Late Walks Not Enough in Bandits Loss to Lansing

Davenport, Iowa – Mustering just two hits after the third inning on Thursday, the Quad Cities River Bandits fell to the Lansing Lugnuts 4-2 for their first loss of the series at Modern Woodmen Park.

Just as they did on Wednesday, Lansing took the first lead of the game in the second inning, as Euribiel Angeles tagged Bandits’ starter Ben Kudrna for a two-out RBI single to plate Danny Bautista Jr., but Quad Cities would immediately tie it 1-1 in the bottom half, with Gavin Cross scoring on a Herard Gonzalez fielder’s choice.

Both Kudrna and Lansing starter Mitch Myers kept the game tied over the next two innings, before CJ Rodriguez broke the deadlock with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1 Lugnuts.

Myers would close out his quality start with three of his season-high six strikeouts in the fifth and sixth, handing the ball to Stevie Emanuels, who got an insurance run on a Susac RBI single in the seventh.

While Emanuels would toss a scoreless first frame of work, he and Pedro Santos loaded the bases in the eighth, with Santos walking Cayden Wallace to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but the Cuban-born righty would strikeout the Cuban-born Juan Carlos Negret to end the threat and keep it a three-run Lansing lead.

The Bandits again used the walk to rally with two-outs in the bottom of the ninth, but after Gonzalez scored from third on an Angeles throwing error, newly entered Kumar Nambiar got Javier Vaz—the game-tying run—to bounce out to first and end the game a 4-2 Lugnuts win.

After 2.1 innings of one-run relief from Ryan Kaufman, his first appearance since returning from the Injured List, Parker Harm closed out the game on the hill for the Bandits with 1.2 shutout frames, plus a pair of strikeouts.

Myers (1-3) earned his first win of the season for the Lugnuts, while Kudrna (0-1) suffered his first-career High-A loss, allowing three runs on seven hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Nambiar (1) earned a one-out save for his first of the season.

Quad Cities will send Steven Zobac (0-0, 3.18) to the hill for his Modern Woodmen Park debut on Friday night against Lansing’s Jacob Watters (2-6, 5.59). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.