Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs had a rough start to their penultimate road trip of the season, allowing six runs in the bottom of the first inning in an 8-4 loss to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The loss drops the Chiefs to 30-28 in the second half but since
Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs had a rough start to their penultimate road trip of the season, allowing six runs in the bottom of the first inning in an 8-4 loss to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The loss drops the Chiefs to 30-28 in the second half but since Beloit also lost, they maintain a 2 ½ game Wild Card lead with 12 games to play on the season.
Wisconsin's Demi Orimoloye started the bottom of the first inning with an automatic double that one-hopped over the right field fence with Austin Warner on the mound for the Chiefs. Mario Feliciano doubled to center for a 1-0 Rattlers lead and with one out and two on, Ronnie Gideon's single made it 2-0. The Chiefs could have escaped the inning with a double play on a comebacker to Warner but his throw to second sailed into center field as Wisconsin took a 3-0 lead. Trever Morrison tripled home two more and the Rattlers took a 6-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Zach Clark.
The Chiefs scratched across an unearned run in the fourth against Wisconsin reliever Alec Kenlivort. Brian O'Keefe singled and moved to second on a single by Ryan McCarvel. Morrison committed a throwing error while trying to turn a double play on a grounder hit by Stefan Trosclair and the miscue allowed O'Keefe to score to cut the deficit to 6-1.
Wisconsin got that run back in the bottom of the inning. A walk and an error on a sac bunt put Morrison in scoring position and Devin Hairston drove him in for a 7-1 lead. In the fifth Gideon launched a long home run to straight away center field off reliever Ronnie Williams to put the Rattlers up 8-1.
The Chiefs got back into the game in the sixth. Dylan Carlson walked and was out at second as Kramer Robertson reached on a fielders' choice. O'Keefe reached on an error by Kenilvort with Robertson moving to third. McCarvel homered off the top of the right field wall to cut the Wisconsin lead to 8-4. The homer is his team-leading 16th of the season and second in as many days.
The Chiefs put runners on first and second in both the eighth and ninth innings with one out. However Chase Williams, in the eighth, and Daniel Brown in the ninth got out of the jams as each recorded a strikeout and got a groundout.
Warner (2-3) took the loss as he allowed seven runs, four earned, on five hits over four innings. He walked a career-high three and struck out three. Williams allowed one run on one hit over three innings while striking out three. Austin Sexton allowed one hit and struck out one over one shutout inning.
Notes… McCarvel has 16 home runs, the most in a season by a Chiefs player since 2012 when Dustin Geiger and Anthony Giansanti both hit 17…The 16 homers are tied for 16th on the Chiefs single-season list…McCarvel regained the Chiefs RBI lead with 53 and he has five RBI in the last two games…The Chiefs have committed at least two errors in four straight games but still lead the MWL with a .978 fielding percentage…Warner allowed a career-high three walks and a career-highs even runs…His error was just the sixth by a Chiefs pitcher this season…Warner had a 19 2/3 inning shutout streak before Tuesday…O'Keefe moved into a tie with Richard Canan for fifth on the Chiefs career hits list with 221…The Chiefs have allowed 109 home runs, third most in team history…Williams has allowed 11… The season series is tied 6-6 with two games left…Wisconsin is four games behind the Chiefs in the Wild Card race, tied with Clinton…On Wednesday the Chiefs will start RH Anthony Shew (2-0, 3.69) against Rattlers RH Thomas Jankins (8-7, 3.84) at 7:05 p.m….The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:50 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android… The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
