DAVENPORT, IOWA (May 14, 2021) — Having emerged victorious in a pitcher’s duel the night before, the Quad Cities River Bandits secured another one-run victory against the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Thursday, thanks to 12 strikeouts from their bullpen in a 5-4 win.

Despite a scoreless first-inning, the first third of the game suggested a potential shootout as the Bandits and Kernels combined for all nine of their runs in the second and third innings.

Back-to-back two-out doubles from Trey Cabbage and Alex Isola got Cedar Rapids on the board first in the second and saw Quad Cities’ starter Nolan Watson on the wrong side of a 1-0 game, but after Seuly Matias and Tyler Gentry reached to start the Bandits’ half of the frame, Jimmy Govern slapped the left-field wall with a game-tying double, before John Rave drew a bases-loaded walk against Tyler Watson to grab a 2-1 lead.

After N Watson allowed the first four Kernels to reach in the top of the third, RBI singles from Matt Wallner and Trey Cabbage moved the visitors back out in front 4-2 before Matias scored on a T Watson balk and Logan Porter tied the game with a run-scoring single of his own in the bottom-half. Rave gave the Bandits the eventual winning run on an RBI double, his second of the year, which made the game 5-4.

With both starters out of the game in the fourth, the bullpens took center-stage and combined to allow just five base-runners over the next five-and-a-half innings.

For Cedar Rapids, a scoreless frame from Brandon Koch in his Kernels début paved the way for Tyler Beck, who didn’t allow a Bandit on base and struck out six over four innings in his second appearance of the season.

The River Bandits bullpen was paced by Zach Haake (1-0), who not only earned his first win of the season, but in four innings of work, scattered a hit and two walks while punching out seven — including five in a row from the final out of the fourth through the first out of the sixth.

Adam Lukas (1) earned his first save of the season with two scoreless innings of his own and surrendered just one walk while striking out four before catching Wallner looking to secure the win in the top of the ninth.

The loss went to Jonathan Cheshire (0-1) after the righty allowed three earned in 1.1 innings pitched.

The River Bandits will look to win the series on Friday at Modern Woodmen Park behind Anthony Veneziano (0-0, 5.40), while the Kernels will counter with Kody Funderburk (0-0, 0.00) at 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.

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