Bandits overcome Diaz's heroics, 6-5

DAVENPORT, Ia. – Third baseman Davis Diaz delivered a sequence of four stunning plays – a go-ahead three-run homer, a runner-deceiving deke, an unassisted double play, and a two-strike, two-out, game-tying RBI single in the ninth – only to see the Quad Cities River Bandits (7-7) walk off the Lansing Lugnuts (6-10), 6-5, in a Wednesday matinee at Modern Woodmen Park.

For the first eight and a half innings, Diaz and Quad Cities catcher Ramon Ramirez played a game of “Can you top this?”

Ramirez gave Quad Cities a 1-0 lead in the fourth with an RBI double.

Diaz countered with a two-strike, three-run homer to left in the fifth inning for a 3-1 Lugnuts lead.

Ramirez tied the game at 3-3 with a two-run homer in the sixth.

After a Rodney Green, Jr. seventh-inning RBI single put Lansing in front, 4-3, Austin Charles led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and stole third. But Diaz, after already gathering the baseball, pantomimed reacting to a throw that had gotten away, into left field. Charles jumped to his feet and started away from third base, allowing Diaz to tag him out and squash a Quad Cities rally.

In the eighth, however, Ramirez struck back with a two-run double off Ryan Magdic for a 5-4 River Bandits lead.

The Bandits might’ve had more, moving Ramirez to third base with one out – but Diaz snared a line drive from Charles and dove at the base before Ramirez could scramble back safely, ending the inning.

That brought the game to the ninth, where Bandits reliever Yimi Presinal – yet to allow a run in 2026 – walked Jared Sprague-Lott and wild-pitched him to second, then recorded back-to-back groundouts and jumped ahead of Davis Diaz 0-and-2. The Vandy product was undeterred, slashing the next pitch through the left side of the infield to score Sprague-Lott with the game-tying run.

Neither Ramirez nor Diaz was involved in the finish. Jose Cerice opened up the bottom of the ninth with an infield single off Jake Garland, Tyriq Kemp drew a four-pitch walk, and Erick Torres bunted the runners ahead 90 feet. Lansing intentionally walked Nolan Sailors, only to see Asbel Gonzalez line a first-pitch curveball into center field for a game-winning RBI single.

In a no-decision, Lansing starter Steven Echavarria allowed three runs on four hits and one walk in six innings, striking out three. It was the Lugnuts’ second consecutive quality start, following Jackson Finley’s six-inning, three-hit, three-run performance in the opener.

The third game of the six-game series arrives at 7:30 p.m. EDT / 6:30 p.m. CDT on Thursday, with Lugnuts right-hander Samuel Dutton taking on Quad Cities lefty Mason Miller.

The Nuts return home from April 28-May 3 to host the Dayton Dragons. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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