By WJBC Staff
DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Peoria Chiefs were shutout for the first time in 44 games as they fell to the Quad Cities River Bandits 3-0 Friday night.
The loss drops the Chiefs to 37-23 in the second half 70-58 overall with 10 games left in the regular season
Quad Cities grabbed a run in the second inning with two singles, two stolen bases and a sacrifice fly. The visitors, who clinched a playoff berth Thursday night, had a golden opportunity thanks to an error by Luis Reynoso in the third inning. However the Bandits starting pitcher, Rogelio Armenteros got Alex DeLeon swinging to end the threat and leave the bases loaded with a 1-0 lead.
An inning later the Chiefs gave Quad Cities two extra chances against Jack Flaherty who got the first two outs of the inning before Jose Fernandez singled. A catcher’s interference error allowed Trent Woodward to reach and Kristian Trompiz reached on an error by shortstop Oscar Mercado. Given an extra chance with the bases loaded, Luis Reynoso came through with a two-run single into right-center for a 3-0 lead.
Armenteros, a Cuban-born right-hander signed by the Astros last September, cruised through his Midwest League debut. Despite the slight hiccup in the third inning, Armenteros struck out a career-high nine batters and allowed just one single and one walk over five shutout innings. Before joining the Bandits this week, Armenteros made nine starts for Short-Season Tri-City with a 2-2 record and only two outings of five innings.
The Chiefs had just one good chance against the Bandits bullpen. Eric Peterson allowed consecutive one-out singles to Paul DeJong and DeLeon in the sixth inning before getting two straight flyouts to end the threat.
Flaherty (8-3) allowed three runs, one earned on five hits over a career-high seven innings. He struck out six and walked one in the loss. Kyle Grana walked one and struck out two in a scoreless inning.
