MWL1 Quad Cities River Bandits

Kozma extends hitting streak to 11, Pham drives in four

Published on July 25, 2008 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Quad Cities River Bandits News Release


The Quad Cities River Bandits busted out for six runs in the first inning on their way to handing the Lansing Lugnuts their worst home loss of the season, a 13-4 defeat in front of 11,313 fans at Oldsmobile Park.

Quad Cities (18-16, 51-47) won the rubber match of the three-game set to finish their season series against the Lugnuts at 4-2. Lansing (20-13, 59-45) could not stop the River Bandits' offensive attack, which boasted five batters with multi-hit games while three different hitters clubbed home runs.

The River Bandits snatched an early lead with a first-inning outburst that saw 10 men come to the dish and six men cross the plate. D'Marcus Ingram got it started with an infield single to open the ballgame, while Pete Kozma extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an opposite-field double that put men at second and third. Brett Wallace drove in the first run with an RBI groundout, while an error by the third baseman allowed the second run to score.

A walk to Paul Vazquez put runners at first and second and a Tommy Pham single drove home another run. After Nick Peoples walked to load the bases, Ross Oeder capped the rally by stinging a bases clearing, three-run double to dead-center that gave Quad Cities a comfortable 6-0 lead.

Vazquez made it 7-0 in the third, swinging at the first pitch of the inning and blasting a towering solo homer to right. The 23-year-old catcher cleared the 23-foot high wall that stands 305 feet away down the right field line, going deep in his first game since July 7 after missing 14 contests while home for the birth of his first child.

Lansing scored twice in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 7-2, but Quad Cities struck back for three in the fifth. Vazquez was hit by a pitch with one away and promptly rounded the bases ahead of Tommy Pham's two-run homer to right. A pitching change brought Michael Barbara into the game, but the reliever allowed one hit and issued three walks - including one with the bases loaded to Kozma that forced in a run for a 10-2 score.

Aaron Luna added a solo homer in the top of the seventh and the River Bandits took an 11-3 lead into the eighth. After Wallace drew a leadoff walk, Vazquez clubbed another long fly ball to right that bounced off the railing atop the wall for a run-scoring double. Moments later Pham drove in his fourth run of the night with a groundout, giving Quad Cities a sizeable 13-3 advantage.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Lansing's Yohermyn Chavez launched a solo homer to left to complete the scoring. Chavez sparked all three of the Lugnuts' rallies, ending the night 3-for-4 with a triple and a homer.

Ryan Kulik (2-3) earned the win with a solid outing, setting down the side in order in three of his five innings of work. He allowed two runs on five hits in all, fanning two and walking one. Both runs against him crossed the plate in the third inning, a frame in which play was paused for a few minutes while the hurler recovered from a broken bat that had gone flying into his leg after a groundout.

Chi-Hung Cheng (4-5) suffered the loss for Lansing, tagged for nine runs - five earned - on seven hits over 4.1 frames. The southpaw from Taiwan gave up six runs in the first inning and two homers in the subsequent frames.

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Midwest League Stories from July 25, 2008


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