Chiefs Steal Late Win From Bandits

Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits (40-42, 10-9) held a six-run lead after two innings Saturday, but fell victim to a pair of Peoria Chiefs (40-45, 8-11) comebacks in a 9-8 loss at Modern Woodmen Park.

Quad Cities got off and running early against Peoria starter Leonel Sequera thanks in no small part to Ramon Ramirez, who struck for a two-run double in each of the first two innings. Derlin Figueroa and Luke Pelzer tacked on RBI-singles in the first and second respectively to propel the Bandits ahead 6-0 after two.

River Bandits’ starter Emmanuel Reyes worked perfectly through his first two innings, but surrendered an RBI-single to Luis Pino in the third and a solo shot to Josh Kross in the fourth.

Reyes closed out his 16th start of the year with two of his night’s six strikeouts in a scoreless fifth, with Quad Cities in front 6-2.

Nick Conte took over for his fellow right-hander in the sixth and immediately ran into trouble. The reliever issued back-to-back walks to begin the frame before Sammy Hernandez and Christian Martin strung together consecutive RBI-doubles.

With his club clinging to a 6-5 lead, Max Martin picked up the first two outs of the inning, but allowed a game-tying RBI-single to Luis Pino.

Quad Cities quickly retook the lead in the bottom half against Chiefs’ right-hander Bobby Olsen, jumping back in front 7-6 on Asbel Gonzalez’s sacrifice-fly.

Martin completed a perfect seventh and recorded the first two outs in the top of the eighth to extend his scoreless-inning streak to a Midwest League-best 14.1 innings before LP Langevin sent the game to the bottom half.

An RBI-single off the bat of Erick Torres gave Quad Cities an insurance run and an 8-6 lead going into the ninth, but after Langevin allowed the first two Peoria batters to reach in the final frame, the Chiefs shot ahead 9-8 on Michael Dattalo’s three-run homer.

Langevin would respond with back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame, however, Quad Cities failed to score in the bottom half against Ruben Menes, who stranded Nolan Sailors’ walk at first.

Nolan Sparks (5-5), who pitched the eighth for Peoria, earned the win, while Langevin (4-2) was charged with a blown save in the loss for the River Bandits.

Quad Cities closes out its six-game series with the Chiefs and a 12-game homestand tomorrow afternoon and sends David Shields (7-4, 3.91) to the mound opposite Jacob Odle (2-1, 3.42). First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.