Chiefs Triumph Again Behind Bernal's Walk-Off Blast

PEORIA, IL – For the second night in a row, the Peoria Chiefs defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps via a walk-off home run.

Leonardo Bernal’s two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th sent the Chiefs to a 6-4 win Thursday and their fifth consecutive victory.

Before Bernal’s blast, Chiefs reliever Hunter Hayes worked out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the top of the 10th to keep the score tied. Hayes punched out Tyler Robertson and Nerwilian Cedeno, and then got Colton Bender to fly out to right to keep the TinCaps off the board.

Bernal’s opposite-field homer led Peoria to its second consecutive walk-off blast. On Wednesday, Darlin Moquete ended the ballgame with a two-run shot to left. The Chiefs have now recorded consecutive walk-off wins for the first time since August of 2023.

Peoria jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Fort Wayne starter Enmanuel Pinales. The Chiefs plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on a fielding error and an RBI groundout from Alex Iadisernia. In the bottom of the third, Bernal, who collected three hits on Thursday, doubled home Moquete to create an early three-run cushion.

Chiefs starter Hancel Rincon cruised through three hitless innings, but the TinCaps chipped away in the fourth. After a single and a double, a Devin Ortiz sac fly cut the Peoria lead to 3-1. Two batters later, Nerwilian Cedeno recorded a sac fly of his own to make it a 3-2 score.

Rincon threw a career-high 97 pitches and worked through six quality innings. For the Chiefs, it was the 36th quality start of the year by a Peoria starter.

Fort Wayne briefly grabbed the lead in a whacky eighth inning. After a Miguel Villarroel throwing error placed the lead-off man at second, an Ortiz single put men at first and third with no one out. Robertson followed with a single off of Chiefs closer Osvaldo Berrios to tie the score at 3-3. Two batters later, Bender pushed Fort Wayne in front with a swinging bunt that rolled up the third base line. Both TinCaps runs were unearned.

In the bottom of the eighth, a TinCaps error opened the door for a Peoria tie. After Moquete reached via a throwing error, Bernal executed a hit and run to move Moquete to third with no one out. A Won-Bin Cho sac fly tied to the game to eventually push it to extras.

The Chiefs improved to 27-24 in the second half and remain one game back of Quad Cities for a playoff spot with 15 games to play.

Pete Hansen will start for Peoria on Friday. First pitch against Fort Wayne is set for 7:05 p.m.