River Bandits shutout Rattlers 5-0
DAVENPORT, IA - The Quad Cities River Bandits returned the favor on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Sunday evening at Modern Woodmen Park. Wisconsin had beaten Quad Cities 7-0 on Saturday, but the Bandits beat the Rattlers 5-0 on Sunday. Brian Holmes tossed six scoreless innings, Teoscar Hernandez hit two homers and drove in all of the runs, and the River Bandit defense turned a back-breaking triple play late in the game.
Jordan Scott got the first hit for Quad Cities (68-49 overall, 30-18 second half) with a one out bunt single in the third inning. He went to second on an errant pickoff throw. Scott tried to steal third, but was thrown out for the second out of the inning. The next two batters singled against Rattlers starter Jorge Lopez to bring Hernandez to the plate. The River Bandits centerfielder lined a three-run homer to left on an 0-1 pitch from Lopez.
The Rattlers (50-64, 21-28) struggled to get anything going against Holmes. The River Bandits lefty allowed three hits over six scoreless innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.
Wisconsin got something going against Quad Cities reliever Zach Morton in the top of the seventh. Parker Berberet reached on an infield single to start the inning. Alfredo Rodriguez was next and he singled up the middle to put runners on first and second with no outs. Lance Roenicke was next and he sent a slicing line drive down the line in right field that looked like it would drop in for extra bases with Berberet racing around third and Rodriguez halfway between second and third.
But, Jordan Scott made a great running catch for the first out. He threw back to first to double off Rodriguez. The throw to second tripled off Berberet to end the inning.
Hernandez put an exclamation point on his day with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Rattlers loss did not allow them to pick up ground on Peoria in the second half Western Division Wild Card race. Peoria lost 6-5 at Clinton earlier on Sunday afternoon. The Rattlers trail Peoria by four games with 21 games remaining in the regular season.
The final game of the three game series is Monday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Austin Ross (0-0, 4.96) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Mark Appel (1-0, 2.29), the #1 overall pick in the 2013 draft, is the scheduled starter for the River Bandits. Game time is 7:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm.
HOME RUNS:
QC:
Teoscar Hernandez (11th, 2 on in 3rd inning off Jorge Lopez, 2 out)
Teoscar Hernandez (12th, 1 on in 8th inning off Jono Armold, 1 out)
WP: Brian Holmes (4-3)
LP: Jorge Lopez (6-8)
TIME: 2:11
ATTN: 4,171