Davenport, IA — Shane Carrier’s sacrifice fly in the first inning and solo home run in the fourth was enough to carry the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 2-0 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits in the opening game of the season for both teams on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park.
River Bandits starter Patrick Sandoval opened the game by walking Akil Baddoo and Royce Lewis in succession. Badoo advanced to third on a groundout by Alex Kiriloff and then scored the game’s first run by tagging up on Carrier’s sacrifice fly to center moments later.
Carrier struck again in the fourth inning against Sandoval, when he led off the inning with a solo home run to left field to make the score 2-0. The left fielder finished the contest 2-3 with two runs batted in.
The River Bandits had their best chance to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. Reliever Jovani Moran walked three of the first four hitters he faced after coming out of the bullpen in relief of starter Bryan Sammons. With the bases loaded and one out, Moran rebounded to strike out Corey Julks and Jonathan Arauz to escape the jam.
The River Bandits put their leadoff hitter on base in each of the final five innings, but could never push a run across. The team finished with six hits. Arauz led the team with two.
Sandoval allowed two runs on five hits in 4.0 innings of work. The relief trio of Adam Bleday, Cesar Rosado, and Robert Corniel combined to shut out the Kernels over the game’s final five innings.
The River Bandits (0-1) host the Kernels (1-0) in the second game of the series on Friday at 6:35 p.m. Tyler Ivey will start for the River Bandits against Cedar Rapids’ Edwar Colina.
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Video broadcast of all home games are also available on MiLB.TV.