Chiefs Rally Past Bandits Sunday

Peoria, IL - Down by four, the Peoria Chiefs rallied late and held on to defeat the Quad Cities River Bandits 8-7 on Sunday afternoon. The first place Chiefs improved to 26-15 in the second half and 65-36 overall with the series finale set for 7:00 p.m. on Monday.

     The River Bandits jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first on Chiefs starter Paul Balestrieri. Marty Costes reached on a fielding error by third baseman Elehuris Montero and Ruben Castro chopped a single to left. Colton Shaver was hit by a pitch to load the bases and with one out, Costes scored an unearned run on sacrifice fly to left by Alfredo Angarita for a 1-0 advantage.
     Peoria answered quickly in the bottom of the first against River Bandits starter Leovanny Rodriguez. Wood Myers led off with a double to center and he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Zach Kirtley delivered a two-out single to left as Myers scored to tie the game 1-1.
     Quad Cities grabbed the lead back with another unearned run in the top of the second inning. Logan Mattix singled up the middle with one down, stole second base and advanced to third as the throw from catcher Dennis Ortega sailed into center field. Costes brought home Mattix on a single to right to put Quad Cities back on top 2-1.
     Two more errors and a couple wild pitches helped the River Bandits widen the margin in the top of the fourth. By time Zach Prendergast took over on the mound for Balestrieri the Chiefs were down 5-1 and all the runs were unearned.
     The Chiefs got a run back via the long ball in the bottom of the fourth. Elehuris Montero cut the lead to 5-2 after he crushed a solo shot over the left field wall for his team-leading 15th homer of the season.
     A six-run spurt propelled the Chiefs in front in the bottom of the seventh against the Bandits bullpen. Nick Plummer drew a leadoff walk from Hansel Paulino and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Brandon Benson singled to left to put runners at the corners with nobody out. After Benson stole second, Rayder Ascanio brought around Plummer and Benson on a single to center to dwindle the deficit to 5-4. Myers poked a single to left and Montero delivered a one-out single to left as the contest evened up 5-5. With two outs, Quad Cities went to the bullpen and brought in Tanner Duncan. Luken Baker crushed a three-run homer over the fence to left center for his first Chiefs home run and to move Peoria ahead 8-5.
     The River Bandits did not go down easy in the top of the ninth against CJ Saylor. Marty Costes was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and Colton Shaver cranked a two-run homer with one out to trim the deficit to 8-7. Saylor exited the game and Fabian Blanco entered with a save opportunity. Taylor walked to allow the go-ahead run to approach the plate. Angarita flew out to right and Hensley struck out looking to end the game.
     Balestrieri took a no-decision throwing 3 2/3 innings as all five of his runs allowed were unearned on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Zach Prendergast (6-2) earned the win pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings without allowing a hit or walk and he struck out four. Saylor tossed 1 1/3 innings allowing two runs on one hit with no walks and two strikeouts. Blanco picked up his team leading eighth save of the season going 2/3 of a scoreless inning on no hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Notes… Montero is the 37^th player in team history to rack up 200 total bases in a season and just the third since 2011…He leads the MWL in batting average, extra-base hits, total bases, slugging percentage, hits and doubles…He is tied for third in RBI and fifth in home runs…His 69 RBI are the most for a Chiefs player since 2013…Baker hit his first home run for the Chiefs and tied his professional career high with three RBI...Blanco leads the team with eight saves and 36 appearances... After throwing out Costes in the top of the second, Ortega has thrown out 46.2 percent (18-for-39) of runners trying to steal...The Chiefs tied a season high with five errors...The Chiefs are 56-3 when taking the lead into the ninth inning...The Chiefs are 17-9 in day games...With 37 home wins the Chiefs are tied with Bowling Green for the most home wins in the MWL…Six of the last seven games have been decided by one run and the Chiefs are 3-3 in those games…Sunday was the first game since July 9 that a Chiefs starting pitcher didn't go at least five innings…That game was also started by Balestrieri and he went 3 2/3 innings in both games to book end the streak of 23 games…Theseries concludes at 7:00 p.m. on Monday against Quad Cities...Monday is a Half Price Monday as fans can purchase $6.50 dugout seats, $5.50 field box seats and $4.00 lawn seats...The Chiefs will start RH Alvaro Seijas (4-6, 4.54) against River Bandits RH Edgardo Sandoval (0-1, 2.57)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:45 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive and is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network on the Tune-In Radio App...The game is available on MiLB.tv for subscribers.