River Bandits Insider: QC closes regular season with another rally, gains some momentum for playoffs

The Quad Cities River Bandits struggled putting together much offense in Peoria last week, scoring just 22 runs in the split of the six-game series against the Chiefs at Dozer Park. They were outscored by five runs in the six-game series. They did, however, pick up a little momentum heading into this week's High Class A Midwest League playoffs against South Bend with another late-game rally for a 3-2 Sunday victory. Despite a dearth of offense once again, QC found enough for a third victory with an improbable eighth-inning rally. Asbel Gonzalez got that started with a two-out single and moved all the way to third on a wild pickoff throw. Blake Mitchell, who drove in Gonzalez twice in the game, then came through with an opposite-field RBI single to left for his 75th RBI of the season. Manager Jesus Azuaje's River Bandits took a 2-0 lead in the first when Nolan Sailors (single, two stolen bases) and Gonzalez walked to lead off the game. Sailors scored when catcher Sammy Hernandez's throw to third sailed into left field. Gonzalez scored on Mitchell's sacrifice fly. Between the third and eighth innings, though, Peoria pitchers retired 15 straight batters until Gonzalez started the eighth-inning uprising that rallied the 70-57 Bandits, who finished with the best second-half record (40-24) in the league. Reliever Jordan Woods fired 3.1 innings of scoreless ball in relief of starter Blake Wolters and earned his first professional pitching victory as he struck out five without walking a batter. Jackson Cleveland gave up a one-out double in a scoreless ninth to pick up his first professional save in one inning of work. With those 4-plus innings of scoreless relief out of the Bandits' bullpen on Sunday, QC relievers pitched to a 1.38 ERA (six earned runs in 49.0 innings) in the last eight games. Playoff baseball returns to Modern Woodmen Park on Tuesday when the best-of-3 West Division playoffs open against first-half division champ South Bend (77-51 overall, 38-28 in the second-half race; third place behind Beloit). The series then moves to Indiana when the Cubs' affiliate hosts the final two games on Thursday (7:05 p.m.) and Friday (TBA) after Wednesday's travel day. The best-of-3 championship set against the East Division champ – either first-half champ Dayton (67-63, 28-36) or Great Lakes (75-54, 39-26) is set to begin on Sunday, with the West survivor hosting Game 1 in a rotating schedule. QC and South Bend faced each other twice this year after the season-opening set in South Bend was canceled because of poor field conditions in April. Neither series went well for QC, going 4-8 against the Cubbies and being outscored 72-51. The two last met in the first week of the second half of the schedule in the last full week of June. That was one of only two series QC lost in the final 11 weeks of the season. Tickets, which are $5 at the box office or $7 online, are on sale now. Gonzalez made a nice run at the Quad Cities franchise stolen base record this year, but came up just shy. The speedy 20-year-old swiped one base in Sunday's victory in Peoria to bring his season total to 67, two shy of franchise leader Bobby Coachman's 69 set in the 1985 season. With 67, Gonzalez is tied for second with Roger Minor's total from 1970. Chad Curtis (63 in 1990) is now fourth in QC's Top 5 single-season stolen-base totals ahead of a tie for fifth between Tyler Tolbert (60 for 60 in 2022) and Julio Cruz (60 in 1975). QC's offensive issues this week could be partly explained by an injury to Derlin Figueroa. The big bopper was hurt Tuesday and removed from that victory with what team personnel described as an oblique injury. And that was a big bat out of the lineup as Figueroa's 26 homers led the Midwest League and ranked No. 2 in all of High A baseball. While Gonzalez missed the franchise stolen base mark, Figueroa did pass Brian Harper (24 in 1978) for QC's single-season homer mark. According to reports, Figueroa said that he will be back in the lineup for Tuesday's playoff opener. In 115 games this season, Mitchell finished in the Top 10 in the Midwest League in home runs (T3 with 23) and RBIs (8th with 75). He finished right behind teammate Ramon Ramirez, who drove in 78 runs in 85 games after missing nearly a month with a hand injury. Mitchell, Kansas City's No. 5 prospect, who batted .234 for the season, also led the league with a whopping 113 walks – 17 more than anyone else in the league. He also had the most strikeouts with 174.