Phillips and McDonald each homer again while Thurman matches career-high with seven innings
DAVENPORT, Iowa. (July 29, 2014) - Brett Phillips and Chase McDonald each homered while Andrew Thurman overcame a rough first inning to match a career-high with seven frames as the Quad Cities River Bandits won their fourth in a row and ninth of 10 by bopping the Clinton LumberKings 7-5 in front of 3,270 at Modern Woodmen Park.
Each of the first four LumberKings (13-24 second half, 43-62 overall) to come to the plate in the first all singled off Thurman (5-6), with Justin Seager's base hit bringing in two runs to give Clinton an early 2-0 advantage. After Thurman induced a 4-6-3 double play, Christian Carmichael doubled in Chantz Mack to make it 3-0. Thurman would give up four runs on seven hits in his seven frames, walking two and striking out seven.
The Bandits (21-16, 56-50), though, responded immediately when Phillips rocketed the second pitch from Clinton starter Edwin Diaz (3-7) way over the right-center field wall for his 11th home run of the season and seventh during the month of July. It marked the fourth straight game with a roundtripper for the right fielder, who went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
Quad Cities would take the 4-3 lead in the bottom of the second when Chase McDonald, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, laced a two-run single off Diaz to bring home Brett Booth and Thomas Lindauer. After Diaz got A.J. Reed to foul out to the catcher Carmichael, Clinton went to the bullpen to bring in Aaron Brooks. Diaz lasted a season-low 1.2 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on three hits with two walks and a strikeout to take the loss, Clinton's sixth in a row.
McDonald was not be finished. With one out and the score 6-3 River Bandits in the fourth, he crushed a fastball from Brooks over the center field wall for his 11th homer of the year and sixth of July, giving the River Bandits two players with at least six home runs in a month since Rainel Rosario and Matt Adams completed the feat in August of 2010. Quad Cities has bopped 27 home runs in the month of July; the team's most since hitting 30 in May of 2012.
Frederick Tiburcio pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save of the season. The victory gave manager Omar Lopez his 137th victory with the Quad Cities, the 10th-most in team history, and pushed the Bandits six games above .500 for the first time this season.
Quad Cities is scheduled to send Chris Lee (6-5, 3.74 ERA) to the mound tomorrow night against Clinton's Seon-Gi Kim (0-2, 2.16).
UP NEXT: Gates open for Wednesday's 7 p.m. game at 5:30 p.m. for the annual Used Car Giveaway presented by Reynolds Ford! The first 1,000 fans will also receive a Team Photo Giveaway on Star Wars Night. It's also a Pay Your Bill Wednesday, which means fans can enter their unpaid bills in a drawing for the chance to have them paid up to $100 by the River Bandits!.Tickets are available at www.riverbandits.com. To order any of the River Bandits 2014 ticket plans - with new lower prices - call the River Bandits box office at 563-324-3000. Season ticket and mini-plan packages start at just seven games and begin at less than $40. Call a River Bandits account representative today to choose your seats and get the details of our various mini-plan packages.
