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MWL1 Burlington Bees

Lacroix's Five RBI Day Leads to Big Win for Quad Cities

August 28, 2018 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


Burlington, IA. - The Burlington Bees (19-39) got into a big hole on Saturday night, and couldn't find a big enough comeback as they fell to the Quad Cities River Bandits (35-27) 8-2. Chad Donato (5-0) continued his dominance again, picking up his fifth victory of the season in his ninth start. Donato went five and two thirds, allowed two runs, four hits, just one walk, and struck out ten batters, making it the second game in a row where he has finished with at least ten strikeouts. Denny Brady (0-5) continued his struggles as he allowed three runs or more in his fourth straight start. Brady went three innings, allowed five total runs, four earned, four walks, and had one strikeout.

River Bandits get big hits with bases loaded

After getting through the first three innings with no damage, Quad Cities started the fourth inning off on a roll to put a lot of pressure on Brady. Alex McKenna led the inning off with a single to center, Alfredo Angarita drew a walk, and Miguelangel Sierra hit a single to left to give the River Bandits runners on every base with no outs. Michael Papierski then hit a grounder over to Kiki Menendez at first, but Menendez misplayed the grounder and allowed Papierski to reach on an error, and McKenna to score for an unearned run, giving Quad Cities a 1-0 lead.

Trey Dawson then put the River Bandits ahead by two on a single to center and that was all the fans saw of Brady. Max Herrmann entered the game in relief and struck out David Hensley for the first out, but then Jonathan Lacroix delivered a big blow to the Bees. Lacroix hit his tenth double of the season to the center field wall, and allowed all three runners to score, giving Quad Cities a 5-0 lead.

Griffin gets one run back

The Bees wouldn't go down easy though. Despite being down five, the offense came back and responded in a positive way in the bottom half of the fourth. Orlando Martinez gave the Bees a baserunner with a one out single to right, and Kevin Williams Jr drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Spencer Griffin then got the Bees on the board with a single to left to score Martinez, making the score 5-1. The Bees couldn't add anymore in the inning though, as both Keinner Pina and Tim Millard flew out to end the inning.

Martinez comes around to score after strikeout

Martinez had another at bat in the bottom of the sixth, but after a swing and miss, it looked like the Bees had gotten their second out of the inning. However, the ball ended going past Papierski, and Martinez was able to reach first safely on the wild pitch. After he stole second for his fifth stolen base of the season, Griffin drove in his second run of the game and 40th on the season on a single to left, making the score 5-2.

River Bandits end comeback hopes with late scoring

Now only ahead by three, the River Bandits were looking for just a few more runs to put the game away, which is exactly what they got in the top of the eighth. Papierski led things off with a one out single, and Dawson drew a walk right after to put runners on first and second. James Ziemba would strikeout Hensley for the second out, but like Herrmann, would run into problems with Lacroix. Lacroix hit his second double of the game to left field, driving in both runners, and giving Quad Cities a 7-2 lead.

McKenna would add one more run in the ninth on a solo homerun for his first with the River Bandits, and the Bees would go three up, three down in the bottom of the ninth to give Quad Cities the 8-2 win.

Production all around by River Bandits

Most would agree that Jonathan Lacroix was the player of the game tonight. Going 3-5 with two doubles and driving in five runs, he had the best numbers by far in the River Bandits lineup. However, Lacroix's big performance can make it easy to overlook what his teammates did tonight. Dawson went 2-3 with a walk and RBI, Papierski was 1-5 with an RBI and scored twice, Sierra was 1-4 with a walk, Angarita was 1-3 with a walk, McKenna was 3-4 with a homerun, walk, and RBI, and Schreiber was 1-4 with a walk. Seven of the nine players in the lineup reached base at least two times in the game, which made it very tough on the Bees pitching staff, constantly having to deal with baserunners.

Herrmann continues quality outings

Despite dealing with some injury issues over the past few weeks, Max Herrmann has done been a huge help to the Bees rotation. Although he did struggle in the Kane County series, Herrmann is looking like himself again. He has pitched five innings of relief in the past three days, and has allowed no runs, just four hits, one walk, and has struck out seven. Herrmann will likely spend the rest of the season as a relief pitcher, while continuing to rest his arm.

Looking Ahead

The Bees and River Bandits will continue their series tomorrow for an afternoon game starting at 2pm. Quad Cities is expected to start Bryan Abreu, who is also kind of a new kid in the River Bandits rotation. Abreu has appeared in eight games overall and has three starts this season. He is yet to take a loss, as he is 4-0 on the season, and has a really low 1.39 ERA, despite allowing four runs in his last start. The Bees are expected to start Oliver Ortega, who is 3-5 on the season with a 3.88 ERA in 16 starts. Ortega has looked well as of late, allowing just one run in six of his past nine starts, but he did allow four runs in his past start against the LumberKings.

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