Sailors' Slam Seals Bandits’ Sixth-Straight Win

Davenport, Iowa – Nolan Sailors’ launched Quad Cities’ fifth grand slam of the season Tuesday, as the River Bandits (59-51, 29-18) defeated the Dayton Dragons (59-54, 20-27) 7-2 en route to their sixth consecutive win.

Quad Cities’ starter Jordan Woods struck out a High-A season-high six and surrendered just two base runners over a 4.0-inning start and was staked to a 1-0 lead in the first when Zion Rose took advantage of a pair of Dragons errors, plating Asbel Gonzalez with an RBI-groundout.

Ovis Portes, Dayton’s starter, matched Woods with six strikeouts of his own, but gave way to Andrew Shaffner for the fourth. Derlin Figueroa greeted the right-hander with his league-leading 26th home run of the season, tucking a solo shot down the left-field line for a 2-0 Bandits’ advantage.

Later in the fourth, Quad Cities pushed ahead 3-0 on a Stone Russell sacrifice-fly.

Jacob Friend broke Dayton into the run column in the fifth with a two-run homer off Bandits’ right-hander Jackson Cleveland, but it proved the only blemish on the right-hander’s line, which included his first four professional strikeouts.

In the seventh, Quad Cities loaded the bases against Jordan Little. The Dragons right-hander picked up the second out of the inning, striking out Jose Cerice, but was replaced by Jordan Roman ahead of Sailors’ stepping to the plate. Quad Cities’ designated hitter sent the first pitch Romano threw half-way up the batter’s eye in center field for his first professional grand slam.

Working with the 7-2 lead, Ethan McElvain, Nick Conte, and Yimi Presinal each completed a scoreless inning to close out the game, combining for six of the pitching staff’s 16 strikeouts.

McElvain (1-0) earned the win, working a perfect seventh, while Portes (1-7) was saddled with the loss despite allowing just one unearned run.

Quad Cities returns to Day Air Ballpark for game two of the six-game series tomorrow night and sends Tanner Jones (4-6, 4.84) to the mound opposite Deivi Villafana (0-2, 5.51), First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.