The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs claimed the two Western Division playoff spots from the first half of the season.

The River Bandits clinched the first-half division title Saturday when they beat the Burlington Bees 2-1 in a game that included a 26-minute delay prompted by fire alarms that led to evacuation of the ballpark. It turned out that a leak in the sprinkler system caused the alarms to sound.

Quad Cities followed that up by beating the Bees 5-2 on Sunday to take a six-game winning streak into the All-Star break. Meanwhile, the Western Division wild-card team was determined that day, with Peoria needing a win or a Clinton LumberKings loss to clinch the berth. Both teams ended up winning their games. First, Clinton came from behind to beat the Beloit Snappers 8-5, thanks to a grand slam by Ryan Costello with two outs in the top of the 9th inning. Costello also homered earlier in the game, giving him six RBI in the game.

Ryan Costello homered twice and drove in six runs for the Clinton LumberKings on Sunday. (Photo by Craig Wieczorkiewicz/The Midwest League Traveler)

The Chiefs were leading the Cedar Rapids Kernels 4-2 in the 8th inning when the LumberKings game went final. Peoria then scored two runs in that inning, followed by six in the 9th inning, to beat the Kernels 12-3 and stake their playoff claim. Four Chiefs homered in the game: Irving Lopez, Elehuris Montero, Nick Plummer and J.R. Davis.

The Bowling Green Hot Rods (division title) and the Lansing Lugnuts (wild card) clinched the Eastern Division playoff berths last week. The Hot Rods beat the Lake County Captains 6-2 on Sunday, extending their winning streak to a franchise-record 11 games.

The Lugnuts will host the Midwest League All-Star Game on Tuesday.