Cougars outslugged 12-7

In a battle of offenses, the Quad Cities River Bandits outslugged the Kane County Cougars 12-7 in front of a season-high 9,601 on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Quad Cities (44-38, 9-4) jumped out to a lead in the top of the third as David Medina singled home Nick Martini after Martini started the inning with a double. Juan Castillo and Roberto De La Cruz each drove home a run to put the River Bandits up by 3. Quad Cities didn’t keep its lead for long as the Cougars (42-41, 8-5) picked up 4 in the bottom of the third.

Edul Escobar ripped his first home run of the season off starter Sam Gaviglio (5-5) to start the rally. Jorge Bonifacio later singled home Jack Lopez while Michael Antonio picked up a 2-run single.

Gaviglio ended up going 5 innings with a season-high 10 strikeouts. He was given the lead back in the top of the fourth when the River Bandits scored 4 runs off Kyle Smith (0-1) and Jonathan Dooley.

Castillo hit the first of 3 Quad Cities home runs in the fourth inning to cap the scoring in that inning.

Kane County made one last grasp in the bottom of the sixth as Antonio reached on a wild pitch and scored on an error by right fielder Roberto Reyes.

Justin Trapp also singled home a run, but Danny Mateo struck out with the bases full to keep the Cougars down by 1.

Quad Cities pulled away late with 2 runs in the seventh and 3 in the ninth.