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Bats Arrive Too Late in Bandits’ Fourth Consecutive Loss 

June 25, 2022

Appleton, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River Bandits never had more than two men aboard in any inning until the ninth inning on Saturday, but their comeback fell short, dropping their fourth game in-a-row to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5-3 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. For the

Appleton, Wisconsin – The Quad Cities River Bandits never had more than two men aboard in any inning until the ninth inning on Saturday, but their comeback fell short, dropping their fourth game in-a-row to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5-3 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

For the fourth time in his five stars this season, Bandits’ right-hander Noah Cameron allowed an earned run in the first inning, with Wes Clarke driving in a run on an RBI single after former River Bandit and Brewers’ rehabber Kolten Wong reached on an error and plated an unearned run on a balk to put the Rattlers up 2-0.

Wisconsin’s lead didn’t last long however, as Juan Carlos Negret scored Herard Gonzalez’s one-out triple with a two-run homer for his tenth of the season in the next half inning off of Antoine Kelly.

Cameron settled down and posted a pair of zeros over his next two frames, but the lefty’s start lasted just 3.0 innings.

In his spot, Jack Aldrich began the bottom of the fourth on the hill for Quad Cities, but gave up a solo blast to Joe Gray Jr., the first man he faced in the game. Two innings later, the Wisconsin outfielder launched a second solo shot against Patrick Halligan in the sixth to make it a 4-2 T-Rats’ advantage.

After allowing the home run to Negret in the second, Wisconsin starter Antoine Kelly cruised the rest of the way, tossing a career-high 7.0 innings and striking out nine, including eight-straight from the fifth to the seventh innings and scattering three Q.C. base runners.

Joey Matulovich picked up where Kelly left off with a one-two-three eighth inning before turning the ball over to James Meeker for the final inning.

Down to their final three outs, Diego Hernandez led off the frame for the Bandits with a walk and advanced to second on a Dillan Shrum groundout. After another Meeker walk, worked by Gonzalez, the Bandits brought the tying-run to the plate in Morgan McCullough, who plated Hernandez with an RBI single to trim the Bandits’ deficit to 5-3.

The next batter, Negret, loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on for Parker Bates with one out.

Meeker got Bates to fly out, not deep enough to score Gonzalez from third, and then got Rubendy Jaquez to bounce into a game-ending fielder choice to secure his second save of the week.

Allowing one run in 2,0 relief innings, Aldrich (0-2) took the loss for Quad Cities, while Kelly’s gem (2-3) netted him his second win of the season.

Quad Cities will conclude its series in Wisconsin tomorrow with a 1:10pm contest at Fox Cities Stadium, as Triple-A rehabber Eric Skoglund (0-0, 3.86) gets the ball for the second time this week against Rattlers’ lefty Russell Smith (1-4, 5.49).