Peoria's Katz homers in both games as Bandits win 11-3 before falling 4-2 in finale
PEORIA, Ill. (June 29, 2014) - The Quad Cities River Bandits exploded in an 11-3 win in Sunday's first game of a doubleheader before falling flat in a 4-2 loss to the Peoria Chiefs in the finale at Dozer Park. Mason Katz drilled a solo home run in each contest for the Chiefs.
James Ramsay led off game one with a single off Peoria (7-3 second half, 44-35 overall) starter Luis Perdomo and stole second before Marc Wik walked. Perdomo struck out Brett Phillips and got Chase McDonald to bounce into a 1-3 fielder's choice, but then Jon Kemmer laced a double down the left field line to score both runners and put Quad Cities (5-5 second half, 40-39 overall) on the board at 2-0. Perdomo (0-1), who allowed six runs, five earned on six hits with four walks and six strikeouts in 4.2 innings, issued a walk to Tyler White and yielded a single to Ronnie Mitchell to bring in Kemmer. Brett Booth then ripped a single to left to plate White to make it 4-0 just before Mitchell was thrown out trying to go to third to end the inning.
Already up 5-1, Quad Cities was able to add to their lead in the fifth. With one out and a runner on second, Kemmer greeted Peoria reliever Robert Stock with a single to score Phillips. After White singled, Mitchell did the same to bring in Kemmer before Booth added another base hit to score White and make it 8-1. Kemmer went 2-for-4 with a career-high three RBIs, one of six Bandits to have multiple hits. White, Mitchell and Booth each finished 2-for-4 while driving in two. Every Quad Cities player in the lineup contributed at least one hit.
Chris Lee (3-5) earned the victory, allowing only a run on three hits without walking a batter in five innings. He struck out four before yielding to Houston Astros right-hander Anthony Bass, who allowed two unearned runs in two innings on two hits with three punchouts.
In game two, the River Bandits once again struck first, using a Jake Rodriguez single in the second off of Peoria starter Kevin Herget to take a 1-0 lead. With the score the same in the fourth, McDonald rocketed a line drive over the wall in left-center for his fifth home run of the season to give Quad Cities the 2-0 advantage.
Katz homered with one out in the bottom half of the fourth to cut the Quad Cities lead in half. The shot was the second baseman's 14th of the year, which ties him at the top of the Midwest League with South Bend's Daniel Palka.
In the fifth, Quad Cities starter Andrew Thurman gave up a leadoff double to Richy Pedroza, who advanced to third on a wild pitch. With the infield in, Thurman (4-5), who surrendered three runs on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts, got Michael Schulze to groundout to second to keep Pedroza at bay. However, the right-hander walked Vaughn Bryan, who stole second and forced the infield to come back. C.J. McElroy, Jr. then hit a groundball to second, which allowed Pedroza to come home to tie the game on the out. Bryan came home when Justin Ringo lined a base hit to center to give the Chiefs the lead they would not relinquish.
Jhnonny Peralta (2-0) earned the win for Peoria in relief, retiring nine of the 11 men he faced. He struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit.
From the third inning on, Kemmer, who was 2-for-2 with a walk in game two, was the only Bandit to reach second base. However, Herget picked him off to end the fourth.
The rubber game of the five-game series comes tomorrow with the River Bandits scheduled to start Jandel Gustave (5-3, 3.94 ERA) against Peoria's Rob Kaminsky (3-1, 1.47).
UP NEXT: Back-to-back fireworks nights kick of the Fourth of July weekend at Modern Woodmen Park. The ballpark will open Thursday, July 3, for the annual Red, White and Boom Fireworks, and the River Bandits will have Fourth of July Fireworks presented by Smart Toyota of the Quad Cities, WLLR and WQAD following the 7 p.m. game on Friday, July 4. Game 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.
