Bandits Walk-Off Rattlers to Even Series

Davenport, Iowa – The ball never left the infield, but Javier Vaz’s walk-off infield single led Quad Cities River Bandits to a 5-4 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

While it took until the game’s final pitch to plate the winning run, the River Bandits took a first-inning lead for the second time in as many nights, as Carter Jensen capped off a two-out rally with a two-run single against Edwin Jimenez for an early 2-0 Quad Cities lead.

However, Wisconsin would immediately respond in the top of the second against David Sandlin, with Ernesto Martinez Jr. leaving the yard for the second time in as many games and knotting the game 2-2 with a two-run homer.

Quad Cities then turned to the long-ball themselves, jumping back in front 3-2 in the third on a solo shot from Diego Hernandez, his first hit in his return to Davenport on a rehab assignment.

Sandlin and Jimenez both settled down in their fourth and final frames, with Sandlin collecting a pair of strikeouts as part of a perfect inning, but the right-hander was removed due to injury before he could throw a pitch in the fifth.

Marlin Willis only allowed one hit over his 2.0 innings of relief for Quad Cities, but fell victim to a pair of errors and walks in the fifth, with Wisconsin getting a game-tying RBI single from Eric Brown Jr. and the go-ahead sacrifice-fly off the bat of Matt Wood to move ahead 4-3.

After giving up the lead, the River Bandits went cold at the plate. Shane Smith held them to just one hit from the fifth to the seventh inning, while Park Harm helped keep it a one-run deficit, stranding the bases loaded in the seventh after Willis tossed a scoreless sixth.

In the eighth, Anthony Simonelli and Karlos Morales then took over on the hill, each throwing a perfect frame. Simonelli then stranded a Terence Doston leadoff double in the top of the ninth, with Doston getting caught stealing home to end the frame.

Morales began the bottom of the ninth on the mound for Wisconsin, but after recording the first out, allowed River Town and Shervyen Newton to reach with a single and a walk respectively, forcing Joe Ayrualt to turn to a new arm.

After Enrique Valdez came in to pinch run for Newton as the winning tally, Tanner Shears took over with one out and both the tying and winning runs aboard. The right-hander walked Jack Alexander to load the bases, but struck out Diego Hernandez for the second out. Vaz then worked Shears into full count and grounded the pay-off pitch weakly up the middle, where Brown Jr. failed to secure it and tripped over Jack Alexander who was sliding into second, allowing both Town and Valdez to score and give Quad Cities the 5-4 win.

Simonelli (2-2) earned the win out of the bullpen for the Bandits, stranding one hit over 2.0 innings with one strikeout, while Morales (3-4) took the loss, being responsible for both the tying and winning runs. Shears was charged with a blown save.

Quad Cities will look to take the lead in the six-game set tomorrow night at Modern Woodmen Park, as they send Tyson Guerrero (0-3, 3.34), the Midwest League strikeout leader, to the mound against Wisconsin’s Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 1.15). First pitch at Modern Woodmen Park is set for 6:30 p.m.