Chiefs Beat Bandits 5-1 Friday

Peoria, IL- The Peoria Chiefs defeated the Quad Cities River Bandits 5-1 in the series opener Friday night to stay in first place in the Western Division. The Chiefs improved to 35-26 and lead Clinton by a half game with Quad Cities now three games back and nine games left in the half.

    A two-out rally put the Chiefs on the board first in the bottom of the fourth against River Bandits starter Parker Mushinski. Yariel Gonzalez flared a two-out single to center and Zach Kirtley drove him in on a double to the right centerfield gap for the first run of the game. Julio Rodriguez drilled a two-run homer that just cleared the wall in left field for a 3-0 lead. The homer gives Rodriguez a team-leading seven on the season.
    The River Bandits answered in the top of the fifth against Chiefs starter Johan Oviedo. Cody Bohanek was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and with one out, Alfredo Angarita singled to put runners at the corners. Jake Meyers drew a walk to load the bases and Corey Julks scored Bohanek on a single to left with Angarita thrown out at the plate to keep the score 3-1.
    Peoria tacked on two runs in the bottom of the fifth against reliever Leovanny Rodriguez. Bryce Denton led off with a walk followed by a Jose Martinez infield single and a JR Davis one-out walk to load the bases. Elehuris Montero reached on an infield single to plate Denton and Gonzalez drove in Martinez on a sacrifice fly to left field as the margin increased to 5-1.
    Oviedo (2-5) earned the win throwing 5 2/3 innings allowing one run on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Andrew Summerville tossed 1 1/3 hitless innings as he hit two and struck out two. CJ Saylor struck out two in a scoreless 2/3 of an inning without allowing a hit as he walked one and hit one. Thomas St. Clair earned the save as he allowed one hit and struck out one over 1 1/3 shutout innings..
Notes… The Chiefs have won seven straight games at home for the second time this season…The Chiefs lead the Western Division with 20 home wins and a 20-10 home record...Oviedo recorded his first win since April 20, 2018 vs. Wisconsin…Rodriguez now leads the Chiefs in home runs with seven…Davis had his five-game hit streak snap…Kirtley has an eight-game hit streak… Peoria is 30-0 when leading in the ninth inning…The Chiefs are 7-2 on Friday…St. Clair leads the Chiefs with four saves…He has inherited 17 runners this season and stranded them all…The Chiefs are 8-2 in the first game of a home series…The Chiefs continue the four-game series against Quad Cities at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Rocky Vonachen Night and Cystic Fibrosis Night where the former longtime Chiefs president will throw out the first pitch… Saturday is also Illinois State Night featuring a Paul DeJong bobble head for the first 1,000 fans 13 years and older… Signature Saturday is back with select Chiefs players available to sign autographs pre-game on the concourse…Fireworks will follow the game…The Chiefs will start RH Alex Fagalde (1-1, 1.82) against Quad Cities LH Patrick Sandoval (5-1, 3.31)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive and is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network on the Tune-In Radio App as well as MiLB.tv.