Dickey returns to Quad Cities, homers in defeat

DAVENPORT**,* *IA* *–* Former Quad Cities River Bandit *Jared Dickey** returned to his old stomping grounds and crushed his tenth home run of the year, but the Lansing Lugnuts (22-27, 54-60) lost to the River Bandits (26-23, 56-58), 7-1, on Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Dickey had excelled for the Bandits, slashing .269/.360/.424 with nine homers, before being included in a Kansas City Royals three-player package for the A’s Lucas Erceg at the trade deadline on July 30.

In 16 games with the Lugnuts coming in, he was batting .279/.357/.344 – but had not yet hit his first roundtripper. Not until, that is, until he took former teammate Shane Panzini deep to right to open the ninth inning, averting a shutout.

The rest of the game belonged to the hosts. Spencer Nivens cracked a solo home run in the third inning off Nuts starter Kade Morris for a 1-0 lead, Quad Cities added two more in the fifth against Morris, and Nivens applied the cherry on top with a grand slam in the sixth off Blaze Pontes.

Meanwhile, Quad Cities starter Ryan Ramsey extended his scoreless innings streak to 23 2/3 innings, blanking the Lugnuts on three hits and a walk over six frames.

Lansing finished with four hits: two singles from Will Simpson, a Cole Conn double, and Dickey’s ninth-inning blast.

Right-hander Wander Guante starts the second game of the six-game series, opposed by Quad Cities right-hander Henry Williams at 7:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Central.

The Lugnuts play the Bandits through Sunday, returning to Michigan’s state capital for the final homestand of the year from August 27-September 1 against Fort Wayne. For further information, visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.

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