DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 28, 2019) — The Quad Cities River Bandits knocked Burlington Bees all-star starting-pitcher Robinson Pina out of the game with a big first inning and rode that momentum all the way for a 10-2 win on Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. David Hensley went 4-5 with two doubles, a triple, and four runs batted in to drive the offense. The River Bandits improved to a season-high 22 games above .500 with the win.
Burlington (2-5, 41-36) took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Jordyn Adams worked a walk to open the game and immediately raced home on Kevin Maitan’s double off of starter Felipe Tejada.
The River Bandits (4-2, 47-25) also got off to a hot start at the plate, but there damage was far greater. Ross Adolph and Austin Dennis each worked free passes and stole a base to put men on second and third with one out in the bottom of the first. Oscar Campos tied the game with a line-drive into center-field. A walk to Cesar Salazar loaded the bases for Hensley, who came up with his first big hit of the night. Behind in the count 1-2, he hooked a bases-clearing double down the left-field line that pushed the Bandits to a 4-1 lead. He would score on a single by Jonathan Lacroix later in the frame to make it 5-1. Pina departed after facing eight hitters and was charged with five earned-runs in 0.2 innings.
Maitan added an RBI single in the second inning to cut the deficit to 5-2, but the Bees could not score again over the final seven innings against a trio of pitchers. Tejada pitched 3.0 more innings and earned the win after allowing two runs over 5.0 frames. Devin Conn and Joey Gonzalez each turned in a pair of scoreless innings out of the pen. The three pitchers combined to walk nine hitters, but also struck out ten.
Quad Cities added two runs in the second when Morgan McCullough threw away a potential double-play on Campos’s roller to short with the bases loaded. In the fourth, Hensley ripped a sinking line-drive past the diving Francisco Del Valle in left for an RBI triple and Freudis Nova followed with a run-scoring double of his own to widen the gap to 9-2. The Bandits plated their final run in the last of the eighth on a fielder’s-choice groundout from Cesar Salazar.
Aside from Hensley’s big day, the Bandits received two hits each from Ramiro Rodriguez, Campos, and Lacroix. The Bees finished with just four hits with Maitan responsible for half of them.
The short two-game homestand will come to a conclusion as the same two teams meet at 6:35PM on Friday. The River Bandits will turn to LHP Jonathan Bermudez (1-0, 3.97) in a match-up against RHP Cole Duensing (5-3, 4.32) of Burlington. It will be Olympic Steel Make a Wish Fundraiser Night with post-game fireworks presented by Smart Toyota of the Quad Cities.
Burlington (R-H-E): 2-4-1
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 10-12-0
Win: Tejada (3-0)
Loss: R. Pina (4-3)
Save:
HR: Burlington: None
HR: Quad Cities: None
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
