Rattlers Get Slammed in Peoria

PEORIA, IL Juan Yepez Yepez hit a grand slam in the third inning for the Peoria Chiefs to turn around Friday's Midwest League contest against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Dozer Park. The bases-loaded homer erased a Wisconsin lead and the Chiefs held on to beat the Rattlers 6-5.
Wisconsin (3-5) jumped to an immediate lead. Zach Clark started the game with a triple to center. Joantgel Segovia followed with an RBI single and it was 1-0 Wisconsin. Later in the inning, Demi Orimoloye extended the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single to drive in Segovia.

The Chiefs (2-5) cut into the lead with a rally in the bottom of the second inning against Wisconsin starting pitcher Nelson Hernández. Yepez, Dylan Carlson, and Bryce Denton had three straight singles with Yepez scoring from second on the hit by Denton.

The Rattlers added to their advantage with two runs in the top of the third. Segovia drew a leadoff walk. Pat McInerney tripled with one out to drive in Segovia. Orimoloye hit a sacrifice fly to send McInerney home and Wisconsin was up 4-1.

In the bottom of the third, Yepez put the Chiefs in front with one swing of the bat. Hernández retired the first batter of the inning, but hit the next batter and gave up two straight singles to load the bases. Yepez unloaded on the first pitch he saw in the third and lined a grand slam home run over the wall in left for a 5-4 lead.

The Chiefs loaded the bases again in the fourth inning and reliever Michael Petersen hit Elehuris Montero with a pitch to force in a run and the Chiefs were up 6-4. That run turned out to be the margin of victory in the game.
Wisconsin had opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings. Gilbert Lara was on third and Nick Roscetti was on first with two outs and Clark at the plate in the sixth. Lara tried to score on a wild pitch but was out by a lot at the plate. In the seventh, Segovia was at second and McInerney was at first with two out and Orimoloye was at the plate. Segovia strayed too far from second and catcher Dennis Ortega fired a strike to the bag to pick off Segovia for the third out.

Lara doubled with two outs in the eighth for his second hit of the game and went to third on a wild pitch was left stranded.

Clark pulled the Rattlers to within a run when he lined a solo home run down the line in left with one out in the ninth inning, but that was as close as the Rattlers would get.

The win by the Chiefs allowed them to end a five-game losing streak.

Orimoloye's RBI single in the first inning extended his current hitting streak to five games. He has driven in five runs in the last two games.

Lara's two hits moved his hitting streak to four games. He has two hits in each of his last three games, too.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday night at Dozer Park. Dylan File (1-0, 1.80) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has named Evan Guillory (0-1, 3.18) as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps. Subscribers to MiLB.tv can watch the game via the Chiefs feed over the internet.