River Bandits Squeak Past Chiefs 4-3

DAVENPORT, IA – The Quad Cities River Bandits surrendered the lead in the top of the eighth inning only to answer in the home half of the frame to pull out a 4-3 win over the Peoria Chiefs.

With Peoria trailing 3-1 in the eighth, Alex Iadisernia singled to place runners at first and second with two outs. The next batter, Leonardo Bernal, smashed a double into the right field corner to score Darlin Moquete and Iadisernia to tie the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the inning, a lead-off single from Deivis Nadal opened the door for a Quad Cities response. Then, a Jack Pineda sac bunt attempt went awry. On a ball bunted to the left of the mound, Chiefs pitcher Dionys Rodriguez fielded the baseball and misfired wide of second base, allowing runners to move up to second and third with no one out. Carter Jensen, the team’s active leader in RBIs, singled under the glove of a diving Tre Richardson to power Quad Cities right back in front, 4-3. Rodriguez buckled down and retired the next three men he faced to keep the deficit at one.

With three outs to work with, Peoria went down in order in the top of the ninth against Chase Wallace, who served up the pair of runs in the eighth inning. Wallace earned the win for Quad Cities.

Friday’s contest started out as a pitcher’s duel. Quad Cities starter Hunter Owen allowed just two hits over his five scoreless innings. Peoria’s Inohan Paniagua, meanwhile, was perfect through four.

The Bandits broke through in the home half of fifth, taking advantage of a rare Paniagua walk. After a single and a free pass, Omar Hernandez grounded a single into center to score two and give Quad Cities a 2-0 edge.

In the sixth, Trevor Werner chipped in a sac fly to make it 3-0. Paniagua whiffed seven Bandits batters over six innings, but the opportunistic Bandits scored three runs on just three hits.

Peoria crashed the shutout in the seventh with a two-out RBI from Richardson. The Chiefs infielder has driven in six runs over his last four games.

The Chiefs saw their five-game winning streak go by the wayside on Friday. They’ll look to start up a new streak Saturday as they again attempt to win the series outright against Quad Cities. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. Left-hander Pete Hansen is the probable starter for Peoria.