Quad Cities Walks-Off With Marathon Win

Davenport, IA - In their longest game of the season by innings played, the Peoria Chiefs were on the wrong end of an 8-7 defeat in 12 innings Tuesday at Quad Cities.

Peoria starter Dionys Rodriguez, who twirled five no-hit innings in his last start against Wisconsin, matched Quad Cities starter Adrian Alcantara through two shutout innings. In the third, Mack Chambers got the Chiefs on the board in grand fashion. The shortstop cranked a solo homer just inside the right field foul pole to give Peoria a 1-0 advantage. For Chambers, it was his sixth blast of the year.

The River Bandits wasted no time to answer with a blast of their own. With runners at first and second, second baseman Peyton Wilson lifted a three-run homer out to right center to give Quad Cities their first lead of the contest.

From there, a seesaw affair ensued. In the fourth, the Chiefs got a run right back on Aaron McKeithan double that banged off the wall in left field. After a Wilson fielding error extended the error, Osvaldo Tovalin scored all the way from first to make it a 3-2 game.

After Dionys Rodriguez labored through the fourth, he cruised through the fifth inning to end his night. Upon entering the sixth inning, Rodriguez was in line for a loss but LJ Jones quickly made sure that would not be the case. Jones launched his 13th homer of the year to knot the score at 3-3.

In the theme of the night, Quad Cities had another quick answer. With one out in the sixth, Kale Emshoff hit a line drive homer off Nathanael Heredia to give the River Bandits a 4-3 cushion. Following a single and a hit by pitch, Parker Bates gave Quad Cities some breathing room with a double to the gap in right center to extend the lead to 5-3. With runners on second and third and just one out in the inning, Heredia worked around Tyler Tolbert and Wilson to avoid the crooked number.

Trailing by a pair of runs in the eighth, it was Peoria’s turn to tie the game again. After singles from Noah Mendlinger and Todd Lott, a Jacob Buchberger walk loaded the bases for Jones. The slugger delivered again, this time singling in a pair to tie the game at 5-5. Following the knock, left-hander Parker Harm entered to strand the bases loaded and send the game to the home half of the eighth.

Peoria reliever Jack Ralston entered in the bottom of the eighth and after walking a 1-2-3 eighth, encountered some trouble in the nith. The River Bandits placed two runners aboard with no one out. The Peoria right-hander rolled up a key double play to ultimately wiggle out of the ninth and send the game to extras.

In the 10th, both teams cashed in their ghost runner. In the Peoria half of the inning, a two-out single from Tovalin scored Lott from third to give the Chiefs a 6-5 lead. The advantage was brief as Quad Cities rallied to tie the score on a Kale Emshoff single off Andre Granillo.

After a scoreless 11th, the Chiefs again broke through in the 12th. Following a sac bunt, Lott served as the run producer this time around. His single to right field gave the Chiefs a 7-6 lead.

Again, Quad Cities had an answer, this time to win the contest. After a walk placed runners at first and second, a sac bunt placed runners at second and third for River Town, whose sac fly to center knotted the score at 7-7. With two outs and the go-ahead run now at third, a passed ball charged to catcher Wade Stauss ended the game as a Granillo fastball went to the backstop.

With the loss, the Chiefs dropped to just 12-23 in one-run contests this season. The series continues Wednesday from Modern Woodmen Park. Inohan Paniagua will start for Peoria.