Gems fail to take advantage of 13 walks from Alton pitchers in home loss
QUINCY — Pitchers for the Alton River Dragons walked 13 Quincy Gems and hit two more on Thursday night, but the Gems mustered just five hits and lost 12-4 in a Prospect League game at QU Stadium.
The Gems (8-11 second half, 27-24 overall) are in third place in the Great River Division, 4 ½ games behind Normal.
Alton scored four runs in the first two innings against Quincy starter Philip Reinhardt to take the lead for good. Quincy scored its first run in the third inning when Jayden Schafer walked with the bases loaded. Another Quincy run came in the fifth inning when Otto Jones hit a sacrifice fly.
The Gems trailed 5-2 entering the eighth inning, but the River Dragons scored six runs against relievers Alex Aubuchon and Ryan Foley. The big blow of the inning was a grand slam by Blake Burris.
Two Alton errors in the ninth inning led to the final two Quincy runs.
Dayson Croes had two hits for Quincy. He has hit safely in all nine games he’s played in since joining the team on July 18, and he’s hitting .417 with 13 RBIs. Bennett Eltoft also had two hits for Quincy, but the rest of the team went 1 for 22 at the plate.
The Gems played without manager Brad Gyorkos, who is away from the team until Monday. Pitching coach Justin McMurtrey was in charge of the team Thursday night.
The game, which took 3 hours and 29 minutes to complete, featured 23 walks, three hit batters and 370 pitches.
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