Luken Baker blasted a three-run home run to left field, his first as a member of the Peoria Chiefs, in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park to lead the Chiefs to an 8-7 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits. The River Bandits wasted no time reaching
Luken Baker blasted a three-run home run to left field, his first as a member of the Peoria Chiefs, in the seventh inning on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park to lead the Chiefs to an 8-7 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits.
The River Bandits wasted no time reaching the scoreboard. Marty Costes grounded a ball through the legs of third baseman Elehuris Montero to open the game. Ruben Castro followed with a base hit and then Colton Shaver was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. After Chandler Taylor struck out, Alfredo Angarita hit a line drive to left field that was deep enough to score Costes from third and give the Bandits a 1-0 lead.
Peoria battled right back to tie it in the bottom half. Wood Myers ripped a double to dead center field to open the inning. He moved to third on a wild pitch and raced home on Zach Kirtley's single through the left side to knot the game 1-1.
In the top of the second, Logan Mattix grounded a one-out single up the middle and into center field. He quickly stole second and advanced to third when catcher Dennis Ortega's throw sailed into center field for an error. Costes gave the Bandits the lead with a single into shallow right.
The Bandits pushed across three unearned runs in the fourth to widen the gap. Scott Schreiber reached on an error with one out to begin the rally. He stole second base and made it into third on a throwing error by Ortega. Mattix worked a walk to put runners on the corners. Chiefs pitcher Paul Balistrieri unleashed a wild pitch that scored Schreiber and moved Mattix to third. Another pitch in the dirt rolled to the backstop, scoring Mattix and making it 4-1. Castro and Shaver hit back-to-back two-out singles to put a runner in scoring position for Chandler Taylor. The right fielder grounded a base hit through the right side to plate Castro and stretch the lead to 5-1.
Montero chipped away at the Bandits lead with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fourth and then the floodgates opened in the seventh. Hansel Paulino began his first full inning of work after closing out the sixth and ran into trouble immediately. A walk and four hits allowed Peoria to even the score with two men remaining on base. Manager Mickey Storey summoned Tanner Duncan from the bullpen with two outs and Luken Baker at the plate. Duncan fell behind 3-0 and then left a 3-1 pitch over the plate that Baker hammered to left for a go-ahead home run that put Peoria in front 8-5.
In the ninth inning, Shaver launched his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot that pulled the River Bandits within 8-7. Taylor was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on base, but the next two hitters were retired to end the game.
The Bandits were outhit 11-7. Shaver and Castro each had two hits for Quad Cities. Myers finished with three hits for the second consecutive game against Bandits pitching.
Leovanny Rodriguez, the starter for the Bandits, lasted 5.1 innings and allowed two runs on six hits. Paulino took the loss after allowing five runs on four hits in 1.1 innings. Duncan closed out the seventh and also pitched the eighth, giving up just the home run to Baker.
The River Bandits (22-19, 62-49) will play the Chiefs (26-14, 65-45) in the rubber match on Monday night at Dozer Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The Bandits will turn to RHP Edgardo Sandoval (0-1, 2.57) on the mound against Peoria RHP Alvaro Seijas (4-6, 4.54).
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.T
