Distillers Lose Finale to Snappers 8-2 on Thursday

Peoria, IL - The Peoria Distillers out-hit the Beloit Snappers but fell 8-2 in the final game of a four-game series on Thursday night at Dozer Park. Peoria is 5-3 in the second half and 35-42 overall as head to Kane County for a four-game series with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday.
    Beloit scored the first runs of the game on Distillers starter Juan Perez in the third inning. With one out Jason Goldstein was hit by a pitch and moved to second when Mike Martin struck a two-out single to right. Trace Loehr tripled off the right field wall to score Goldstein and Martin to give the Snappers a 2-0 lead. In the next at-bat, Luke Persico reached on an infield single to drive in Loehr and extend the Beloit lead to 3-0. 

  The Distillers cut into the Snappers lead against Xavier Altamirano in the fourth inning. Juan Yepez doubled to right with two outs and scored when Danny Hudzina singled to center with Peoria trailing, 3-1.
    Beloit extended their lead in the sixth with Perez still on the bump for Peoria. Miguel Mercedes sent a single to left field with one out and advanced to second on a ground ball. With two outs, Edwin Díaz singled to center, scoring Mercedes and giving the Snappers a 4-1 lead. J.C. Rodriguez drove in Diaz on a double to right to give the Snappers a 5-1 advantage, but he was thrown out to end the inning while attempting to stretch the hit to a triple.
    The Distillers got one run back in the sixth against Altamirano. With one out, Matt Fiedler doubled to right-center and scored when Brian O'Keefe singled to right to make it 5-2. Juan Yepez singled to left on a ground ball which knocked Altamirano out of the game. Joseph Camacho came out of the bullpen for the Snappers and retired the next two hitters to end the inning and the Distillers threat.
    Ronnie Williams started the ninth inning for Peoria, with Kyle Nowlin working a leadoff walk. Diaz singled and Rodriguez reached on a sacrifice bunt and error on the throw by Williams to load the bases. Goldstein lined out to short for the first out of the inning, but Shelby, Martin, and Loehr walked to force in three runs and make it 8-2. Williams gave way to Eric Carter, who got an inning-ending double play.
    Perez (1-1) threw eight innings in the loss, allowing five runs on six hits with a walk, two strikeouts, and hit a batter. Williams lasted 1/3 of an inning while allowing three runs on one hit with four walks. Carter got the final two outs of the ninth without allowing a baserunner.
Notes… Peoria played their first game under the Distillers name since 1917… Martinez has started nine-straight games at shortstop dating back to June 18, the last day of the first half… Thursday was the third time in this four-game series that Beloit scored their first runs of a game in the third inning… In the fourth, Peoria snapped a 12 2/3 scoring drought after being shut out on Wednesday… Perez set a new career high in innings pitched with eight… Hudzina had his fifth multi-hit and third two-hit game of the season… Yepez had his seventh multi-hit game of the year… Jackson has a four-game hit streak… Beloit leads the series 6-5, and returns to Dozer Park for a three-game series July 4-6 and the two teams will play a four-game series in Wisconsin in August… Peoria is 14-35 when scoring four runs or less and 8-24 when allowing four runs or more in a game… Peoria is 1-2 in specialty jerseys this season… The team hits the road on Friday for a four-game set with the Kane County Cougars with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. as Peoria starts RHP Mike O'Reilly (5-2, 2.22) against Cougars RHP Ryan Atkinson (2-2, 4.33)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 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 Network in the Tune-In Radio App.