.66). It will be Navy Night at the ballpark with a post-game fireworks show presented by 7G Distributing.
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 7-9-0
Burlington (R-H-E): 5-11-2
Win: Rivera (3-3)
Loss: T. Smith (5-2)
Save:
HR: Quad Cities: Jeremy Pena (5, 3rd inning, 0 on base)
HR: Burlington: None
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
