Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs avoided the sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Lake County Captains in the series finale on Friday night. The Chiefs are now 11-9 in the second half and 50-40 overall as they begin a three-game home series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 6:30
Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs avoided the sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Lake County Captains in the series finale on Friday night. The Chiefs are now 11-9 in the second half and 50-40 overall as they begin a three-game home series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The long ball had the Chiefs jump out to an early lead in the bottom of the first against Captains starter Kirk McCarty. Rayder Ascanio picked up his first home run and RBI of the season on a shot over the berm in left center for a 1-0 advantage.
A couple wild pitches helped Peoria tack on in the bottom of the second inning. Wood Myers reached on a one-out infield single and stole second base. With Bryce Denton batting, McCarty let go a wild pitch to advance Myers to third and threw another wild pitch that scored Myers as the Chiefs moved ahead 2-0.
Another solo homer added to the Chiefs lead in the bottom of the fifth. Jose Martinez lifted a one-out solo shot that barely cleared the fence to give the Chiefs a 3-0 advantage on his first home run of the season.
Peoria widened the margin in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Luis Jimenez. Bryce Denton drew a one-out walk and JR Davis reached base on a fielding error by the second baseman Miguel Eladio. With two outs, Irving Lopez delivered a single to right to score Denton and Lopez advanced to second on the throw.
Down 4-0, the Captains got on the board in the top of the eighth with a two-out rally. Eladio singled and Jesse Berardi singled to put runners at the corners with two outs. Gabriel Mejia drove home Eladio on a single to break up the shutout as the lead was cut to 4-1.
Rondon (1-0) earned the win throwing 7 2/3 innings allowing one run on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Fabian Blanco earned the save throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings on no hits with no walks and one strikeout.
Notes… Rondon made his Midwest League debut…He threw a career-high 7 2/3 innings…Lopez made his first professional start in the outfield…Ascanio recorded his first home run and RBI of the season…Martinez hit his first home run of the season…Blanco leads the team in appearances with 28 and saves with six…Peoria is 11-4 in the last game of a series at home…Myers exited in the game in the top of the eighth inning, Nick Plummer entered to play left field and Lopez moved to second…The Chiefs are 8-0 on Friday at home…Peoria is 4-1 wearing specialty jerseys at home…Gonzalez has a six-game hit streak…The Chiefs begin a three-game series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with post-game fireworks as the Chiefs start RH Johan Oviedo (4-7, 5.56) against Fort Wayne LH Aaron Leasher (5-3, 2.79)… The first 1,000 fans through the gates ages 13 and up receive a Peoria Chiefs Jimmy Buffett Shirt on Jimmy Buffett Night…The Chiefs will wear special Jimmy Buffett themed jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game to benefit the Pediatric Resource Center…Saturday is also a Signature Saturday with select Chiefs players available to sign autographs pre-game on the concourse…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…The game is also available to subscribers on MiLB.TV.
