Peoria, IL- Stephen Piscotty doubled and drove in two runs during his second rehab start, but the Peoria Chiefs were upended by the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Friday 6-3 in the season series finale. The Chiefs are 20-14 in the second half and 50-53 overall and start a four-game series with
Peoria, IL- Stephen Piscotty doubled and drove in two runs during his second rehab start, but the Peoria Chiefs were upended by the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Friday 6-3 in the season series finale. The Chiefs are 20-14 in the second half and 50-53 overall and start a four-game series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Saturday at Dozer Park with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
The Kernels drew first blood against Chiefs starter Austin Warner in his Dozer Park debut during the first. With two outs, Caleb Hamilton singled to left and Trey Cabbage hit a fly ball to right field that was dropped by Piscotty. Hamilton scored on the error with Cabbage going to third. Hank Morrison grounded to first for the final out of the inning with Cedar Rapids on top 1-0.
Peoria bounced back in the bottom of the first with Kernels lefty Domenick Carlini on the mound. Kramer Robertson drew a walk to lead off and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Piscotty grounded out to first in the next at-bat, but brought home Robertson tie the game at 1-1.
In the third inning with two outs, Piscotty collected the first hit of his rehab assignment. With Carlini still on the mound, the right fielder scalded a double to the wall in left, but Piscotty was stranded there after Danny Hudzina lined out to first to end the inning.
Cedar Rapids re-took the lead against Warner in the fourth. With one out, Joe Cronin doubled off the wall in right field and Christian Cavaness bunted for a hit, moving Cronin to third. Gorge Munoz singled on a bouncing ball to center, plating Cronin and helping Cedar Rapids to a 2-1 advantage.
The Kernels extended their lead in the fifth. With two outs and Warner on the mound, Morrison walked and Ben Rortvedt singled to center field. Cronin stepped up to the plate and with two strikes smacked a three-run homer over the left field fence and give Cedar Rapids a 5-1 lead. Max Almonte came out of the bullpen to replace Warner and struck out Cavaness for the final out of the inning.
Peoria cut into the Kernels lead in the bottom of the frame against Carlini. With one away Matt Fiedler singled to right and J.R. Davis reached on an error at shortstop. Robertson grounded a ball into right field that brought home Fiedler, and Piscotty grounded into a force out at second base that scored Davis to make it a 5-3 ballgame.
Dewin Perez entered the game to pitch the ninth for the Chiefs. Hamilton worked a one-out walk, and with two outs scored when Morrison doubled to the right field corner, putting the Kernels up 6-3.
Warner (1-1) went 4 2/3 innings in his first loss of the season while allowing five runs, four earned, on 10 hits with a walk and six strikeouts. Almonte pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, holding the Kernels to one hit with three strikeouts. Bryan Dobzanski worked one scoreless inning out of the bullpen while allowing two hits with a strikeout. Perez threw the ninth inning allowing one run on a hit with a walk and two strikeouts.
Notes… Piscotty's double in the third is the second extra-base hit by a Cardinals rehabber with the Chiefs this season, the other was Kolten Wong's home run on June 8 to end his assignment… Fiedler has an eight-game hit streak… Hudzina extended his hit streak to seven games… Yepez and Carlson have hit in six straight games… Brian O'Keefe lost a four-game hit streak… Robertson has six multi-hit games… Piscotty had a multi-RBI game… Peoria is 16-16 overall and 8-8 at home in series finales… The Chiefs finish the regular-season series against Cedar Rapids with a 6-11 record, and neither team had a sweep in the series… The Chiefs are 1-4 in games following a double-header… The Chiefs begin a four-game series on Saturday against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch… Peoria will send LH Ian Oxnevad (3-8, 4.14) to the mound and Wisconsin will start LH Cameron Roegner (4-3, 3.88)… There will be post-game fireworks… Saturday is Bradley University Night with a Kaboom! mascot bobblehead giveaway for the first 1,000 fans 13 and over… Saturday is also Superhero Night with appearances by Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman… Saturday is also a Brimfield Insurance Agency Signature Saturday where various Chiefs players will be available to sign autographs pre-game on the main concourse… It's also Organ Donor Night presented by Gift of Hope… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:15 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.
