DAVENPORT, IOWA (August 27,20 19) — The Kane County Cougars put together a late rally to surprise the Quad Cities River Bandits 3-2 on Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park. The Cougars took three of the four games in the series and now are one win or a Wisconsin loss from clinching a play-off berth.
The River Bandits (34-30, 77-53) entered the ninth inning maintaining a 2-1 lead. Valente Bellozo began his fourth inning of work having allowed one run in his first 3.0 innings on the mound. Blaze Alexander started the ninth inning with a single down the third-base line and that was followed immediately by an RBI double into the left-field corner from off the bat of Kristian Robinson that tied the game at 2-2. Robinson advanced to third on the throw to plate and the go-ahead run was 90-feet away with no outs. Bellozo retired the next two hitters without the run scoring, but Brandon Leyton stroked a single into right to put the Cougars on top for good.
The Bandits recorded a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the ninth to chase Kenny Hernandez from the game and force Kane County (41-23, 74-56) to bring in Kai-Wei Lin out of the bullpen. Lin struck out Carlos Machado with the tying run on second base to earn his sixth save.
The River Bandits had opened the scoring with two runs in the fourth inning against Cougars starter Matt Tabor. Wilyer Abreu opened the frame with a double and moved to third base on a throwing-error by Blaze Alexander. Trey Dawson followed by blasting a double to left-center that rolled all the way to the wall and scored both runs.
Kane County first chipped away at the lead with a single run in the eighth. Dominic Fletcher doubled home Brandon Leyton to put the Cougars on the board and leave runners at second and third with just one out. Bellozo worked his way out of that jam with a ground-out and deep-fly ball to right-field that was hauled in by Machado.
Quad Cities starting-pitcher Jose Bravo was dominant on the mound over 5.0 scoreless innings. He struck out a career-high nine batters while allowing just one hit. Bellozo took the loss after allowing three runs in 4.0 innings.
The teams combined for 13 hits in the contest. Fletcher had two for Kane County and Abreu tallied a pair for the River Bandits.
The River Bandits will begin their final road series of the regular season on Wednesday night in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels. First pitch is slated for 6:35PM. The Bandits will throw RHP Brett Daniels (7-6, 2.23) against Cedar Rapids RHP Matt Canterino (1-1, 1.80).
Kane County (R-H-E): 3-6-1
Quad Cities (R-H-E): 2-7-0
Win: Hernandez (7-3)
Loss: Bellozo (0-1)
Save: Lin (6)
HR: Kane County: 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.
