Passed ball in the 14th leads to game-winning run
Published on June 6, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release
The Quad Cities River Bandits and Clinton LumberKings played in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,915 for four hours and 45 minutes on Saturday night, combining for 19 runs, 33 hits and five errors before a passed ball in the top of the 14th inning led to the decisive unearned run in a 10-9, River Bandits loss.
Quad Cities (25-29) came from behind to tie the score or take the lead on four different occasions over the course of the night, including overcoming a two-run deficit in the 13th inning before running out of gas in the 14th. Clinton (29-26) finished the game with just eight position players, as reliever Jose Jimenez had been plugged in as the designated hitter after a pair of ejections and an injury substitution left the LumberKings short-handed.
Early on, the two clubs traded rallies until Osvaldo Morales tied the game at 7-7 with a two-out single to score Alex Castellanos in the bottom of the seventh. Suddenly, the offenses fell quiet until the 13th inning.
A walk and a hit batsman gave Clinton a pair of baserunners in the top of the 13th when Miguel Tapia induced a seemingly harmless groundball to short. But the ball ate up Niko Vasquez and caromed into center as the LumberKings seized the lead. Travis Howell followed with an RBI-single to right as Clinton went up by a 9-7 score.
But the never-say-die River Bandits went to work in the bottom half of the frame, starting with a leadoff single by Jarred Bogany. Frederick Parejo sent a grounder to the second baseman, but in an effort to turn two, Luis Nunez threw the ball away into left field. With men at second and third, Travis Mitchell checked in with a run-scoring groundout and Vasquez followed with an RBI-single to right, tying the score at 9-9 to extend the ballgame.
In the 14th, however, Quad Cities ran out of luck. Nunez started the frame by legging out an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a fly out. There were two away when Ramon Delgado's fastball sailed high and caromed off the glove of catcher Charlie Cutler, allowing Nunez to race home on the passed ball for a 10-9 LumberKings lead.
Closer Ruben Flores (8) came in for the bottom of the frame and fanned two in a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save. That wrapped up a win for Greg Moviel (2-1) after two innings of relief, while Delgado (4-2) suffered the loss for Quad Cities.
But while nobody could cross the plate from the eighth to the 12th inning, both the beginning and the end of the contest featured a flurry of action.
After Clinton jumped out a 2-0 lead in the opening frame, the Bandits rallied in the bottom of the second. Singles by Morales and Bogany sparked the rally while a double by Frederick Parjeo got Quad Cities on the scoreboard. Mitchell followed with an infield single that drove home a run, and Vasquez capped the rally with a sacrifice fly that gave the River Bandits a 3-2 edge.
The LumberKings briefly recaptured the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Quad Cities answered quickly in the bottom half of the frame. There were men at first and second with one out when Vasquez sent a low liner up the middle to even the score and put men at the corners. Jairo Martinez followed with a bouncer to short that appeared destined for a double play, but Nunez dropped the ball on the transfer and Mitchell scored from third to give the Bandits a 5-4 lead.
Another run-scoring double by Parejo made it 6-4 in the sixth, but Clinton went back to work in the top of the seventh. The first four men that came to the plate reached base, with a bases-loaded single by Kris Sanchez driving home the first run of the inning. A walk to Howell forced in a second run, while Mario Martinez added a sacrifice fly to give the LumberKings a 7-6 lead.
The base hit by Morales tied the score in the seventh, setting the stage for the marathon contest.
Clinton got five-hit performances from both Scott Savastano and Nunez, but the visitors started running low on players in the extra frames. Leadoff hitter Jake Shaffer and manager Scott Steinmann were ejected for arguing a called strike three to Shaffer that ended the top of the 12th inning, while Maximo Mendez left in the 13th after being hit by a pitch in the helmet.
Midwest League Stories from June 6, 2009
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- Rainout Saturday means doubleheader Sunday - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
- Macias Returns to Chiefs, Shafer Activated for Saturday Start - Peoria Chiefs
- Kickoff Summer On Monday With Miller Beer And The Timber Ratters - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
- INF Chris Fox Joins Kernels - Cedar Rapids Kernels
- All-Star Robles Placed on DL - West Michigan Whitecaps
- Timber Rattlers snap Kernels streak, 5-2 - Cedar Rapids Kernels
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