Quad Cities drops finale to Cougars

DAVENPORT, Iowa - The Quad Cities River Bandits fell into a nine-run hole with the help of a six-run sixth inning and could not come back, dropping the series finale 9-3 to the Kane County Cougars on Sunday afternoon in front of 3,456 fans at Modern Woodmen Park. Stephen Wrenn and Spencer Johnson had RBI-extra base knocks in the loss for Quad Cities.

After three scoreless frames, Kane County opened the scoring in the fourth. Marcus Wilson led off with a double and Joey Armstrong singled. Stephen Dezzi grounded home Wilson and Ramon Hernandez knocked a RBI-single to score Armstrong, making it 2-0 Kane County over Quad Cities.

Fernery Ozuna cranked his second home run in as many days with a solo-shot in the fifth. His sixth long ball of the season gave the Cougars a 3-0 advantage.

A six-run sixth by Kane County added big insurance in the rubber match. Armstrong worked a leadoff walk and Dezzi singled before Ramon Hernandez drove both home with a double. Sergio Alcantara followed with a single and Gerard Hernandez knocked a two-run double. Luis Basabe capped off the frame with his second homer of the year. The two-run blast on the first pitch of the game for reliever Chris Murphy put the Cougars on top 9-0 before an out was recorded in the frame.

Quad Cities found the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. Bobby Wernes led off with a walk and Wrenn tripled him home to end the shutout bid. Johnson knocked a double to plate Wrenn. Pat Porter collected a RBI-single to score Johnson, cutting the Kane County lead to six, 9-3.

Carlos Hernandez (7-9) took the victory in his six-inning start for Kane County. The right-hander allowed three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out seven. Keegan Long and Julio Perez combined to toss three hitless, scoreless, innings of relief to close out the win for Kane County.  

Yoanys Quiala (2-10) took the loss, allowing a career-high eight runs on ten hits over five-plus innings. Murphy allowed one run on three hit over two innings of relief and Adam Whitt tossed two scoreless frames out of the Bandit bullpen.

Quad Cities travels to Cedar Rapids next for a four-game series against the Kernels. RHP Franklin Perez (3-2, 2.83) gets the ball in game one of the road trip on Monday night. The Kernels send RHP Brady Anderson (1-0, 2.12) to the mound in the 6:35 first start. You can catch the radio broadcast with Jake Levy, starting with the River bandits On-Deck Show at 6:20 p.m. on 1170 AM K-BOB, riverbandits.com and the TuneIn app.