Late-Inning Rally Lands Short, QC Drops Series to Wisconsin

Davenport, Iowa – After being shut out through the first seven innings of Sunday’s ballgame, the Quad Cities River Bandits scored three runs in the final two innings, but fell to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6-3 in the six-game series finale at Modern Woodmen Park.

The loss cements Quad Cities’ second-straight series loss and drops the Bandits two games back of the Rattlers for first place in the Midwest League West Division.

While the Bandits’ bats totaled just three hits through the first half of the contest, Wisconsin sprang for a 3-0 lead against starter Shane Panzini in the third behind the first of two Ramon Rodriguez homers. The two-run shot was followed later in the frame by the Rattlers’ third run, which was Luis Lara scoring on a passed ball charged to Omar Hernandez.

Wisconsin tacked on two more in the sixth, launching a pair of solo shots off A.J. Block. Eduarqui led off the frame with his third of the season just two batters before Rodriguez wrapped his second of the day around the left-field foul pole.

Natanael Garabitos helped quiet the Rattlers’ bats with a season-best 2.0 scoreless out of the Bandits’ bullpen.

After a scoreless 6.0-inning start from Edwin Jimenez and a clean seventh inning tossed by Aaron Rund, the Bandits remained without a run until the eighth, when Carson Roccaforte homered to the opposite field against Tyler Wehrle for his fourth of the season. Carter Jensen followed with a triple, but was left stranded.

The Rattlers replied in the top of the ninth, as a ground ball snuck under the glove of Dustin Dickerson and allowed Jheremy Vargas to score and extend the Wisconsin lead back to five runs. The miscue was just Quad Cities’ second error of the series.

Despite trailing 6-1 and being down to their final three outs, the Bandits battled against Yerlin Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases against one of the Midwest League saves leaders. Jack Pineda took advantage and cut the deficit to three with a two-out, two-run single, but with the tying run at the plate, Rodriguez got Roccaforte to fly out to deep left-center field to end the ballgame.

Jimenez (5-0) earned his team-leading fifth win of the season for Wisconsin and struck out seven in his season’s second quality start, while Panzini (1-1) allowed three runs (two earned) over 4.2 innings en route to his first loss.

Next week, the River Bandits head to Cedar Rapids for their first meeting of the series with the reigning Midwest League Champion Kernels. First pitch of the series opener on Tuesday is set for 6:35 at Rise 2 Greatness Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.