SOUTH BEND, INDIANA (August 19, 2021) — The Quad Cities River Bandits were held to just one run and six hits, while committing four errors on Wednesday night, as they fell to the South Bend Cubs 5-1 at Four Winds Field.
Coming off of his first scoreless appearance of the season, A J Block got the start for Quad Cities and, after stranding Bradlee Beesley, who reached on a one-out error in the first, was given an early 1-0 cushion in the top of the second when John Rave launched a solo home-run off of Joe Nahas.
However, Block was bitten by the long-ball himself in the frame and, with two outs, allowed a single to Yonathan Perlaza before Harrison Wenson drove his fifth home-run of the year to left-center-field, and plated a pair to put the Cubs in front 2-1.
Despite Tucker Bradley’s two-out triple in the top of the third, Nahas was able to strand both the tying and go-ahead runs on base and then saw his lead grow to two on Quad Cities’ second error of the season, as Luis Vazquez stole second and then ran all the way home thanks to a bad throw by Block.
South Bend again got after the lefty, but this time loaded the bases with one out after singles by Jake Slaughter and Perlaza and a four-pitch walk to Scott McKeon. Although Block got Vazquez to pop out for the second out, he hit Beesley in a 1-2 count and forced across the Cubs’ fourth run of the game.
While Nahas remained on the bump for South Bend and worked a one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth, Yohanse Morel took over for Block out of the bullpen and stranded a two-out double by Slaughter in the bottom-half in his first frame of work.
Nahas worked a scoreless top of the sixth in his final inning on the mound and had his lead insured even further in the home half with Beesley’s RBI double off of Morel that pushed the Bandits’ deficit to 5-1.
Quad Cities got a pair of singles off of Danis Correa in the seventh inning, but failed to bring anyone home and then were retired in order in the top of the eighth.
Will Klein did his job out of the bullpen to keep the visitors in the game by striking out five, including four in a row at one point, in two shut-out frames of relief, but Correa ended his night with a one-two-three eighth, and Eduarniel Nunez stranded a pair of one-out base-runners to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Thanks to two six innings of one-run ball including six strike-outs, Nahas (3-1) got the win for South Bend, while Block (3-3) allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits, two walks, and five strike-outs in loss, but did eclipse 100 punch-outs on the season, including the 26 Low-A “Ks” he recorded prior to being promoted to Quad Cities.
With the series split at one apiece, the River Bandits will head into game three on Thursday behind Christian Cosby (3-2, 4.21), who will toe the rubber against Alexander Vizcaino (0-1, 7.04). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05PM CT at Four Winds Field.
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
