River Bandits Pull Away from Rattlers

DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers took on the team with the best record in the Midwest League this season on Friday night and were held to three hits. The Quad Cities River Bandits blew open a tie game with four runs in the fifth inning and went on to a 12-3 victory over the Rattlers at Modern Woodmen Park.
Quad Cities (30-14) scored twice in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. Ross Adolph started the inning with a triple. Austin Dennis sent a slow roller up the third base line. Antonio Piñero charged, fielded the ball, and decided to come home with the play. But, the throw home was wild and Adolph scored. Later in the inning, the River Bandits added a run on an RBI grounder by Marty Costes.

Wisconsin (21-25) was held without a hit through the first 4-1/3 innings by Quad Cities starting pitcher RJ Freure. Je'Von Ward drew a walk with one out in the top of the fifth. Then, Connor McVey tied the game with a line-drive home run to right for the first Wisconsin hit of the game. McVey also extended his current hitting streak to eight games with his second home run of the season.

The River Bandits responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to retake the lead. Wisconsin starter Scott Sunitsch walked the lead-off batter. Jeremy Pena followed with a two-run home run to right and Quad Cities was up 4-2. 

The inning continued to build for the Bandits after Sunitsch got the first out of the inning. A walk and a single put runners on first and second. Sunitsch got the second out, but gave up an RBI single to Trey Dawson and that was the end of Sunitsch's night.

Reliever Tyler Gillies took over on the mound and was greeted with an RBI single by Michael Wielansky to push the Bandits lead to 6-2.

Quad Cities added another run in the sixth inning against reliever Justin Jarvis. Dennis doubled and took third on a wild pitch to start the inning. Pena drove Dennis home with a sacrifice fly to right for a 7-2 advantage.

Adolph knocked in one more run with a two-out triple in the bottom of the seventh after the Rattlers were unable to turn an inning-ending double play.

The bottom of the eighth inning started with two errors, a walk, and a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with no out. Jarvis got the first out with a strikeout, but walked the next batter to load the bases. Alex Holderbach drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center. The flyout was deep enough to allow all three runners on base to move up a base after the catch. 

Trey Dawson smacked a double to drive in two runs and Wielansky capped the inning with another single to move the lead out to 12-2.

Wisconsin was held to one hit for the first eight innings by Freure and Matt Ruppenthal. They did manage two hits and a run in the ninth inning against Felipe Tejada.

Yeison Coca started the ninth with a single. David Fry, who had reached base on a walk and a hit batsman earlier in the game, singled to left center to move Coca to third. The hit by Fry also moved his current hitting streak to 15 games, the longest in the Midwest League this season. He was 1-for-2 on Friday night and is 23-for-59 (.390) during the streak.

Jesús Lujano plated Coca with a sacrifice fly, but that would be all for the Rattlers offense in the game.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Adam Hill (4-3, 4.06) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cody Deason (3-1, 3.25) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:35pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:15pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.