The Quad Cities River Bandits went from snapping their extended losing streak to costing themselves a chance at a win streak all in the same day. Deep home runs from Trevor Werner and Kale Emshoff powered the River Bandits to a 5-2 victory over Dayton in the first game of Wednesday’s High Class A Midwest League doubleheader at Modern Woodmen Park. QC then rallied from a 3-0 second-inning deficit to put themselves in position to record the sweep before the usually reliable bullpen suffered two tough innings that allowed the Dragons to forge a split with an 8-6 victory in the nightcap.
The Bandits (20-21) had taken a 6-3 lead through six innings as they looked to pull off the sweep after ending their eight-game losing streak with the Game 1 victory. But reliever Brandon Johnson was touched for three runs in the seventh — including Carlos Jorge’s two-out, two-run game-tying homer. In the top of the eighth, QC reliever Chase Wallace was his own worst enemy.
With the runner starting on second in the international tiebreaker, Wallace issued a walk to leadoff batter Victor Acosta. After a strikeout, Wallace hit No. 9 batter Drew Mount to load the bases.
Jay Allen then ripped a two-run single to left that gave the Dragons the runs they needed for the victory. Winning pitcher Luis Mey threw two scoreless innings, striking out five. He struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth with Deivis Nadal at second base.
The series is scheduled to resume on Thursday with right-hander .
