Gonzalez’s Homer Not Enough in Bandits’ Loss

Davenport, Iowa – Herard Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season on Thursday, but the Quad Cities River Bandits dropped their second-straight game to the Peoria Chiefs, falling 4-2 at Modern Woodmen Park.

Gonzalez’s solo blast, his first since August 30, 2022, gave Quad Cities an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but it was just one of two hits allowed by Peoria starter Trent Baker, who tossed his second consecutive quality start against the River Bandits.

Quad Cities’ starter, Ryan Ramsey, struck out six Chiefs through three-scoreless innings to start the night, but gave up three runs and the lead in the fourth, including a two-run single to RJ Yeager to put the Chiefs up 3-1.

Justin Johnson brought the Bandits to within one on an RBI double in the fifth, but it would be the final time Quad Cities would score, as Gustavo Rodriguez (0.2 IP) and Matt Hickey (2.0 IP) combined for 2.2-scoreless innings to close out the game.

The River Bandits bullpen also closed out the night strong, with Cruz Noriega (3.0 IP) and Brandon Johnson (2.0 IP) allowing just one unearned run with four strikeouts, but the bats mustered just two hits of offense from the sixth inning on.

Baker (7-9) earned the win for Peoria, striking out six over 6.1 innings of work, while Ramsey (0-2) got tagged for the loss in his first career High-A start. Hickey (5) earned a six-out save with the help of two strikeouts.

Quad Cities will look to even the series tomorrow night at Modern Woodmen Park, as Ben Kudrna (1-3, 5.59) will get the start against Peoria’s Zane Mills (6-5, 5.07). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.