Great Lakes and Quad Cities Swap Shutouts in Doubleheader
The Great Lakes Loons and the Quad Cities River Bandits played 14 innings of baseball Saturday at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. The game on Friday night was postponed due to wet grounds, so two were played Saturday starting at 6:00 p.m. EST. The Loons (52-33) took game one
The Great Lakes Loons and the Quad Cities River Bandits played 14 innings of baseball Saturday at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. The game on Friday night was postponed due to wet grounds, so two were played Saturday starting at 6:00 p.m. EST.
The Loons (52-33) took game one with a score of 1-0. The River Bandits (32-54) exploded in the third inning of game two and won 7-0.
The Loons, High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, claimed a series victory with the win in game one after winning the first three of the series. The lone run scored by Great Lakes on Saturday was a solo home run in the fourth inning of game one by Jose Ramos. It was his third home run of the season and gave the Loons a 1-0 lead.
Great Lakes game one starter Nick Nastrini (W, 3-2) pitched five scoreless innings only allowing two hits and two walks and struck out eight River Bandits. Ryan Sublette took over in the sixth and walked two, gave up one hit, but got out of the inning without any damage. Cole Duensing replaced Sublette in the seventh and gave up one walk and a hit before Jeff Belge (SV, 5) came in to get the final out.
Quad Cities, High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, started Rylan Kaufman (L, 1-5) and his only mistake was the Ramos long ball. He struck out seven through five innings before Ruben Ramirez dealt two scoreless innings. Alex De Jesus was the only other standout for Great Lakes as he was 1-for-1 with a single and two walks in game one.
Game two was a different story. River Bandits right-hander Adrian Alcantara (W, 3-5) pitched all seven innings and almost had a no-hitter. He was perfect through 4 1/3 innings before walking Imanol Vargas. In the seventh, he gave up back to back singles to De Jesus and Ramos.
Lael Lockhart (L, 2-2) started game two for Great Lakes and hit a rough patch in the third. Five runs on three hits, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch before he was relieved by Antonio Knowles. Quad Cities tallied six runs on five hits including four doubles in the inning. This was the biggest offensive inning for the River Bandits since the second frame of the first game of the series on Tuesday.
With the split, the Loons are 4-1 in the series and 6-5 on the 12-game road trip. One game separates the Loons from the end of their longest road trip of the season and the All-Star Break. The series finale will be another piggyback start for Great Lakes and a rematch of game one. Robbie Peto (5-0, 4.59 ERA) will take the mound first with Kendall Williams (2-3, 3.51 ERA) expected to be the first out of the pen. They’ll face River Bandits right-hander Charlie Neuweiler (6-5, 4.73 ERA). The game is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. EST. For the final time of the road trip, the Loons On-Deck Circle, driven by Garber Chevrolet Midland will start at 1:45 p.m. EST on ESPN 100.9-FM.
The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.