MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Bandits Drop Two in South Bend

Published on July 29, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Quad Cities River Bandits entered play with high hopes on Wednesday, taking the field with a lead that grew to 3-0 after just the first pitch of the afternoon. But the South Bend Silver Hawks dominated the rest of the action, storming back to win the completion of Tuesday's suspended game, 6-4, before Wade Miley's perfect performance in the nightcap highlighted a 6-0 victory at Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium.

Quad Cities (14-17, 44-57) had a four-game winning streak snapped with the pair of losses, and will need a win on Thursday to avoid a series sweep. South Bend (16-15, 43-56) jumped over the .500 mark and has won four of their last five games.

When play resumed on Wednesday, the River Bandits held a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth with Travis Mitchell at the plate, Matt Carpenter at third and two outs. On the very first pitch of the afternoon, Mitchell lined a run-scoring single to right field that gave Quad Cities a 3-0 lead.

But after receiving three scoreless frames from Scott McGregor on Tuesday, the River Bandits bullpen could not hold the lead on Wednesday. Gary Daley took over in the bottom of the fourth but hit the first batter he faced and went on to issue two walks and uncork two wild pitches. He recorded just two outs while allowing three runs on three hits as the Silver Hawks tied the score at 3-3.

Ramon Delgado came in to record the final out of the fourth inning, but South Bend knocked him around in the fifth. The Silver Hawks collected four consecutive one-out hits against the normally dependable reliever, including three straight run-scoring doubles by Alfredo Marte, A.J. Pollock and Alberto Diaz to give South Bend a 6-3 lead.

Jose Garcia's RBI-single in the seventh was all the River Bandits' comeback effort could muster, as Delgado (6-3) took the loss. Silver Hawks' reliever Jordan Meaker (3-0) earned the win with 3.1 solid innings of relief, while Victor Capellan (1) retired all six men he faced to take the save.

Game two began thirty minutes later, and the seven-inning affair was dominated by Silver Hawks' starter Wade Miley from the opening pitch.

Miley (4-7), a supplemental first-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2008, twirled five perfect innings before being removed due to an innings limit imposed by the parent club. He needed just 52 pitches to retire all 15 men he faced, striking out six - all swinging - while inducing seven groundouts as just two Quad Cities hitters managed to elevate the ball.

After Miley was done, Bryan Woodall (2) came in and finished the job with five punchouts of his own over two scoreless frames. A two-out single by Kyle Conley in the sixth turned out to be the River Bandits only hit, as Miley and Woodall combined to face just one batter over the minimum in a combined one-hit shutout.

The game was scoreless when South Bend's Isaias Asencio legged out an infield single to open the third inning, and the speedy outfielder ended up at third base after Jake Elmore chipped in with a double. Both runners scored on a groundball up the middle off the bat of Reynaldo Navarro, who aggressively turned the hit into a double after noticing that nobody was covering second base. Later in the frame, Navarro scored on A.J. Pollock's sacrifice fly to give the Silver Hawks a 3-0 lead.

The home team added three more runs in the sixth on three hits and a costly error.

Kevin Thomas (4-7) took the loss despite pitching much better than his final line indicated. Though he did not allow a hit in four of his first five innings, he was charged with five runs on five hits in the third and sixth innings combined, fanning two without issuing a walk over five-plus frames.

UP NEXT: The River Bandits continue their six-game road trip with the finale of a three-game series in South Bend at 6:00 p.m. CT on Thursday night. They will return to the Quad Cities on Monday, August 3, for a four-game series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels that starts with Klement's Dollar Dog Night!

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Midwest League Stories from July 29, 2009


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