Dayton, OH - The Peoria Chiefs hit back-to-back homers in the top of the first inning and never slowed down in an 8-1 win over the Dayton Dragons Friday night to avoid the sweep. The win moves the Chiefs to 16-12 in the second half and 46-51 overall as they head
Dayton, OH - The Peoria Chiefs hit back-to-back homers in the top of the first inning and never slowed down in an 8-1 win over the Dayton Dragons Friday night to avoid the sweep. The win moves the Chiefs to 16-12 in the second half and 46-51 overall as they head to Bowling Green for another three-game series.
The start of the game was delayed by an hour and nine minutes by two rain storms and the Chiefs got two quick outs on a strikeout/caught stealing double play. Vince Jackson got the offense rolling with a solo homer into the right field berm off Alex Webb, his seventh of the season. Ryan McCarvel gave the Chiefs their first back-to-back homers of the season with his 12th of the year, also into the right-field berm for a 2-0 lead.
Newcomer Austin Warner pitched out of a mini-jam in the first inning and the Chiefs added on against Webb. With the bases loaded and two outs, a wild pitch brought in Matt Fielder as the Chiefs took a 3-0 lead.
Warner settled in and shut down the Dragons bats before the Chiefs double the lead in the fifth against reliever Aaron Quillen. McCarvel singled, Nick Plummer walked and Juan Yepez singled to load the bases with no outs. Danny Hudzina collected a RBI with a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead and Fiedler put the Chiefs on top 5-0 with a single. With two down, Kramer Robertson singled to center for a 6-0 lead and a three-run inning.
Dayton scored a run in the bottom of the fifth on two Chiefs errors before Peoria capped the scoring in the sixth. McCarvel doubled for his third hit of the game and with one out, Yepez launched a two-run homer onto the left-field concourse for an 8-1 lead.
Warner (1-0) struck out seven over a career-high six innings to win his Midwest League debut. He gave up one unearned runs on three hits and walked two. Colton Thomson also made his Chiefs debut and earned a three-inning save as he allowed one hit and struck out five.
Notes… Fiedler tied a career-high with three hits…Plummer has a five-game hit streak…McCarvel has three homers on the road and is tied with Andy Young for the most in a Chiefs uniform this season at 12 overall…McCarvel has the active Chiefs lead with 15 doubles…Yepez has been 0-for-8 in the series before getting a single in the fifth and a homer in the sixth...Before tonight the last back-to-back homers in the regular season were by Brian O'Keefe and Leo Pina on July 3, 2016 at Clinton though O'Keefe and Chris Chinea went back-to-back in Game 2 of the MWL playoffs September 8 last season…Plummer tied a Chiefs season high with three walks…He has been on base in five of his last six plate appearances…Eight Chiefs starters had at least one hit…Warner is now 3-0 in the Cardinals organization with wins in the Gulf Coast League, Florida State League and Midwest League…Thomson had five regular season saves for the GCL Cardinals last year and one in the GCL Championship Series…He tied a season high with three innings…The Chiefs are 3-6 on the road against the East this season and 8-12 overall…The Chiefs are 4-16-1 in the East the last two seasons…The Chiefs are 61-38 all-time against the Dragons with the .616 win percentage the best against any MWL franchise…Peoria is 28-24 all-time at Fifth Third Field which opened in 2000…The Chiefs are 25-10 when scoring five runs or more…The Chiefs head to Bowling Green, Kentucky for a three-game series against the Hot Rods…The series starts Saturday at 6:35 p.m. as the Chiefs send RHP Anthony Shew (0-0, 4.50) to the mound against Hot Rods RHP Chris Pike (2-3, 3.77)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:20 p.m. CT 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.
