Peoria, IL - For the second consecutive night, a Peoria Chiefs starting pitcher threw seven scoreless innings, and the Chiefs beat the Beloit Snappers 4-0 on Thursday night to sweep a three-game series. The Chiefs have won three straight games improving to 10-5 in the second half and 40-44 overall.
Peoria, IL - For the second consecutive night, a Peoria Chiefs starting pitcher threw seven scoreless innings, and the Chiefs beat the Beloit Snappers 4-0 on Thursday night to sweep a three-game series. The Chiefs have won three straight games improving to 10-5 in the second half and 40-44 overall. They travel to Cedar Rapids for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
In a scoreless game in the top of the sixth inning, Beloit worked the bases loaded against Chiefs starter Ian Oxnevad. Luis Barrera singled to start the inning and Luke Persico reached on a throwing error by Danny Hudzina. Oxnevad struck out Miguel Mercedes but walked Edwin Díaz to load the bases with one out. Oxnevad got Eric Mariñez to ground into an inning-ending double play to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
Peoria broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead against Seth Martinez. Brian O'Keefe led off with a double and Hudzina singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Matt Fiedler grounded out to short, but it scored O'Keefe to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Mick Fennell singled to plate Hudzina and give Peoria a 2-0 lead.
The Chiefs added two insurance runs in the seventh inning against Martinez to take a 4-0 lead. Jose Martinez and Nick Plummer singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Dylan Carlson singled into right-center field to score Martinez and give Peoria a 3-0 advantage. Yepez grounded into a fielders choice that scored Plummer to extend the Chiefs lead to 4-0.
Yeison Medina entered out of the bullpen in the ninth. He retired Marinez on a ground out before allowing a one-out single to Rodriguez. Medina followed with a strikeout of Collin Theroux for the second out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Trace Loehr singled right back up the middle to put runners on the corners, but Medina got Mike Martin to fly out to center to end the game.
Oxnevad (3-8) secured the win with seven shutout innings on 102 pitches allowing just five base hits while striking out four and walking two. Max Almonte tossed a scoreless inning in the eighth allowing two base hits, and Medina allowed no runs on two hits in one inning with a strikeout.
Notes… This was the fourth series sweep for Peoria this year… It was the first time the Chiefs have had back-to-back shutouts since April 21-22, 2016 against Wisconsin… Peoria hasn't allowed a run in the last 21 innings… Chiefs pitchers allowed one run in 27 innings this series…Oxnevad picked off his 12th base runner of the season, most on the Chiefs… Oxnevad has struck out at least four batters in 10 games this year, his first since June 2… It was the fourth time this season he threw at least seven innings… Fiedler extended his hit streak to three games, his longest of the season… JR Davis committed the Chiefs first error of this series in the third inning… Hudzina has a hit in four of his last five games… Tonight was the first time Juan Yepez batted third in the batting order, he had never hit higher than fifth in a Chiefs uniform… Peoria will hit the road and play game one of the four-game set at Cedar Rapids against the Kernels on Friday…The Chiefs send RH Frederis Parra (1-1, 3.03) to the mound against Cedar Rapids' RH Clark Beeker (7-2, 2.79) at 6:35 p.m.… It will be Parra's first start on the mound this season with this first 13 coming out of the bullpen… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:20 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.
