Kemp Homers in Bandits’ Loss to Chiefs

Peoria, Illinois – Tyriq Kemp launched his second home run of the series Saturday, but the Quad Cities River Bandits (69-57, 39-24) suffered their third loss in five games against the Peoria Chiefs (63-67, 31-33), dropping Saturday’s contest 5-3 at Dozer Park.

For the fourth time in the set, the River Bandits surrendered the game’s first runs, with Andrew Williamson’s RBI-single and Caden Ferraro’s RBI-triple putting Peoria up 2-0 in the bottom of the third.

Kemp’s blast, his 13th of the season, came a half-inning later against Chiefs’ starter Jack Martinez and tied the game 2-2 in the top of the fourth.

The tie would not last long however, as a pair of RBI-doubles off the bats of Anyelo Encarnacion and Jose Suarez in the bottom of the frame pushed Peoria back into the lead, 4-2.

Tanner Jones, Quad Cities’ starter, completed his 11th outing of 5.0 or more innings, but not before Tristan Bissetta’s sacrifice fly gave the Chiefs a three-run advantage in the fifth.

Martinez also worked 5.0 full innings, racking up eight of Peoria’s 13 strikeouts.

A seventh-inning RBI-single from Nolan Sailors accounted for Quad Cities’ final run and final hit of the ballgame, as the designated hitter tagged reliever Nelfy Ynfante for his first run of the series and trimmed the Bandits’ deficit back to two, 5-3.

While Aiden Jimenez (1.2 IP) and Yimi Presinal (1.1 IP) both worked scorelessly in relief of Jones, Trey Pooser (1.0 IP) and Patick Galle (1.0 IP) also posted zeros in the eighth and ninth to close out the game for Peoria.

Kemp’s home run marked the only blemish on Martinez’s (2-3) winning line, while Jones (5-7) finished on the hook for the loss and five runs on six hits, three walks, and six strikeouts.

The defeat officially snaps a string of five-straight series wins for the River Bandits, who look to force a split of the six-game set against the Chiefs in their regular season finale Sunday. First pitch is set for 2:05 p.m. at Dozer Park.