Rose’s Heroics Lead Bandits to Second-Straight Walk-Off Win

Davenport, Iowa – For the second consecutive game, the Quad Cities River Bandits (55-51, 25-18) won in walk-off fashion over the Fort Wayne TinCaps (46-62, 19-23) 5-4, as Royals’ first-round pick Zion Rose delivered the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth at Modern Woodmen Park.

The contest was also the Bandits’ second comeback win in-a-row thanks to Rosman Verdugo, who blasted a three-run homer off Quad Cities’ starter Blake Wolters in the first inning to give the TinCaps a 3-0 lead.

Derlin Figueroa got the River Bandits in on some first-inning fun of their own, as the 22-year-old sent his 24th home run of the season over the right field wall, a two-run shot that cut Quad Cities’ deficit to one, 3-2.

The homer tied Figueroa with Brian Harris, who struck for 24 in 1978, for the most in a single season in franchise history.

Wolters’ outing came to an end after one inning. The right-hander finished with two strikeouts, one hit, and three earned runs allowed.

After tossing a scoreless top of the second, Quad Cities’ left-hander Mason Miller surrendered a solo homer to Robbie Lavey in the third, extending Fort Wayne’s lead back to two, 4-2.

Miller worked out of a jam in the fourth, his final frame of work, stranding a pair of TinCaps in scoring position. The reliever struck out three and allowed one run on three hits and no walks in 3.0 innings of relief.

Nolan Sailors brought Quad Cities back within one run in the next half-inning and poked an RBI-single up the middle against Fort Wayne starter Carson Montgomery, who completed 4.0 innings in his outing.

Jackson Cleveland took to the mound for Quad Cities to begin the fifth for his first professional appearance. The newcomer faced the minimum in his first and lone inning of action, allowing only one hit and got help from catcher Blake Mitchel, who caught Ryan Wideman stealing.

The River Bandits brought another fresh face, Ethan McElvain, to the mound for the sixth. McElvain worked hitlessly in his one inning with one strikeout in his pro debut. Yimi Presinal came to his relief to begin the seventh inning.

Presinal excelled in his two-inning performance, allowing only one hit while dealing four strikeouts to keep Quad Cities within one run.

Stone Russell took advantage of Jose Cerice’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth, tying the game 4-4 with a two-out RBI-single against Winyer Chourio. The tally was the only run allowed by Chourio, who worked 4.0 innings of relief out of the Fort Wayne bullpen.

Aiden Jimenez took the mound in the ninth for Quad Cities, dealing a perfect inning to allow the River Bandits an opportunity to score just one to win in the bottom of the inning.

After Asbel Gonzalez walked to begin the inning, a wild pitch from TinCaps’ reliever Sean Barnett moved the speedster to second with no one out. Three pitches later, Rose lined an RBI-single into right field to plate Gonzalez and secure the Bandits’ sixth walk-off win of the year.

Jimenez (3-4) earned the win for the River Bandits, while reliever Sean Barnett (0-1) took the loss for Fort Wayne after conceding the winning run without recording an out.

Rose, Figueroa and Russell led the way for the River Bandits with two hits apiece. Jose Cerice cemented his on-base streak as the longest documented in River Bandits history at 33 games with a pair of walks.

Quad Cities returns to action at Modern Woodmen Park on Saturday for a doubleheader and opens the twin bill against Fort Wayne at 4:30 p.m. David Shields (8-5, 4.23) is slated to start game one for the River Bandits.