Midland, MI - The Peoria Chiefs erased an early two-run deficit with four unanswered runs including two in the ninth inning for a 4-2 win over the Great Lakes Loons on Friday night. The series opening win moves the Chiefs to 11-14 on the season with two games left on the
Midland, MI - The Peoria Chiefs erased an early two-run deficit with four unanswered runs including two in the ninth inning for a 4-2 win over the Great Lakes Loons on Friday night. The series opening win moves the Chiefs to 11-14 on the season with two games left on the road trip.
The Chiefs fell behind in the second inning as Great Lakes scored against starter Ian Oxnevad. Mitchell Hanson walked with two outs, moved to second on a single by Keibert Ruiz and scored on a single by Luis Paz. Great Lakes doubled the lead in the fourth inning with another two-out rally. Ruiz doubled and moved to third on a single by Paz. Gage Green's double scored Ruiz for a 2-0 Loons lead.
The Chiefs got their first hit of the game against Dustin May when Ryan McCarvel led off the fifth with a single. With two down, Matt Davis doubled to left and McCarvel scored to cut the lead in half. Shane Billings followed with an infield single but May got out of the inning with the Loons up 2-1.
Peoria tied the game against reliever Chris Mathewson in the sixth. JR Davis led off with a single and Andrew Kninzer singled to right. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Brian O'Keefe drew a walk to load the bases. McCarvel tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right before Mathewson retired the next two batters to keep the game tied.
The game stayed tied into the ninth as both teams left runners on third base against the other's bullpen. Matt Davis led off the ninth with a double against Austin French and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Billings. Tommy Edman singled up the middle to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead and then he stole second base. JR Davis singled to put runners on the corners and stole second base with Knizner batting. Edman scored on a fielders' choice for a 4-2 lead with Knizner getting the RBI before the Chiefs left the bases loaded. Ramon Santos retired the Loons in order in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
Oxnevad allowed two runs on six hits over five innings while striking out seven and walking one in a no-decision. Spencer Trayner allowed three hits and struck out two in a scoreless inning. Brady Bowen allowed one hit and struck out one in a scoreless inning. Santos (2-1) got the win with two shutout innings in which he allowed two hits and struck out one.
Notes…Edman has a team-high four game-winning RBI with two of those coming in the team's final at-bat…Oxnevad set a new season-high with seven strikeouts in his second straight no-decision of five innings or more…Chiefs pitchers hit another batter Friday and lead the MWL with 28 hit on the season, the second most in all of MiLB…Matt Davis had the Chiefs first two-double game of the season…JR Davis had two hits and is tied for the team lead with nine multi-hit games…Knizner picked up his eighth multi-hit game of the season and second in a row…Edman also has eight multi-hit games…Knizner stole his first base as a pro in the ninth when the Chiefs swiped three bases…The Chiefs have three steals in an inning in consecutive games…O'Keefe drew a Chiefs season-high three walks which ties a career high from July 4 against Kane County…The Chiefs are 2-2 when the game is tied entering the ninth…Peoria is 5-11 when scoring four runs or less…The Loons seven and eight hitters, Keibert Ruiz and Luis Paz were both 4-for-4 and the bottom third of the order went a combined 10-for-12 with two doubles and two RBI…Loons second baseman Brendon Davis was ejected after spiking his bat and helmet on a called strike three in the sixth, the first ejection in a Chiefs game this season…The series continues Saturday night with a 7:05 Eastern Time start…The Chiefs will have RH Steve Farinaro (1-1, 5.94) on the mound against Loons LH Devin Smeltzer (1-1, 1.96)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 5:50 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.
