Chiefs Fall Late Saturday

Midland, MI - The Peoria Chiefs led through six and half innings but gave up five runs over the next two frames and fell to the Great Lakes Loons 8-4 on Saturday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 11-15 on the season and sets up a rubber match against the Loons in Sunday's series finale.
    The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead against Loons starter Devin Smeltzer in the top of the first. Andrew Knizner drew a two-out walk and scored on a double to center by Stefan Trosclair for the 1-0 lead.

      Peoria added on in the third inning against Smeltzer. With two outs, Knizner hit a towering home run down the right-field line and into the berm, his third of the season, to put the Chiefs up 2-0.
     The Loons got a run in the bottom of the third against Chiefs starter Steven Farinaro. Luis Paz earned a leadoff walk and Brendon Davis walked with two outs. Carlos Rincon singled to center to score Paz before Farinaro struck out Cody Thomas to end the inning.
      Peoria went back on top by two in the fourth as Matt Davis hit his first professional home run into the left-field berm for a 3-1 lead. Great Lakes tied the game in the bottom of the inning with two unearned runs as Saige Jenco singled home a run and Oneil Cruz stole home as part of a double steal.
      The Chiefs again grabbed the lead in the top of the fifth. Dylan Carlson tripled off the right-field wall and Angel German took over on the mound for Smeltzer. A wild pitch with two outs plated Carlson and gave the Chiefs a 4-3 lead. Peoria left the bases loaded in the sixth against German and left a runner at second base in the seventh.
     Great Lakes rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Eric Carter. Jenco was hit by a pitch with one out and stole second. A double by Zach McKinstry tied the game 4-4 and he moved to third on a wild pitch. Carter struck out Davis before Rincon hit a fly ball down the right-field line. Carlson dove for the ball but it got by him and rolled into the corner as Rincon circled the bases for a two-run inside the park home run. The next two Loons reached before Greg Tomchick got out of the inning with a fly out to left.
    The Loons tacked one two more in the eighth. Tomchick hit Keibert Ruiz to start the inning and McKinstry walked with two down. Davis doubled to left to score both runners for the 8-4 final score.  
    Farinaro took a no-decision as he allowed three runs, one earned on four hits over six innings. The right-hander walked two and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts. Carter suffered his first blown save of the season as he allowed three runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out one in 2/3 of an inning. Tomchick allowed two runs on one hit, one walk and one hit batters while striking out one over 1 1/3 innings.
Notes…Davis hit his first professional home run in his 145^th career at-bat…He has consecutive multi-hit games…Carlson leads the Chiefs with 12 walks…The Chiefs were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, six in scoring position…Farinaro also struck out eight batter on August 17, 2016 against Williamsport…He has two straight quality starts and has allowed just two earned runs over 13 innings in those starts…Farinaro has been the victim of two of the Chiefs four blown saves this season…Peoria pitchers have allowed a MWL high 32 home runs and hit a MWL high 30 batters…Peoria batters struck out a season-high 17 times…Peoria has hit at least two homers in seven games this season but are just 2-5 in those games…The last time the chiefs allowed an inside the park home run was April 26, 2015 at Wisconsin…Rincon leads the MWL with eight home runs…The Loons raised their 2016 MWL Championship Batter and held a ring ceremony pre-game after the home opener was rained out back in April and the ceremony was rescheduled…The series concludes Sunday afternoon with a 2:05 Eastern Time start…The Chiefs will have RH Bryan Dobzanski (0-2, 6.46) on the mound with LH John Kilichowski (0-3, 5.21) scheduled to follow as a piggyback against Loons RH AJ Alexy (0-1, 2.03)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 12:50 p.m. Central 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 Network in the Tune-In Radio App.