DAVENPORT, IOWA (August 16, 2021) — Despite being held without a run until the bottom of the ninth inning, the Quad Cities River Bandits salvaged a split of their six-game series and topped the Beloit Snappers 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park.
The Snappers got their first and only two runs in the opening frame as Troy Johnston’s RBI single and Nic Ready’s sacrifice-fly tagged Charlie Neuweiler for a pair. However, the right-hander would settle in and strand Ricky Aracena’s one-out triple in the second and picked Marcos River off of second to end a threat in the fourth.
In his first start of the year against the River Bandits, Jake Walters stranded a pair of walks his first time through the line-up and didn’t give up a hit until Nick Loftin singled in the third, but then retired seven of his next eight batters faced.
Quad Cities finally threatened to break up the 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the sixth when Loftin and Michael Massey led off the frame with back-to-back singles, but Walters again danced out of danger and retired the middle-third of the Bandits’ order in succession.
With Neuwieler departing after the fourth, the QC bullpen kicked into gear and worked a combined six scoreless innings, including two from Nathan Webb and one from Kasey Kalich to work the game to the bottom of the seventh.
After Connor Scott threw out Nathan Eaton at the plate on Maikel Garcia’s near-game-tying single, Will Klein piggy-backed on Patrick Smith’s scoreless frame and stranded a pair of two-out runners to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
Now entering his second inning of work on the hill, it was Eli Villalobos for Beloit who issued a lead-off walk to Eric Cole to start the frame. Despite punching out Eaton in response, Jake Means doubled and Garcia walked to load the bases for Nick Loftin, who sent a two-strike pitch off the glove of Ready and into left for a two-run, game-tying single.
Despite getting the winning-run in Garcia to third, Villalobos got Seuly Matias to pop out to send the game to extras.
In the top of the tenth, Garrett Davila got Kameron Misner to fly out to begin the frame, but then collected two-for-one when Eric Cole threw out Thomas Jones, the placed runner, who tried to tag and advance to third. Davila then forced Skelton to ground-out to bring the Bandits to the plate in the bottom of the tenth in a 2-2 game.
With John Rave leading off and Matias as the placed runner on second, the lefty Rave took the second pitch he saw from Tyler Mitzel and shot it to right for a base-hit and moved Matias to third with no one out. Logan Porter then stepped to the plate for Quad Cities and watched a curveball bounce away from the catcher, Skelton, to allow Matias to score and walk-off the Snappers for a 3-2 River Bandits’ win.
Thanks to his scoreless top of the tenth, Davila (6-2) got the win for Quad Cities, while Mitzel (1-6) took the loss for Beloit despite not giving up a run or recording an out.
After a day off on Monday, the first place River Bandits will head to South Bend to take on the Cubs for the first time since opening week. Game one’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:05PM 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.
