PEORIA, ILLINOIS (May 18, 2019) — One big inning was the deciding-factor in the first two games of the Quad Cities River Bandits weekend-series against the Peoria Chiefs. That theme continued in the third game on Saturday night at Dozer Park. A six-run fourth-inning allowed the River Bandits to erase an early deficit and beat the Chiefs 6-2.
Peoria (18-22) didn’t waste much time in taking an early lead, scoring their first run in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, catcher Ivan Herrera lined a home-run that just cleared the top of the left-field wall. The long-ball was his fourth of the season. From that point forward, Freure did not surrender another run, lasting 5.0 innings and securing his second victory of the season.
Quad Cities (25-13) did all of their damage with two outs in the fourth inning as seven consecutive hitters reached base safely. Jonathan Lacroix began the surge with a walk and was on base when Trey Dawson’s two-run home-run to left gave the River Bandits a 2-1 lead. Ross Adolph and Austin Dennis collected back-to-back doubles to plate another run and make it 3-1. With his first hit in a River Bandits uniform, Ramiro Rodriguez added another run to the board. The final damage was done by Alex McKenna with a two-run double over the head of right fielder Jhon Torres that widened the gap to 6-1.
Joey Gonzalez replaced Freure in the sixth and worked the final 4.0 innings on the mound. He allowed just an unearned-run in the eighth when Dennis couldn’t haul in Nolan Gorman’s deep fly-ball to left-center. The two-base error led to an RBI ground-out to short by Herrera, which brought in the Chiefs' final run.
Dennis, Dawson, and Jeremy Pena each finished the game with two hits. Rodriguez reached base three times with a single and two walks.
The River Bandits and Chiefs will finish the weekend series on Sunday afternoon at 2:05PM. The River Bandits will have RHP Matt Ruppenthal (2-0, 1.14) on the mound in a meeting with Peoria RHP Cole Aker (0-2, 8.06).
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 6-9-0
Peoria (R-H-E): 2-6-0
Win: Freure (2-1)
Loss: Leahy (1-4)
Save: Gonzalez (1)
HR: Quad Cities: Trey Dawson (2, 4th inning, 1 on base)
HR: Peoria: Ivan Herrera (4, 1st inning, 0 on base)
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
