Alcantara Fans 11, Bandits Win Fourth-Straight

Davenport, Iowa – Behind a career-high 11 strikeouts from Adrian Alcantara, the Quad Cities River Bandits won their series opener over the Dayton Dragon by a final score of 3-1 on Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Over the first three innings, Alcantara and Dragons’ starter Sam Benschoter combined for nine strikeouts, including four from the Bandits’ right-hander, who then struck out the side in order in the fourth for seven in 4.0-scoreless innings.

With their starter having allowed just two base runners, Quad Cities’ offense strung together five-straight hits against Benschoter in the bottom of the fourth, taking a two-run lead on RBI singles from Juan Carlos Negret and Herard Gonzalez.

After Alcantara again faced the minimum in the fifth, Rece Hinds stuck for the starter’s lone blemish with an RBI double to trim the Bandits’ lead to 2-1 in the sixth.

In the seventh, Alcantara allowed another double, this time a leadoff poke from Justice Thompson. Just after striking out Jose Torres for his 11th punchout of the game, the righty induced a popup from Mat Nelson, but it would be his final out, as Parker Harm entered for the final batter and struck out Michel Triana to strand the game-tying run at third.

Quad Cities picked up an insurance run on Peyton Wilson RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, which was plenty for Harm and Anderson Paulino, who combined for 2.1-scoreless frames with the latter picking up his first save of the year with a perfect ninth.

The win marked Alcantara’s (6-5) sixth of the year and his third consecutive start with at least eight strikeouts. Benschoter (0-1) got tagged with the loss allowing two runs in his 5.0-inning High-A debut.

Quad Cities will look to set a new season-high with its fifth-straight victory tomorrow, as Noah Cameron (2-0, 2.63) gets the start for the Bandits against Dayton’s Chase Petty (0-2, 5.40). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm at Modern Woodmen Park.