The Quad Cities River Bandits jumped ahead in the early going and rode the pitching of Patrick Sandoval and two relievers to a 5-2 victory over the Kane County Cougars on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. With the win, the River Bandits earned a split of the four-game series.
The Quad Cities River Bandits jumped ahead in the early going and rode the pitching of Patrick Sandoval and two relievers to a 5-2 victory over the Kane County Cougars on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. With the win, the River Bandits earned a split of the four-game series.
The River Bandits jumped in front quickly by putting up two runs in the first inning for the second straight night. Jonathan Arauz opened the frame with an infield single and raced into third on a double down the left field line off the bat of Corey Julks. The next two batters, Jake Adams and Adrian Tovalin, each grounded out and drove in runs in the process.
Quad Cities was back on the attack in the second inning. Bryan De La Cruz opened the inning by beating out an infield single. He stole second base with two outs and was eventually joined on base by Cody Bohanek, who worked a walk. Arauz came up for the second time and was up to the challenge once again, this time looping a double into shallow center that was unable to be hauled in by the diving Luis Silverio. Both runners scored and the lead grew to 4-0.
The lead expanded to 5-0 without the aid of a hit in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Julks reached on a walk and proceeded to steal both second and third base off of Kane County starter Mack Lemieux. Adams also walked to set up Tovalin with men on the corners. Tovalin cashed in with another run-scoring groundball.
Kane County would not reach the scoreboard until the eighth inning when Yan Sanchez doubled home Luis Basabe with two outs. The Cougars added one final run in the ninth inning on Joey Rose's groundout that brought in Eudy Ramos from third.
Sandoval tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, the longest start of the year for a River Bandits pitcher, and struck out five. Carlos Sanabria also struck out five, allowing one run over 2.2 innings and Colin McKee pitched the ninth inning, surrendering one run.
Bryan De La Cruz led all hitters with three hits, while Arauz increased his average to .333 by going 2-4 at the plate. River Bandits pitchers issued just one walk in the game after walking ten on Wednesday.
The River Bandits (2-4) head out on the road to meet Burlington (3-3) at Community Field. RHP Peter Solomon (0-1) will make his second appearance and first start against RHP Keith Rogalla (0-0, 4.50) of the Bees.
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
