Davenport, Iowa – The Quad Cities River Bandits (49-48, 19-15) plated 17 runs on 21 hits en route to a series-clinching doubleheader sweep Saturday, topping the Dayton Dragons (54-45, 15-18) by scores of 10-4 and 7-1 at Modern Woodmen Park.
The River Bandits plated runs in every inning they stepped to the plate in game one and recorded seven hits with runners in scoring position, including RBI singles off the bats of Derlin Figueroa and Blake Mitchell in the first and second innings, respectively.
Dayton cut its deficit to 4-2 against Bandits starter David Shields in the top of the third, but Pedro Roque’s RBI triple and Diego Guzman’s RBI single got the tallies back in the bottom half. Roque’s knock marked his first as a River Bandit and his first with a full-season minor league club.
Shields worked two batters into the fourth and was replaced by Kamden Edge after allowing a two-run homer to Mason Neville. Edge ended the frame with three straight strikeouts before more run-scoring singles from Figueroa and Jose Cerice made it 8-4 Quad Cities after four.
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The Bandits scored all but one of their first eight runs against Dayton starter Kyle McCoy, who surrendered seven on seven hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
After Edge closed out his night with a clean fifth, LP Langevin completed the final two innings of game one on the bump for Quad Cities, working around three walks with help from four strikeouts.
Chris Brito added to the Bandits’ lead with an RBI double off Andrew Shaffner in the fifth, while Drew Pesta hit Asbel Gonzalez with a pitch as the bases were loaded in the sixth to get the Bandits to a 10-4 advantage.
Edge (4-1) struck out three and earned the win in relief for the River Bandits. McCoy (4-4) was tagged with the loss for Dayton.
The Bandits’ game one success immediately carried over to game two, with Quad Cities’ first five hitters reaching against Dragons starter David Lorduy in the bottom of the first.
After three straight singles from Tyriq Kemp, Gonzalez and Mitchell, Figueroa launched his second grand slam of the season—his team-leading 21st home run overall—to blast the Bandits ahead 4-0 four batters into the game.
Gonzalez (RBI double) and Mitchell (RBI single) came to the plate again in the second and extended the lead to 6-0.
Quad Cities’ Mason Miller was tasked with the game two start, the left-hander’s first since May 5, and worked scorelessly. The 24-year-old retired six of the first seven hitters he faced before working out of a bases-loaded jam in the third.
Fellow southpaw Dash Albus took over to start the fourth and immediately surrendered a solo shot to Tyson Lewis but gave up just two singles and struck out four over the rest of his 2.0-inning effort.
Cerice, who extended his team-best on-base streak to 25 games during the twin bill, got the run back with a solo shot of his own in the fifth against Jordan Little, pushing Quad Cities ahead 7-1 with his third home run of the year.
Tommy Molsky closed out the Bandits’ second victory of the night, and the club’s first series win against Dayton since 2018, with a scoreless sixth and seventh.
Albus (1-2) earned the win in his first appearance with Quad Cities since transferring back from Columbia (A) on July 28. Lorduy (0-2) was on the losing end, allowing six of the Bandits’ seven runs on seven hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
Quad Cities returns to Modern Woodmen Park on Sunday for the finale of the six-game series and sends Emmanuel Reyes (6-3, 4.13) to the mound opposite JP Oritz (4-1, 4.93). First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
