Chiefs outslug Lugnuts, 10-5, halt Nuts’ winning streak  

LANSING, Mich. – Leonardo Bernal delivered two booming swings, a two-run homer and a two-run double, helping the Peoria Chiefs (16-33) top the Lansing Lugnuts (25-24), 10-5, on Friday night at Jackson® Field™.

Will Simpson and Henry Bolte homered and Luke Mann collected four of the Lugnuts’ 15 hits in the loss, which ended a four-game winning streak.

The Chiefs had been held to five runs in 27 innings in dropping the first three games of the series, but Bernal’s blast capped a four-run burst in the first inning and his double keyed a three-run rally for a 7-0 lead off Lansing starter Blaze Pontes.

The 22nd pick of the 2022 draft, Cooper Hjerpe, blanked the Lugnuts over the first four innings with six strikeouts, and Inohan Paniagua followed with scoreless frames in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

Will Johnston silenced the Peoria offense with three scoreless innings in relief of Pontes, striking out four, and Lansing broke through in the eighth against Paniagua, collecting six hits and scoring four runs, ignited by a Bolte double and a Simpson opposite-field two-run homer.

The Chiefs responded with roundtrippers from Joshua Baez and Alex Iadisernia in a three-run ninth against Dylan Hall.

Bolte led off the bottom of the ninth against Zane Mills with his team-leading eighth home run of the year, and Mann and Danny Bautista, Jr. (3-for-5) recorded consecutive two-out singles, but Bernal threw out Bautista, Jr. at second attempting to move up on a ball in the dirt to end the game.

The fifth game of the six-game series will be played on Saturday at 7:05 p.m., Hitsville USA with a tribute to Motown, specialty uniforms and postgame LAFCU Fireworks. Lansing right-hander Jake Garland duels with Peoria lefty Pete Hansen. Gates open at 6 p.m. For tickets and further information, visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.

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