River Bandits sweep twin bill

By staff report | Friday, May 16, 2008

PEORIA, Ill. — Thomas Pham homered twice to help the Quad-Cities River Bandits sweep the Peoria Chiefs in a doubleheader Wednesday.

The River Bandits took the opener 3-2 and the second game 7-4.

The Bandits had to rally to earn the sweep, watching the Chiefs take a 4-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap. Pham hit his first home run of the night in the top of the third, a two-run blast that cut the margin to 4-2. Matt Arburr then hit a two-run homer later in the inning to tie the score.

Quad-Cities took the lead in the fifth inning when Peter Kozma scored on Charles Kingrey’s double. Kingrey later scored on a wild pitch and Andrew Brown homered for the Bandits’ last run.

Eduardo Sanchez rebounded from a shaky first inning to earn the win, allowing one hit after the start.

In the opener, Pham went deep on the second pitch of the game, and Kozma scored on Brown’s single in the first inning.

The Chiefs came back with two runs in the bottom of the second to tie the score, as Jovan Rosa homered and Elvis Lara’s triple scored Dylan Johnston.

Pham scored the game-winner in the top of the third on Kingrey’s single.

Thomas Eager picked up the win while veteran closer Cardoza Tucker pitched the ninth for his third save of the season.