Figueroa Slams in Quad Cities' Explosive Comeback Win Over Beloit

Beloit, Wisconsin – Derlin Figueroa launched a pair of home runs including a grand slam during a nine-run eighth inning, as the Quad Cities River Bandits (25-31) defeated the Beloit Sky Carp 16-10 in a rain-shortened (25-33) Wednesday night ballgame at ABC Supply Stadium.

The grand slam marks the River Bandits’ first since 2024, while the multi-homer performance was the third of Figueroa’s season and the fourth of his High-A career.

Before the late-game fireworks, it was the Sky Carp who jumped in front first, plating run(s) in the opening inning for the second-straight game on Emilio Barreras sacrifice-fly and Esmil Valencia’s RBI-double.

Quad Cities’ starter Aiden Jimenez rebounded with back-to-back scoreless frames and saw his club’s bats cut Beloit’s lead to 2-1 when Asbel Gonzalez stole home as part of a double steal in the third.

The Sky Carp clapped back in the fourth however, scoring a runs on a wild pitch, Brandon Compton’s RBI-single, and a two-run homer from Barreras.

Trailing 6-1 entering the fifth, Quad Cities began its largest comeback win of the season with an RBI-single off the bat of Asbel Gonzalez before Figueroa struck for his first home run of the game in the sixth, trimming the Bandits’ deficit to 6-4 with a two-run homer off Peyton Foshuer.

Right-hander Kamden Edge took over on the mound for Jimenez and kept Beloit’s bats near-silent over 2.0-scoreless innings of relief including four strikeouts, which allowed Gonzalez’s sacrifice-fly and a two-run go-ahead home run from Royals’ top prospect Blake Mitchell to surge Quad Cities into a 7-6 lead in the seventh. The homer marked Mitchell’s 11th of the season.

Just a half-inning later, Beloit retook the lead against QC left-hander Cory Ronan, as RBI-singles from Abrahan Ramirez and Carlos Sanchez pushed the Sky Carp up 8-7.

Quad Cities retook the lead for good in the eighth though, bringing 13 batters to the plate against the combo of Juan De La Cruz and Chase Renner. After Tyirq Kemp, Diego Guzman, and Nolan Sailors struck for three-straight RBI-singles, Guzman scampered home on a De La Cruz wild pitch to give the River Bandits a 11-8 lead.

Recording just one out in the frame, De La Cruz’s outing ended after walking Gonzalez. Renner then entered and struck out Mitchell for the second out of the inning, but then hit Ramon Ramirez with a pitch to load the bases before walking Luke Pelzer to bring in Quad Cities’ 12th run.

Two pitches later, Figueroa followed with the grand slam, blasting the Bandits ahead 16-8. With 14 home runs on the season, the outfielder is tied with Fort Wayne's Jake Cunningham for the second most in the Midwest League this season.

As the rain started to fall, Dillon Head clubbed a two-run homer off River Bandits’ right-hander Yimi Presinal in the bottom of the eighth, and while Renner followed with a scoreless top of the ninth, the game entered a rain delay two batters into the bottom half. After a 20-minute pause, the game was officially concluded early.

Despite being charged a blown save and surrendering a pair of runs over one inning of relief, Ronan (3-1) earned the win for Quad Cities. De La Cruz (1-4) was also charged with a blown save in the losing effort, allowing six runs on four hits and two walks.

Sky Carp starter Joey Volini took a no decision, allowing one run over 4.0 innings.

The River Bandits return to ABC Supply Stadium for game three of the six-game set tomorrow night and send Emmanuel Reyes (4-2, 2.74) to the mound against Beloit’s Luke Lashutka (0-1, 4.50). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.