River Bandits' offense held in check by Beloit in 8-1 loss
Gruver (4-4) allowed a leadoff first inning home run to Virgil Hill, and then set down the next 14 Quad Cities' batters in order before a single by Roberto De La Cruz with two outs in the fifth ended the streak. In all, the left-hander allowed just five hits, three of which came with two outs in an inning.
Beloit (32-22) scored one run in the top of the first when third baseman Miguel Sano doubled to center field, scoring right fielder J.D. Williams, who drew a walk to lead off the game, and later advanced on a passed ball by Juan Castillo.
With the game tied 1-1 in the third, the Snappers scored two more times on a two-run home run by second baseman Eddie Rosario off Quad Cities' left-hander Dail Villanueva (3-3). Villanueva pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits, striking out six and walking a career-high five.
River Bandits' reliever Robert Stock came on in relief in the sixth and allowed a two-run home run to Beloit catcher Matthew Koch. All of Koch's three home runs this season have come off Quad Cities' pitching.
The Snappers scored one more run in the seventh inning off Stock and two in the ninth off left-hander Danny Miranda. Two of those three runs came on RBI singles by Beloit first baseman Adam Bryant, who went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in.
Quad Cities (27-27) remain seven games behind first-place Wisconsin in the Western Division. Colin Walsh went 0-for-4, snapping a 22-game on-base streak - the longest by a River Bandits' player this season.
Beloit and Quad Cities conclude the series Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Left-hander Hector Hernandez (4-3) will start for Quad Cities and left-hander Jason Wheeler (6-1) will start for Beloit.
UP NEXT: The River Bandits conclude their series with the Beloit Snappers at 7 p.m. on Friday night. The first 2,000 fans to the game will receive a River Bandits welcome mat presented by Clarion Hotels and the Dispatch-Argus. Postgame fireworks will be presented by WLLR-FM and WQAD-TV. It is also Boy Scout Night presented by Gander Mountain. Single-game tickets are on sale at the River Bandits box office at Modern Woodmen Park, by phone at (563) 3-BANDIT and online at www.riverbandits.com. Season ticket and mini-plan packages start at just seven games and begin at less than $50. Call a River Bandits account representative today to choose your seats and get the details of our various mini-plan packages.
ABOUT THE BANDITS: After four years of ballpark improvements, the River Bandits and the City of Davenport last summer unveiled some of the most impressive enhancements to Modern Woodmen Park yet. A brand new, state of the art, high definition 20' x 35' video board went live on June 7, and the newly enclosed glass Sky Deck on the suite level of Modern Woodmen Park was completed last August. Those improvements, in addition to new flood protection, a new front plaza, and a new parking lot directly across the street from the ballpark, are quickly making Modern Woodmen Park one of the premier facilities in all of Minor League Baseball. More improvements are scheduled for this coming season!