Charles’ Home Run Blasts Bandits to Second-Straight Walk-Off Win

Davenport, Iowa – Austin Charles played the hero for Quad Cities Wednesday, as his home run in the bottom of the ninth launched the River Bandits (65-52, 35-19) to their fifth consecutive win and back-to-back walk-off wins over the Beloit Sky Carp (61-60, 34-22) 8-7 at Modern Woodmen Park.

After playing from behind to start the game Tuesday, the River Bandits landed the opening blow in the bottom of the first in game two as Ramon Ramirez’s RBI-groundout made it 1-0 Quad Cities early.

Prio to taking the lead, former American League All-Star John Means completed a scoreless top of the first on the bump for the River Bandits, with the left-hander beginning a Triple-A rehabilitation assignment by stranding a pair of Sky Carp.

Blake Wolters took over for Means in the second, but after starting his night with a scoreless frame, ran into Cody Schrier in the third. Beloit’s third baseman smacked a two-run homer to leapfrog the Sky Carp to a 2-1 advantage.

Quad Cities’ deficit did not last long, as Blake Mitchell followed Zion Rose’s one-out double in the bottom of the third with a two-run long ball of his own off Sky Carp starter Brayan Mendoza, pushing the Bandits back in 3-2. The home run marked the catcher’s 22nd of the season, tied for the third-most in the Midwest League.

Wolters’ struggles continued into the third, with RBI-singles from Schrier and Jesus Hernandez knocking the right-hander from the game and giving Beloit a 5-3 lead.

Nick Conte took over for Wolters with two outs and the bases loaded and after walking Victor Ortega to extend the Sky Carp lead to three, got Cam Clayton to ground out and limit the damage.

After Quad Cities started to chip away in the fifth on the back of Mitchell’s sacrifice fly, Mendoza finished off the inning and departed in line for the win with Beloit up 6-4.

The River Bandits’ bullpen held the visitors to just two hits after the fourth inning, but the first popped of the bat of Schrier again, with the 23-year-old blasting his second home run of the game off Conte in the top of the sixth.

Trailing by three for the second time in the game, the River Bandits rallied to knott the score at 7-7 in the very next half-inning, racking up five hits on Beloit right-hander Braulio Salas. After RBI-singles from Stone Russell and Asbel Gonzalez, Mitchell earned his fourth RBI of the game and tied it up with a bases-loaded walk, his High-A-leading 106th of the season.

Mason Miller made sure the game stayed tied, retiring all six Sky Carp hitters he faced in the eighth and ninth, including three strikeouts. Quad Cities loaded the bases against Hayden Cuthbertson, but failed to break the tie in the seventh or eighth innings.

After Yimi Presinal worked around a Hernandez walk and an Ortega single, standing the go-ahead run at third in the top of the ninth, Charles sent Bandits fans home happy in the bottom half, lifting an 0-2 pitch from Peyton Fosher onto the left-field berm for his sixth home run of the season, his third since returning from the injured list, and Quad Cities second walk-off round-tripper of the season.

Presinal (3-2) earned the win and extended a scoreless-inning streak to 7.2 for Quad Cities, while Fosher (2-6) was tagged with the loss, allowing the game-winner. Salas (2) was also charged with a blown save, surrendering three Quad Cities runs in the sixth.

Now with a full two-game lead on the top spot in the Midwest League West, the River Bandits return to Modern Woodmen for game three of the six-game series tomorrow night and send Emmanuel Reyes (6-3, 4.11) to the mound opposite Beloit’s Nate Payne (4-7, 3.81). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.