Davenport, IA — The Quad Cities River Bandits knocked off the Fort Wayne TinCaps 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park. The team rode the pitching of Yohan Ramirez and an opportunistic offense to their first series win at home of the 2018 season.
After the River Bandits missed out on a chance to score in the second inning by leaving the bases loaded, they broke through in the third. Jake Meyers began the frame by blasting his third home run of the year onto the berm in left field.
Cody Bohanek opened the fourth inning by dumping a base hit into center field. The next batter, Marcos Almonte, drove a ball to the warning track in center field that evaded the grasp of two Fort Wayne outfielders and resulted in an RBI double that increased the lead to 2-0. The two-bagger was Almonte’s third in the last two days.
The River Bandits were able to take control with a big sixth inning. Bohanek opened the inning with a triple into the left field corner. He scored on a single from Almonte in the next at bat. Meyers doubled into right field to plate Almonte and make it 4-0. Meyers moved to third with a stolen base and Jonathan Arauz walked to put runners on the corners. With Arauz running, TinCaps catcher Juan Fernandez threw the ball into center field. The error allowed Meyers to race home and Arauz to go to third base. Bryan De La Cruz finished off the inning with an RBI single of his own. After the dust settled, the lead had grown to 6-0.
Corey Julks pushed the advantage to 7-0 with a solo blast to left field in the opening at bat in the home half of the eighth. Fort Wayne also used a solo home run to plate their only run. Esteury Ruiz hit a long ball off of Carlos Sanabria in the top of the ninth to get to the final score of 7-1.
Ramirez tossed 7.0 scoreless, on-hit innings to pick up his third win. He struck out four and walked three. Sanabria finished the game with 2.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk. He struck out three.
The River Bandits collected ten hits as a team. Four players finished with two hits. Both Meyers and Almonte drove in two runs.
The River Bandits have won 8 of the last 9 and 12 of the last 15 contests.
The River Bandits (18-13) will welcome the Lake County Captains (14-17) to Modern Woodmen Park to begin a three-game series on Thursday. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m. RHP Luis Garcia (1-1, 1.50) will get the ball for the River Bandits and RHP Gregori Vasquez (1-1, 4.26) will throw for the Captains.
All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.
