Chiefs Beat Loons & Rain Sunday

Midland, MI - The Peoria Chiefs withstood two rain delays and knocked off the Great Lakes Loons 6-2 on Sunday for their fifth straight win. The Chiefs are now 18-10 in the second half and 57-41 overall as they go for the sweep on Monday morning.

     The Chiefs took the lead in the top of the third against Loons starter Edwin Uceta. Andres Luna led off with a double and with one out newcomer Luken Baker put the Chiefs on top 1-0 with a single to right.
     As Alvaro Seijas cruised through six innings on the mound for the Chiefs, the offense added on against Uceta. Baker led off the sixth with his third hit of the game, a single off the left-field wall. With one down Yariel Gonzalez singled to right and the Chiefs took a 3-0 lead as Dennis Ortega doubled to center. Bryce Denton walked, Stephen Kolek took over on the mound for the Loons and Ortega stole third base. A wild pitch moved Denton to second and Kolek walked Jose Martinez with two down but he bounced back with a strikeout of Luna to strand the bases loaded.
     Great Lakes got on the board in the seventh. Seijas walked Garrett Hope and gave up a single to Hunter Feduccia before giving way to reliever Robbie Gordon. Gordon induced a double play before hitting Josh McLain in the back. A wild pitch brought home Hope for a 3-1 Chiefs lead before Devin Mann flew out to end the inning.
     As it started to rain again, the Chiefs tacked on three more in the eighth against reliever Jasiel Alvino. Gonzalez led off with a double and stole third with one out. Alvino slipped on the wet mound and was called for a balk which scored Gonzalez for a 4-1 Chiefs lead. Denton walked and Rayder Ascanio launched his second homer of the season for a 6-1 lead. With the rain intensifying the umpires then called for the tarp and the game was delayed. After a delay of just more than an hour, the Loons moved DH Garrett Hope to the mound and he gave up a double to Martinez before getting out of the inning.
    The Loons cut the Chiefs lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the inning as Brandon Montgomery hit a solo homer off Bryan Dobzanski. Hope left the mound injured with one out in the ninth and third baseman Eric Peterson finished the inning as their second position player pitcher of the game.
     Seijas (3-6) earned the win as he allowed one run on four hits over six innings. The right-hander struck out a career-high nine and walked three while pitching into the seventh inning. Gordon hit a batter in one hitless and scoreless inning. Dobzanski allowed one run on two hits while striking out three in one inning. Kodi Whitley retired all three batters he faced in the ninth while recording one strikeout.
Notes…Ortega has a 12-game hit streak…Baker made his Chiefs debut and had hits in each of his first three at-bats…Rain delayed the start of the game by 33 minutes…The game was rain delayed an hour and 17 minutes in the eighth inning…The Chiefs have at least six runs and at least 12 hits in four straight games…Peoria has won nine straight road games against teams from the Eastern Division…With a record of 15-8 the Chiefs have clinched their best record (14-10, 2010) against the East since the new scheduling format started when Lake County and Bowling Green joined the MWL after the 2009 season…The Chiefs starting pitching has five straight quality starts and 11 straight games with at least five innings…The Chiefs are 8-1 in the last nine games with the starting pitching posting a 1.76 ERA in that span…Seijas has gone at least five innings in four straight starts…He has six quality starts on the season…Seijas struck out a career-high nine….The Chiefs set new season highs with seven doubles and eight extra-base hits…JR Davis had started 15 straight games in center field with July 3 as the last game he didn't start