Bandits fall at home
Wednesday was a perfect night for a walk.
Just ask the Peoria Chiefs.
Quad-Cities pitchers walked eight batters, including a pair to open the ninth inning that provided Peoria with the chance to rally for a 4-3 Midwest League victory at Modern Woodmen Park.
“We’re probably fortunate that they didn’t put a few more runs on the board. When you put that many men on base, that’s usually the case,’’ River Bandits manager Steve Dillard said. “Still, it’s a tough way to lose.’’
The Chiefs stranded 13 runners on base but found a way to edge Quad-Cities in the final inning for the second straight night by loading the bases in the top of the ninth.
Reliever Matt Spade walked Nate Samson and Josh Donaldson on eight straight pitches to start the inning and after Jovan Rosa slapped a sharp single into left, Peoria was positioned to erase the lead the River Bandits had taken three innings earlier.
Spade then struck out Cliff Andersen before Dillard turned to Pete Parise in the bullpen.
A sacrifice fly by Marquez Smith tied the game before Luis Bautista collected his second game-winning RBI in as many nights, stroking a run-scoring single up the middle with two outs to provide Peoria with its winning margin.
Pinch hitter Osvaldo Morales had a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth for Quad-Cities, but Chiefs reliever Dustin Sasser caught Jose Garcia looking at strike three to end the game.
“We wanted Spade to come in and go after guys, but that didn’t happen. That might have been the first time we had put him in that position,’’ Dillard said.
“Normally, he’s come in during the middle of games, but part of what we do is put pitchers in different situations and see how they perform. Now, we’ll see how he responds the next time he’s in the same situation and what he’s learned from this. That’s the way it works.’’
Spade wasn’t the only reliever to receive a rude welcome.
The River Bandits’ Charlie Kingrey greeted Peoria’s Jordan Latham by depositing the first pitch he saw over the fence in right.
Kingrey’s three-run home run wiped out the 2-0 lead the Chiefs had taken during the first inning and came after singles by D’Marcus Ingram and Pete Kozma had put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth.
“I finally put the barrel on a good pitch. He gave me a good fastball up in the zone,’’ Kingrey said. “It was what I was looking for and you never know when you might see it again if you don’t take advantage of it when it was there.’’
The three hits Quad-Cities bunched together in the inning accounted for one-third of the River Bandits’ offense in the game.
“It was a tough night for us to get much going,’’ Kingrey said. “We had nine hits, but that didn’t lead to enough runs.’’
Dillard was somewhat surprised that his team managed only two singles through five innings off of Chiefs starter Billy Muldowney.
“We swung the bats good in batting practice, but in the game, we didn’t do much until the sixth,’’ Dillard said. “Their pitcher threw OK, but I didn’t think he was dominant. We just were a little slow at the start.’’
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.