Clinton, IA - Alex Fagalde allowed just one hit and struck out 10 over seven shutout innings as the Peoria Chiefs opened a road series with a 5-1 win over the Clinton LumberKings Saturday night. The win moves the Chiefs to a season-high 17 games over .500 at 60-43 and
Clinton, IA - Alex Fagalde allowed just one hit and struck out 10 over seven shutout innings as the Peoria Chiefs opened a road series with a 5-1 win over the Clinton LumberKings Saturday night. The win moves the Chiefs to a season-high 17 games over .500 at 60-43 and they are 21-12 in the second half.
Peoria took the lead in the first inning against Clinton starter Scott Boches. Wood Myers reached on an infield single to shortstop with one out and Yariel Gonzalez put the Chiefs on top with a towering home run to right-center over the 401-foot sign. Gonzalez has two homers this week and eight on the season as the Chiefs took a 2-0 lead.
With Fagalde mowing down Clinton batters, the Chiefs doubled the lead in the fifth inning. Elehuris Montero, who doubled in the third inning, drew a walk with two outs. Gonzalez singled to right and Dennis Ortega walked to load the bases. After a long meeting on the mound, but no pitching change, Zach Kirtley laced the next pitch into center field to score two runs and put the Chiefs on top 4-0.
Peoria added on with another monster home run in the seventh. Montero greeted reliever Marvin Gorgas with a no-doubter to left field, his 14th long ball of the season. The blast is the second in Clinton for Montero this season and put the Chiefs on top 5-0.
Clinton avoided the shutout against Chiefs reliever Patrick Dayton as they scored in the eighth. Keegan McGovern picked up his second hit of the game and was the first LumberKings player to reach second base as he doubled with one out. Johnny Adams bounced a singled past a diving Rayder Ascanio and into center to score McGovern and get the hosts on the board, down 5-1.
Fagalde (6-3) earned the win as he allowed one hit over seven shutout innings. The right-hander tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts and did not issue a walk. Dayton allowed one run on three hits while striking out five over two innings in a non-save situation.
Notes… Fagalde retired the final 16 batters he faced and tied a single-game franchise record with seven straight strikeouts in the 3rd-5th innings…The only other pitcher in team history to strikeout seven straight batters in the same game was Daryle Gavlick on August 2, 1993 at Burlington…Marcos Mateo also struck out seven in a row in 2008 but did so over two outings as a reliever…Gavlick set the record as a reliever in the 9th 10th and 11th innings…Fagalde has a Chiefs season-high 19 2/3 inning shutout streak dating back to July 12…His ERA is now 1.63…Fagalde leads the Chiefs with nine quality starts and the Chiefs are 8-4 in his 12 starts…Chiefs pitchers have gone at least five innings in 16 straight games…Montero has 64 RBI, the most for a Chiefs player since Jacob Wilson drove in 72 in 2013…Montero leads the MWL in hits (109) and total bases (178) and ranks in the top five in average (.316), HR (14), RBI (64), extra base hits (38) and slugging percentage (.516)…Ortega's 13-game hit streak ended…At 17 games over .500, the Chiefs have the best record since the 2009 team finished the year 81-57…Gonzalez started in RF for the first time in his career and has now started at 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, RF and DH this season…Every Clinton batter struck out at least once…Ascanio, who played 173 games for Clinton from 2015-17 played at Ashford U Field as a visitor for the first time…Peoria is 6-2 against Clinton this season, 3-1 in both cities…The series continues Sunday at 2:00 p.m. as the Chiefs start RH Johan Oviedo (6-7, 5.07) against Clinton RH Randy Bell (2-3, 7.09)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 1:45 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive and is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network on the Tune-In Radio App.
