After trailing by two through four innings, Kane County recovers to take opener from Quad Cities
DAVENPORT, Iowa (September 2, 2015) - Kane County left fielder Victor Reyes was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning, and center fielder Colin Bray scored four runs, as the Cougars came from behind to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits, 8-6, in front of 1,620 at Modern Woodmen Park Wednesday night.
The Cougars (45-20 second half, 81-52 overall) overcame a 4-2 deficit in the fourth inning with a single run in both the fifth and seventh innings before rallying for four runs in the top of the eighth to take the lead. Kane County and the River Bandits (40-25, 85-48) each scored single runs in the first two innings against starters Rogelio Armenteros and Jared Miller, respectively.
In a 2-2 game in the bottom of the fourth inning, River Bandits second baseman Jose Fernandez drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, and went to third base on a throwing error by catcher Stryker Trahan with nobody out for first baseman Ryan Bottger, who singled through the left side to give the River Bandits their first lead at 3-2. Catcher Garrett Stubbs laid down his sacrifice bunt of the game to advance Bottger to second, and a wild pitch moved Bottger to third with third baseman Luis Reynoso at the plate. Reynoso grounded a ball to shortstop Ildemaro Vargas, and Bottger tried to score, but Bottger was retired in a rundown that ended Reynoso at second base. Left fielder Jason Martin drove in Reynoso with a ground-ball double off the first-base bag to increase the Quad Cities lead to 4-2. All four earned runs were charged to Miller, who lasted six innings, allowing seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Kane County answered with a run in the fifth inning without a hit, as Bray walked, went to second on a fly ball to right, advanced to third on a ground ball to third, and then scored on a balk by Armenteros to get the Cougars within 4-3. The visitors produced the tying run in the seventh on a double to right-center field by first baseman Cody Regis to score Bray, who led off the inning with a walk. Armenteros finished the fifth inning, allowing three earned runs on four hits and four walks with seven strikeouts.
With the score still knotted at four, Cougars second baseman Dawel Lugo led off the eighth with a single against Lachlan Madden (0-1), who tossed scoreless sixth and seventh innings following his call up Wednesday from rookie-level Greeneville. Trahan doubled to right-center field to advance Lugo to third with nobody out. Madden got pinch hitter Marty Herum to fly out to center field for the first out of the inning, before left-hander Zach Davis entered to face Reyes, who hit a high chopper over Reynoso to score both Lugo and Trahan for a 6-4 lead, with Reyes advancing to second base on the throw home by left fielder Drew Ferguson, whose error sent Reyes to third base. Vargas flied out to center to score Reyes and give Kane County a 7-4 lead. Bray then drew the last of his three walks, advanced to second on the Regis' walk, and scored on an infield hit by Henry Castillo when Fernandez made a throwing error, giving the Cougars an 8-4 lead.
The River Bandits tried to rally back, scoring a two-out run in the eighth inning against right-hander Scott Schultz (1-0) on an RBI double by Stubbs to make it a three-run game. Quad Cities had the first two batters reach base against Luis Ramirez in the ninth inning, as Martin walked and Ferguson doubled to left field, putting runners on second and third bases with nobody out. Shortstop Kristian Trompiz drove in one run with a sacrifice fly to center field, narrowing the gap to 8-6, but designated hitter Bryan Muñiz grounded out, and right fielder Ramon Laureano struck out to end the game, as Ramirez earned his 10th save.
