DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 21, 2021) — Fresh off the heels of a combined no-hitter and a series-clinching victory, the Quad Cities River Bandits added to their season-best win streak with a fifth consecutive win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in a 6-2 triumph on Saturday night.
Zach Mort got the start for Wisconsin and fell behind early as, with one out in the bottom of the first, Michael Massey ricocheted a ball off of the right-center wall and beat the relay home for Quad Cities’ first inside-the-park home-run of the season and a 1-0 lead.
After being held without a run in twelve straight innings, the Timber Rattlers finally broke through in the top of the game’s second inning and responded to tie the game against Anthony Veneziano with an RBI double from Kekai Rios.
However, in the bottom-half, the Bandits would regain the lead on with a more-conventional four-bagger, as Jimmy Givern’s two-run shot, his second home-run of the year, plated Jake Means to put his club up 3-1.
The early offense kept plaguing Wisconsin in the third when Mort allowed a lead-off double to Jeison Guzman and then walks to Michael Massey and Tyler Gentry to load the bases for Eric Cole, who lined a ball to right-field that scored a pair before Means grounded into a double-play to end the inning at 5-1 Bandits.
Despite allowing four walks and three hits in his first three innings, Veneziano settled down in the fourth and retired the T-Rats in order and a pair of strike-outs. However, the lefty allowed his second run of the game when Thomas Dillard poked a ball up the middle for an RBI single to cut the QC lead to 5-2.
As the first two men out of the bullpen, Will Klein and Taylor Floyd both worked scoreless sixths, but it was Quad Cities who added to its tally in the seventh on Cole’s third RBI of the day — a single that plated Massey and pushed his team’s lead back to four at 6-2.
With Klein completing his clean two-inning, six-strike-out performance, Yohanse Morel was responsible for bringing the River Bandits down the home-stretch and faced the minimum in the eighth before stranding a man on in a scoreless ninth to secure Quad Cities’ High-A Central best twenty-seventh win of the season.
Veneziano (2-2) improved his record to .500 on the season with five innings of two-run ball, including a career-high eight strike-outs, while Mort (1-3) took the loss on five runs in 4.1 innings.
Sunday's game between the Quad Cities River Bandits and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made-up as part of a double-header in August, when the Timber Rattlers return to Modern Woodmen Park. Actual game date and time will be announced at a later date.
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.
