DAVENPORT, IOWA (August 30, 2021) — Riding the momentum of their walk-off victory on Friday, the Quad Cities River Bandits dominated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Saturday and claimed their twelfth series win of the season with a 12-0 final at Modern Woodmen Park.

The only trouble Anthony Veneziano found himself in during his season’s twentieth start was during the first inning, when he hit Joey Weimer with a pitch to start the game, and then saw men on second and third with no one out after Felix Valerio’s double; however, the lefty stranded them both with three straight outs.

On the other hand, the Bandits had no trouble generating runs against T J Shook, as Nick Loftin brought in Maikel Garcia’s lead-off single with a two-run blast for his ninth homer of the year and a 2-0 QC lead.

After Veneziano faced the minimum in the top of the second, Quad Cities tripled their run-total with a four-run frame. The first tally came on Shook’s balk that allowed Eric Cole to score from third. Then, Nick Loftin picked up his third RBI with an RBI single in front of a second two-run homer, this time from John Rave, who made it 6-0 before Logan Porter struck out to end the inning.

In the third, Shook allowed back-to-back walks which drove him from the game. Cristian Sierra then took over and limited the damage to just one run on an Eric Cole sac-fly that put Quad Cities up 7-0 going into the fourth.

Veneziano retired 11 consecutive batters up until Freddy Zamora’s two-out double in the top of the fourth, but the southpaw got Ashton McGee to bounce out to complete the scoreless frame before shutting down Wisconsin again in the fifth to conclude his ninth start of five or more innings and leave himself in line for the win.

Quad Cities broke open the game for good in the bottom of the fifth and loaded the bases in a nine-batter frame that culminated in three runs courtesy of a bases-clearing, three-RBI triple from Maikel Garcia to balloon the Bandits’ lead to 10-0.

Patrick Smith was the first man out of the bullpen for Chris Widger and stranded a Zavier Warren single in the sixth prior to Nathan Eaton and Cole producing runs on a single and sac-fly, respectively, against Brady Schanuel in the bottom half.

The Timber Rattlers struck for four combined base-runners in the seventh and eighth, but Smith and later Nathan Webb, who entered with two outs in the eighth, stranded them all to keep the shut-out intact.

Chad McClanahan, a position player, ended up throwing the only scoreless inning for the Rattlers despite allowing a pair of hits, but then Webb retired the side in order in the top of the ninth to secure the 12-0 Bandits’ victory.

The win went to Veneziano (6-4), who tossed his fourth scoreless start of the season and struck out four over five innings, while Shook (1-1) surrendered seven earned in just two frames to take the loss.

ABOUT THE BANDITS: The 2021 season marks the River Bandits’ first year as a new Advanced-A Major League affiliate. As such, the team will be offering higher-quality baseball than has ever before been played in the Quad Cities. Additionally, the Bandits will welcome a new MLB affiliate to the Quad Cities, the Kansas City Royals. The River Bandits anchor the Quad Cities’ sports-market, which The Sports Business Journal named the top minor-league sports-market in the country in 2015 and second-best minor-league market in its 2017 follow-up ranking. In 2015, 2017, and again in 2019, the River Bandits earned Ballpark Digest’s award for “Best Charitable Works” in Minor League Baseball, the only club to win that coveted award three times. For more information, visit www.riverbandits.com or contact General Manager Joe Kubly at (563) 333-2768.

Support the River Cities' Reader

Get 12 Reader issues mailed monthly for $48/year.

Old School Subscription for Your Support

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Old School Subscribe now.



Help Keep the Reader Alive and Free Since '93!

 

"We're the River Cities' Reader, and we've kept the Quad Cities' only independently owned newspaper alive and free since 1993.

So please help the Reader keep going with your one-time, monthly, or annual support. With your financial support the Reader can continue providing uncensored, non-scripted, and independent journalism alongside the Quad Cities' area's most comprehensive cultural coverage." - Todd McGreevy, Publisher