River Bandits Edge Hot Rods 4-3 with Walk-Off Homer

Davenport, IA- Connor Hollis had two doubles and scored two runs but the Bowling Green Hot Rods suffered a setback on a walk-off, ninth inning home run in a 4-3 loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits on Sunday evening at Modern Woodmen Park. The Hot Rods fall to 58-41 overall and 19-10 in the second half ahead of the series finale, a rubber match, beginning with a 1:15 PM CDT first pitch on Monday.

The Hot Rods took a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Quad Cities starter Jose Rivera. Connor Hollis led off with a double to right-center and went to third when Jordan Qsar flew-out to center. Roberto Alvarez lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Hollis to put the Hot Rods on top 1-0.
Easton McGee retired the first six batters he faced but ran into trouble in the third as the Bandits took the lead. Alex Holderbach led off with a single to left and went to third when Jonathan Lacroix doubled to left field. Trey Dawson cleared the bases with a triple to center, making it a 2-1 River Bandits lead and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ramiro Rodriguez to give Quad Cities a two-run cushion at 3-1.
The Hot Rods got a run back in the top of the fifth to chase Rivera from the game. With one out, Izzy Wilson singled to left followed by Ford Proctor who did the same. Seaver Whalen was hit by a pitch to load the bases while a sacrifice fly off the bat of the bat of Jonathan Aranda plated Wilson to cut the Quad Cities lead to one run.
Bowling Green tied the game in the sixth against Bandits reliever Felipe Tejada. Hollis led off the frame with his second double of the game, this time to left-center, followed by Jordan Qsar's walk to put runners at first and second. A balk put Hollis at third and Qsar on second while Alvarez hit a second sacrifice fly to tie the game, 3-3.
In a bizarre ninth inning, the River Bandits walked off against Cristofer Ogando for the win. Ogando got Austin Dennis and Alex McKenna to fly out for the first two out of the innings, but before Holderbach could arrive at the plate the game was momentarily delayed due to a drone hovering above home plate. Once the device exited the ballpark through left field, play resumed with Holderbach stepping in. On the third pitch of the at-bat, the righty drove a 2-0 offering over the right-field wall to walk-off the Hot Rods 4-3 in the ninth.
McGee, who had his sixth quality start of the season, held the River Bandits to three runs on seven hits with a walk and five strikeouts in a no decision. Ogando (3-2) lasted 1.2 innings in a loss, allowing one run on one hit.
Notes: Whalen has reached in 18-straight games… That's the fourth longest active streak in the league… Whalen also extended his hit streak to four games… Proctor has a six-game hitting streak… Proctor had his team-leading 26^th mutli-hit game… Five of his last six games have been multi-hit efforts… Hollis had his 12^th multi-hit effort of the season… Alvarez had his seventh multi-RBI game of the year… Wilson has his second multi-hit game of the year… They're both two-hit efforts… Alvarez became the fourth Hot Rods with 30+ RBIs this season… McGee threw seven innings for the third time in his career… He also recorded his sixth quality start of the year… The Hot Rods are 12-11 against the Eastern Division this season… The River Bandits have a 16-13 record against the Hot Rods in the all-time series… The bullpen is 23-20 this season… BG is 39-17 when scoring first this season… They're 6-3 when they have the same number of hits as their opponent… The Hot Rods will play the series finale with a rubber match on Monday beginning with a 1:15 PM CDT first pitch… Bowling Green will send RH Caleb Sampen (7-3, 3.20) to the mound to face Quad Cities LH Jonathan Bermudez (3-0, 4.60)… Fans can catch all the action with Shawn Murnin on Willie 107.9 FM, as well as, with their smart phones via the MiLB First Pitch app and TuneIn Radio app.
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Hot Rods Baseball