DAVENPORT, IOWA (July 28, 2021) — The Quad Cities River Bandits began the second leg of their two-week home stand with a victory on Tuesday, as they topped the South Bend Cubs by a 4-2 final at Modern Woodmen Park.
Spot starter Christian Cosby got an early boost from the River Bandits’ offense on Nick Loftin’s leadoff home run, his sixth of the year, that put South Bend’s Ryan Jenson in an early hole.
After a Michael Massey single two batters later, Eric Cole made it a 2-0 Q.C. advantage with poke up the middle that plated Massey for his first of a two-hit night.
In just his second start of the season, Cosby retired 13 of the first 14 Cubs he faced and needed just three strikeouts. The righty allowed a pair of singles to Jake Slaughter and Ryan Reynolds in his final inning, the fifth, but won a 12-pitch at bat against Harrison Wenson when he forced the catcher to pop out in foul ground to end the frame.
While Quad Cities was blanked by Jensen after the first inning, including 10 strikeouts for the righty’s new career-high, the Bandits got back on the board in the sixth when Will Hancock and Gavin Stupienski both reached with two outs against Bradford Depperman and John Rave plated the pair with a two-strike double to right-center field to extend his team’s lead to 4-0.
South Bend got on the board against Garrett Davila in the top of the seventh on an RBI triple by Slaughter, when Seuly Matias lost a flyball in the lights, and the next batter, Reynolds, brought him home from third to cut the River Bandits’ lead in half.
The Cubs again threatened in the eighth when they notched back-to-back singles off of Davila and Tyler Durna bunted them into scoring position with a sacrifice to chase the lefty from the game.
However, Jonah Dipoto struck out Nelson Velazquez for the second out, and after a walk to Bryce Ball, got Slaughter to flyout and strand the bases loaded.
Although the Bandits couldn’t further insure their lead against Eury Ramos in the bottom of the eighth, Dipoto again danced out of danger in the top of the ninth by using a pop out and consecutive strikeouts to end the game with the tying runs on base for his eighth save of the year.
Cosby (2-2) earned his second win of the campaign for the Bandits thanks to his second five-inning spot start of the year, while Jensen (2-7), who allowed just one earned run over five innings, took the loss for South Bend.
Quad Cities will look to pick up its third-straight win on Wednesday as they’ll start Dante Biasi (3-1, 3.65) for the first time this season against South Bend’s Mateo Bocchi (1-0, 3.16) for game two of the six-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30PM CDT.
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.
