Big Fourth Inning, Stellar Pitching Lead to Shutout Win

(Rich Guill)

July 21, 2018

The Quad Cities River Bandits collected all of the offense they needed in a big fourth inning as J.B. Bukauskas and Bryan Abreu dominated on the mound in a 4-0 win over the West Michigan Whitecaps on Saturday at Modern Woodmen Park. The shutout win was the 11^th of the season for the Bandits pitching staff, tying them for the most in the Midwest League.
The decisive half-inning began inauspiciously when Chandler Taylor struck out against West Michigan starter Brad Bass. Colton Shaver followed up the strikeout with a double that one-hopped the wall in center field. Alfredo Angarita followed with a double of his own to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Scott Schreiber traded places with Angarita by splitting the gap with a double of his own. The next hitter Logan Mattix connected on his first professional home run with a towering shot to left that landed on the berm and doubled the advantage to 4-0.
Bandits starter J.B. Bukauskas, who was activated off of the disabled list on Friday, was stellar. The Astros 2017 first round pick dealt 5.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. The right-hander surrendered only two hits and issued one walk. Bryan Abreu earned the save by tossing the final 4.0 innings. He allowed just one hit and walked a pair while also whiffing seven hitters.

Quad Cities dominated the hit column 9-3. Angarita paced all hitters with three base hits, while Seth Beer and Logan Mattix added two each. The River Bandits came up empty in their only bases loaded opportunity, keeping the team hitless in their last 29 at bats with the bases loaded.
The River Bandits (14-14, 54-44) will play the middle game of a series against the West Michigan Whitecaps (12-16, 48-50) at Modern Woodmen Park on Sunday night at 5:15 p.m. The Bandits starting pitcher is slated to be RHP Chad Donato (0-0, 2.65) while the Whitecaps go with RHP Tom de Blok (0-2,3.90).
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.