Bullpen’s Performance Squandered in Bandits’ Loss to Chiefs

Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits got 6.2 scoreless innings from its bullpen on Wednesday, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and fell to the Peoria Chiefs 4-2 at Modern Woodmen Park.

After winning the series opener in walk-off fashion on Tuesday, the Bandits would play from behind for the entirety of the game on Wednesday, as Todd Lott took Noah Cameron deep on the game’s first pitch for a 1-0 Peoria lead.

Although six of his seven outs were via the strikeout, Cameron ended up on the hook for three more in the top of the third, with Osvaldo Tovalin forcing him from the game with an RBI double, before Rito Lugo allowed a pair of inherited runs to score one batter later on Aaron McKeithan’s two-run two-bagger.

After going down six in-a-row to start the night against Chiefs’ starter Inhohan Paniagua, Dillan Shrum got the Bandits on the board with an opposite field homer to begin the bottom half of the frame, but it’d be the only blemish on the right-hander’s 3.0-inning start and the last time Q.C, would record a hit until the seventh, when Chris Gerard stranded Kale Emshoff’s leadoff double to keep Peoria on top 4-1.

While the Bandits’ offense struggled, the bullpen kept Quad Cities in the game with Rito Lugo stranding five runners over 2.2 innings and Anthony Simonelli and Delvin Capellan each tossing a scoreless pair of frames.

In the bottom of the ninth, Quad Cities got back onto the board against Chris Roycroft, plating Herard Gonzalez on a River Town sacrifice-fly to cut Peoria’s lead to 4-2, but the right-hander would strike out Parker Bates, who represented the game-tying run, to end the game.

Gerard (1-2) earned the win out of the ‘pen for the Chiefs, stranding one hit and three walks in 3.1-scoreless innings, while Cameron (2-1) got tagged with his first loss of the year, being left responsible for all four Peoria runs in 2.1 innings of work.

Quad Cities will look to claim its second win of the week on Thursday, as they send William Fleming (2-4, 5.73) to the mound against the Chiefs’ Wilfredo Pereira (6-7, 4.87). First pitch at Modern Woodmen Park is scheduled for 6:30pm.