Dayton Shuts Out Quad Cities to Even Series

Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits (46-47, 16-15) suffered their fourth shutout loss of the season Wednesday, dropping a pitchers’ duel to the Dayton Dragons (54-42, 15-16) 3-0 at Modern Woodmen Park.

River Bandits’ starter Tanner Jones got his night off to a strong start, completing back-to-back perfect frames in the first and second.

The Dragons’ first hit and first run of the night came on John Michael Faile’s second home run in as many nights, a third-inning solo shot that put the Dragons up 1-0.

Jones rebounded with a scoreless fourth and got help from his second baseman Angel Acosta, who robbed Tyson Lewis of a hit with a diving stop at the edge of the infield before tossing to the right-hander covering first for the out.

While Quad Cities put five of the six base runners it generated against Dayton starter Luke Hayden into scoring position, the Bandits failed to take advantage and finished the night 1-for-14 hitting with runners in scoring position.

The Dragons doubled their lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning against Jones and did so with another solo shot, the eighth blast of the season for Peyton Stovall. Jones picked up his sixth and final strikeout of the game two batters later, but was removed after 5.2 innings in favor of Kamden Edge, who struck out Lewis to end the frame.

Hayden also finished his effort with a strikeout, his career-high eighth, and got help from Victor Diaz to finish off the bottom of the sixth, stranding two more Bandits on base.

Edge did not allow a hit over his 1.1-inning outing, dealing two strikeouts along the way. Nick Conte replaced him on the mound to begin the eighth inning.

Dayton extended its lead 3-0 against Conte thanks to an infield RBI-single from Victor Acosta, as a bouncing ball found space up the third base line between Conte and catcher Blake Mitchell.

Conte pitched a scoreless ninth to close his 2.0-inning night in which he tallied two strikeouts, two hits and one earned run. However, Quad Cities failed to cut into the deficit against Trent Hodgdon, who completed a six-out save with four strikeouts and stranded the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth.

Tanner Jones (3-6) took the loss for Quad Cities, while Hayden (3-1) earned the win for Dayton. In addition to Hodgdon’s team-leading seventh save, Diaz (3) earned a hold out of the Dragons’ bullpen.

Asbel Gonzalez led the way for Quad Cities as the team’s lone multi-hit batter of the night with two. Tyriq Kemp, Jose Cerice, Nolan Sailors, and Trevor Werner recorded the team’s other four hits. Cerice extended his team-leading 22-game on-base streak with a single in the second inning.

The River Bandits return to Modern Woodmen Park tomorrow night for game three of their six-game series with Dayton and send Blake Wolters (0-2, 9.60) to the mound opposite Deivi Villafana (0-0, 12.46). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.