Bandits Shutout in Return to Modern Woodmen Park

Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits went down quietly in an 8-0 shutout loss against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Beck Way (0-1, 9.64 ERA) took the loss in his Bandits’ debut after tossing 4.2 innings and allowing five earned runs on five hits while walking three and striking out six batters. The start was the first for the right-hander after being acquired by Kansas City from the New York Yankees in the Andrew Benintendi trade.

Way pitched around a pair of two-out triples in the first three innings before running into trouble in the top of the fourth. Timber Rattlers’ first baseman Ashton McGee worked a lead-off walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and came around to score on an RBI double by shortstop Ethan Murray to put Wisconsin on the board, 1-0. The T-Rats tacked on two more runs in the inning with an RBI triple from the next batter, third baseman Xavier Warren, and a single from second baseman Jose Acosta to go up 3-0.

Wisconsin added a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, charged to Beck, and added three more in the fifth off reliever Rito Lugo to go up 8-0. Lugo entered in relief of Beck and tossed 2.1 innings allowing three earned runs on five hits while walking and striking out one batter each.

Anthony Simonelli tossed the final 2.0 scoreless innings for Q.C., allowing one hit with no walks and one strikeout in his return from the injured list.

Offensively, the Bandits were held in check by Wisconsin starter Justin Bullock who went 6.0 scoreless innings and gave up just two hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Third baseman Cam Williams and center fielder Peyton Wilson tallied Quad Cities’ only two hits of the game, both singles.

The Bandits continued to struggle against T-Rats relievers Robbie Baker and Ryan Middendorf, who combined for three perfect innings to finish the game.

One of the few scoring chances for Q.C. came in the bottom of the third after a walk by first baseman Dillan Shrum and a single from Williams to begin the inning, but a lineout by left fielder River Town, a flyout by right fielder Diego Hernandez, and a strikeout of Peyton Wilson stranded the runners to end the frame. The Bandits would only place base runners twice for the remainder of the contest: Luca Tresh reaching on a fourth-inning error and a two-out, sixth-inning single by Wilson.

The Bandits will look to snap a two-game skid on Wednesday night, as they send right-hander Chandler Champlain (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the hill, in his first start as a River Bandit. Wisconsin will call upon righty Israel Puello (1-3, 4.13 ERA). First pitch between the River Bandits and Timber Rattlers is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park.