Despite starting pitcher’s injury, River Bandits unsinkable

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By Steve Batterson | Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:30 AM CDT | () comments

Quad Cities River Bandits shortstop Oliver Marmol, left goes for the ball during a play at second base with LumberKings third baseman Jonathan Greene during Monday nights game in Davenport. (Nick Schmidt/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

An injury to starting pitcher Lance Lynn didn’t leave Quad-Cities in a tough spot Monday night.

River Bandits relievers Jared Bradford and Jameson Maj responded to the opportunity, combining on a five-hitter that helped Quad-Cities claim a 4-2 Midwest League win over Clinton at Modern Woodmen Park.

“They gave us exactly what we needed,” River Bandits manager Steve Dillard said. “We couldn’t have asked for much more.”

Bradford scattered four hits over a five-inning spot start and left three LumberKings stranded in scoring position. Maj retired the final 11 batters he faced after giving up a one-out single in the sixth to Jonathan Greene. Each of the Quad-Cities pitchers struck out four.

“Bradford did a great job and I came in trying to hit my spots, throw strikes and let them put the ball in play and let the defense do its thing,” said Maj, who was making his Midwest League debut. “It worked out about as well as we could have hoped.”

Lynn, a supplemental first-round pick of the Cardinals in the June draft, was removed in the third inning of his last start and will likely undergo an MRI in the next few days to determine the extent of a lower arm injury.

“It doesn’t appear to be serious, but they aren’t going to take any chances,” Dillard said.

The win was the third straight for the River Bandits, who mustered five hits but used a two-run home run by Domnit Bolivar in the third inning to separate themselves from the LumberKings.

Bolivar’s blast to center off of Michael Main, a first-round pick of the Rangers in 2007, erased the 2-0 lead Clinton had opened in the top of the third on a run-scoring double by Greene.

Quad-Cities pushed single runs across in the fourth and fifth innings as well, using a single by Oliver Marmol in the fourth to take the lead for good and adding an insurance run in the fifth when Bolivar scored on a passed ball.

Bolivar had reached on the last of four walks issued by Main, who needed just 41/3 innings to strikeout nine River Bandits.

“We were fortunate that he put a few guys on because his breaking ball, it was nasty. We weren’t going to hit that and not many guys in this league will,” Dillard said.

Bolivar’s effort drew praise from Dillard too.

He started at third in place of Brett Wallace, who was given the day off, and Bolivar made a back-handed grab to deny the LumberKings a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning.

“When Brett came in, we hated to see Bolivar get sent down (to short-season Batavia) because he had played a solid third base for us, but he needed to play so that was a move that had to be made,” Dillard said.

“Third may be his best position, from what we’ve seen, but that’s Brett’s spot, too, so we’ll make the most of it. It was good to see Bolivar play well for us, though. We need that from all of the guys when they get a chance.”

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.