Beloit, WI- The Peoria Chiefs led 6-0 in the sixth inning but lost 7-6 on a 10th inning sacrifice fly to the Beloit Snappers Thursday night. The loss drops the Chiefs 2 ½ games behind Beloit in the wild card race at 22-18 in the second half and 52-57 overall.
Beloit, WI- The Peoria Chiefs led 6-0 in the sixth inning but lost 7-6 on a 10th inning sacrifice fly to the Beloit Snappers Thursday night. The loss drops the Chiefs 2 ½ games behind Beloit in the wild card race at 22-18 in the second half and 52-57 overall.
The Chiefs jumped on Beloit starter Seth Martinez for a first inning lead. Mick Fennell led off with an infield single and Stefan Trosclair was hit by a pitch. Brian O'Keefe put the Chiefs on top 1-0 with a single to center before Martinez escaped the inning with a double play ball and a fly out.
Peoria kept hitting in the second and added on with a two-out rally. Matt Fiedler started the rally with a two-out single to right and Kramer Robertson did the same. Fennell walked on a full count and Trosclair drove home two runs with a single to right for a 3-0 Chiefs lead.
With Anthony Shew retiring the Snappers in order, the Chiefs added on in the fourth. Robertson led off with a double down the left-field line and moved to third on a deep flyout to center by Fennell. Trosclair collected his third RBI of the game with a sac fly to deep right to score Robertson for a 4-0 Chiefs lead.
An inning later the Chiefs added on again against Martinez. Danny Hudzina singled with two outs and Juan Yepez drove a two-run homer to the opposite field for a 6-0 lead. The homer is the seventh in a Chiefs uniform for Yepez and the 101st for the Chiefs as a team in 2017.
Shew kept the Snappers off the board until the sixth when they used a big inning to get back into the game. Mike Martin led off with a triple and Jesus Lopez drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Josh Vidales singled home Martin as Lopez took third before Shew got a strikeout. Edwin Diaz beat out a potential double play ball to shortstop as Lopez scored with Vidales out at second base and the Chiefs lead cut to 6-2. Miguel Mercedes launched his 14th homer of the season, and fourth against Peoria, to center field to cut the Chiefs lead to 6-4 and end Shew's night. Colton Thomson came out of the Chiefs bullpen and got a flyout to end the inning.
Thomson walked the first two batters in the eighth before giving way to Yeison Medina. Diaz attempted to sacrifice bunt but Medina walked him to load the bases. With one down Eric Mariñez singled home Vidales and a wild pitch from medina scored Kyle Nowlin to tie the game. The Chiefs intentionally walked Jason Goldstein to reload the bases and Medina escaped the inning with a strikeout and a pop out.
The Chiefs left a runner at third and lost a base runner between first and second in the ninth before leaving a runner at second in the 10th. Dewin Perez walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th and Martin won the game with a sacrifice fly to left to score Marinez.
Shew allowed four runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He tied his Chiefs high with seven strikeouts and walked two while allowing a homer. Thomson allowed two runs on one hit and two walks over a 1 1/3 innings while striking out two. Medina allowed two hits and walked two over two innings while striking out five and suffering a blown save. Perez (2-4) took the loss as he allowed one run on three walks in 1/3 of an inning.
Notes…The Chiefs also blew a 6-0 lead on April 22 at Wisconsin in a 7-6 loss and blew a 6-0 lead to the Snappers at Home June 27 but rallied to win 10-8…Medina suffered his second blown save in eight chances…Perez has twice lost to Beloit in extra innings this season…Two of his losses have been on walk offs and three have been in the final at-bat…Trosclair tied his season high with his fourth 3-RBI game…He is tied with Nick Plummer for the team lead with 11 hit by pitches…With nine bases-loaded RBI, Trosclair leads the team…Shew also struck out seven against Fort Wayne on July 16…Yepez has five 2-run homers…Robertson had his second 4-hit game matching his career high against Lake County July 12…The Chiefs are 34-20 on the season when scoring first…Peoria has hit 101 homers and allowed 95, both in the top three in the MWL…The season series is tied 8-8 with one game left… The series concludes Friday at 7:00 p.m. as the Chiefs send LH Ian Oxnevad (3-9, 4.24) to the mound against Beloit LH Kyle Twomey (1-2, 5.11)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:45 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.
