Chiefs Beat Dragons 5-2 Thurday

Dayton, OH - The Peoria Chiefs used timely hitting and great pitching to turn away the Dayton Dragons 5-2 in the 100^th matchup between the two teams all-time. The win moves the Chiefs to 15-16 on the season with two games left in the series.

    Dayton took the lead in the second against Chiefs starter Zach Prendergast. Catcher Hendrk Clementina hit his league-leading seventh home run of the season just over the right-field wall with one out for a 1-0 lead.
     The Chiefs left two on base in the third inning against Packy Naughton and one in scoring position in the fourth. The visitors finally broke through in the fifth to take the lead. Taylor Bryant walked, Jonatan Machado singled and Scott Hurst walked to load the bases. Dayton threw out Bryant at the plate on a grounder to third base before Yariel Gonzalez cleared the bases with a double to the right-field gap for a 3-1 lead.
    The Chiefs defense helped Dayton close the gap in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs Jose Garcia singled to center and he went to third base on error by Elehuris Montero on a grounder by Leandro Santana. Prendergast hit Morgan Lofstrom and Garcia scored on a wild pitch to cut the Chiefs lead to 3-2. The throw back to the plate got away and Santana tried to score as well but Edwin Figuera threw him out to end the inning.
    Peoria added to their lead in the eighth against reliever Sarkis Ohanian. With one out, Montero unloaded a solo home run onto the left-field concourse for a 4-2 lead. The homer, his fourth of the year, is Montero's first on the road this season.
    A two-base error by the first baseman put Machado at second with two outs in the top of the ninth. He took third on a wild pitch and scored to give the Chiefs a 5-2 lead as Hurst singled to right.
    Prendergast allowed just two runs, one earned, on three hits over seven innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out five. Thomas St. Clair allowed one hit over one shutout inning with a walk. Fabian Blanco nailed down the save with one walk over a hitless and shutout inning.
Notes…Prendergast tied his career high from August 24, 2017 with seven innings of work…He si the fifth 4-game winner in the MWL…The Montero home run was the first of the road trip for the Chiefs…Peoria is 62-38 all-time against the Dragons…The .620 winning percentage is their best against any MWL team…Gonzalez has a six-game hit streak…Hurst has been on base in all 12 games he has played this season…The Chiefs hit into two more double plays Thursday and lead the league with 37 hit into this season, including at least one in five straight games…The series continues Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET…The Chiefs will start RH Winston Nicacio (0-1, 8.14) against Dayton RH Taylor Mondile (0-2, 9.05)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 5:45 p.m. Central on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive and is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the Tune-In Radio App.