River Bandits blast past Peoria

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By Steve Batterson | Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |

Brian Broderick enjoys a good glove story as much as anyone.

The Quad-Cities pitcher particularly enjoyed one Monday, watching River Bandits outfielders chase down a handful of hard-hit balls to help Broderick and Josh Wilson craft a 6-0, four-hit Midwest League shutout of Peoria at Modern Woodmen Park.

“When you have a defense backing you up like the one we have, you can feel pretty comfortable on the mound,’’ Broderick said. “You don’t feel like you have to strike everybody out.”

Broderick watched right fielder Charlie Kingrey run down a pair of well-hit balls early in the game and Wilson was on the mound when Tommy Pham got to a ball in the left-center gap to put the first out of the ninth inning in the books.

“Kingrey got to a couple of balls I thought were home runs, but our guys were getting to everything,” Broderick said.

Working well with catcher Paul Vazquez, it took Broderick and Wilson 2 hours, 7 minutes to record the first shutout of the season in a nine-inning game for Quad-Cities.

Neither pitcher walked a batter while Broderick scattered four singles to earn his first victory in four decisions this season, Wilson didn’t allow a hit while facing the minimum in a four-inning outing that gave him his first save.

“Everything seemed in synch,” Broderick said. “Right from the start, the catcher and I were on the same page. Even when I had to shake him off, we were on the same page right away again. That made things go smoothly.”

An early lead didn’t hurt.

Tommy Pham opened the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scored on a groundout by Jose Garcia to give the River Bandits the only run they needed.

Two innings later, run-scoring doubles by Garcia and Vazquez and a two-run homer by Francisco Rivera gave Quad-Cities a 5-0 lead that went unchallenged.

“It feels good to get a good lead and let the pitchers do their job,” said Rivera, whose first professional homer cleared the fence in right. “It was comfortable for us.”

It was uncomfortable for Peoria, which was shutout for the sixth time this season and fell to 14-30 by losing its seventh straight game.

The long ball has been an issue for the Chiefs. The Alberto Cabrera change-up Rivera deposited over the wall was the 38th homer allowed by Peoria pitching this season, the most of any team in the league.

“It has been a struggle for us at times this season, but the guys have continued to work,’’ Chiefs manager Ryne Sandberg said. “Playing from behind is not an easy thing to do.”

Pham has helped Quad-Cities avoid that lately, scoring his 10th run in eight games from the leadoff spot since joining the River Bandits.

“Tommy got us going again, just like he did on the road, and Broderick and Wilson threw strikes and got ahead of hitters, which is what Ace (Adams, the Quad-Cities’ pitching coach) preaches all the time,” River Bandits manager Steve Dillard said. “Our infield defense has been pretty solid, but adding Pham in center has helped our outfield, too. It’s a good combination and something our pitchers can trust.”

On deck

Peoria Chiefs at Quad-Cities River Bandits, 7 p.m., today, Modern Woodmen Park. Probable pitchers: Peoria, Hung-Wen Chen (0-2, 2.56 ERA); Quad-Cities, Mark Diapoules (2-0, 1.23). Two-for-Tuesday 2-for-1 tickets

Pham earns honor

Hot-hitting River Bandits outfielder Tommy Pham was named Monday as the Midwest League player of the week.

Pham belted five homers in his first seven games for Quad-Cities. He cleared the fence on the first pitch he saw in a River Bandits uniform on May 12 at Peoria.

For the week ending Sunday, Pham collected three leadoff homers, drove home 10 runs and had six extra-base hits while batting .333. He also has stolen two bases and scored nine runs.

The 16th-round pick of the Cardinals in 2005 joined Quad-Cities after hitting .147 in 33 games for high-A Palm Beach.

Kozma honored

Quad-Cities shortstop Pete Kozma was honored as the Olympic Steel Bandits player of the month during a ceremony before the start of Monday’s game.

Kozma, the Cardinals’ first-round selection in the 2007 draft, hit .341 with two doubles, three triples, three homers and 13 RBI during April.

Goose eggs

Monday’s shutout was the first in a nine-inning game this season for Quad-Cities.

In the books

Chris Perez, a closer for Quad-Cities during the second half of the 2006 season, earned his first major-league victory Sunday for St. Louis.

Perez pitched a scoreless inning Friday in his big-league debut after Jason Isringhausen was placed on the disabled list and worked another scoreless inning in Sunday’s 5-4 win over Tampa Bay to pick up the win.

A supplemental first-round pick of St. Louis from Miami (Fla.) in the 2006 draft, Perez had a 2-0 record with a 1.84 ERA while earning 12 saves in 25 relief appearances for Quad-Cities in 2006.

He is the fifth player to reach the major leagues in the four seasons Quad-Cities has been a Cardinals’ affiliate, joining Dennis Dove, Rick Ankiel, Kyle McClellan and Mike Parisi.

Hot tub time

Modern Woodmen Park’s newest attraction was in operation for the first time Monday with the opening of the Jumer’s Hot Tub Deck.

Cynthia Savage, a special education teacher for the Muscatine Community School District, had her name drawn in a contest to give away the first-ever hot tub deck outing that allowed her to bring a group of friends to Monday’s game with Peoria.

The newly constructed deck, which includes an adjoining barbeque, will host winners of contests from three Quad-City area radio stations the next three nights and will be available for rentals by groups of 10-25 people at home games beginning May 28.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.