The Snappers looked primed to take a series lead with a 2019 Midwest League All-Star on the mound against Quad Cities, but the River Bandits had other plans. Quad Cities bested the Snappers 7-4 on Saturday as Beloit ace Aiden McIntyre (2-5, 2.88 ERA) had his worst start of the
The Snappers looked primed to take a series lead with a 2019 Midwest League All-Star on the mound against Quad Cities, but the River Bandits had other plans. Quad Cities bested the Snappers 7-4 on Saturday as Beloit ace Aiden McIntyre (2-5, 2.88 ERA) had his worst start of the season. The righty lasted just four innings, allowing a season-high five earned runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out four.
The Bandits scored four of those runs in an ugly first inning. Astros No. 27 prospect Ross Adolph led off the game with a double before No. 24 prospect Jeremy Pena drove him in with a single. Three batters later, Oscar Campos added on with an RBI single, and then Cesar Salazar broke it open with a two-run double.
The Snappers answered with John Jones's RBI single in the bottom of the inning. From there, Beloit and the River Bandits played tit-for-tat for the rest of the contest. Pena drove in another run in the top of the fourth, to which the Snappers answered with a bases-loaded walk from Skyler Weber in the bottom of the inning. Salazar knocked in his third run of the night in the top of the fifth while Beloit scored a run on a Jones double play in the bottom of the fifth. The final instance was when Astros No. 6 prospect Freudis Nova hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth, but all the Snappers could get from their ninth-inning rally was a Cobie Vance sacrifice fly.
Several Snappers had solid nights at the plate on Saturday. Vance stayed hot by going 3-for-4 with two doubles. Ryan Gridley went 2-for-5 to extend his on-base streak to an impressive 33 games. Meanwhile, Adolph continued to torment Beloit pitching with a 3-for-5 night, the second contest in the series in which he missed the cycle by a hit. Campos and Salazar also contributed two-hit performances.
Beloit looks to salvage the series split tomorrow at 2 p.m. CT. Snappers Opening Day starter Chase Cohen (4-7, 6.65 ERA) faces Bandits right-hander Matt Ruppenthal (2-1, 2.93 ERA).
