Caglianone’s Slam Punctuates Bandits’ Series-Clinching Win

Davenport, Iowa – Kansas City Royals’ 2024 first-round pick Jac Caglianone blasted a grand slam as one of three River Bandits homers Saturday, as Quad Cities clinched a series win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with a 13-2 victory at Modern Woodmen Park.

Including the three long-balls, Quad Cities dove six of its night’s nine hits for extra-bases, including Carson Roccaforte’s initial go-ahead RBI-triple in the second inning. Two pitches later, Justin Johnson extended an on-base streak to 11 games and put the Bandits in front 2-0 with an RBI-single against a squeezed infield.

The two-run advantage was plenty for River Bandits’ starter Hunter Owen, who kept Wisconsin out of both the run and hit columns over his 4.0-inning start which required just 48 pitches.

Before Hunter Patteson took over on the hill for the fifth, the Bandits doubled their lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring a runs on an error and then their first home run of the night, a solo shot of the bat of Shervyen Newton—his fourth of the season and his second in as many ballgames.

After Patteson dealt a scoreless top of the fifth, Spencer Nivens put the Bandits ahead 6-0 with a two-run blast, the outfielder’s ninth of the season and eighth of the second half. Rattlers’ starter Alexander Cornielle would remain in to finish off the frame, but not before allowing six runs and throwing 99 pitches over 5.0 innings.

Yerlin Rodriguez took over for the right-hander in the sixth and immediately struggled with his control, walking the first four Quad Cities hitters he faced and allowing a run on a wild pitch. Jean Ramirez then drove in Quad Cities’ eighth run of the night on a sacrifice-fly, before Nivens capped off his three-RBI effort with a run-scoring double.

After managing just one hit over Patteson’s 3.0-scoreless innings, Wisconsin got a clean frame from Tyler Wehrle in the seventh and eventually broke into the run column against Natanael Garabitos in the top of the eighth, trimming their deficit to eight on Eduarqui Fernandez’s sac-fly.

The rally would not be enough to inspire manager Victor Estevez however, as the Rattlers’ skipper put utility man Jose Acosta on the mound to pitch the bottom of the eighth. After loading the bases on a Ramirez infield single and walks to Nivens and Dustin Dickerson, Caglianone took a 3-2 pitch over right-center field into the Mississippi River for his first professional home run and a 12-run Bandits lead.

Garabitos would hand Wisconsin a concession run on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth, but the right-hander would finish out the ballgame with a season-high four strikeouts.

With help from a pair of punchouts of his own, Patteson (1-4) earned his first-career High-A win for the River Bandits, while Cornielle (6-5) was saddled with the loss for the Rattlers.

Now tied with Peoria for the Midwest League west division’s second-half playoff spot, Quad Cities concludes its six-game series with Wisconsin at Modern Woodmen Park on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Oscar Rayo (3-0, 2.41) is slated to get the start against Mark Manfredi (5-2, 4.04).