Chiefs Club 2 More Homers as Cubs Fall 6-2

PEORIA, IL - The Chiefs got another incredible start on the mound, this time from Inohan Paniagua, setting the tone as the Chiefs went on to win 6-2 Wednesday night.

Paniagua, inserted back into the rotation with the promotion of Cooper Hjerpe, got the win by tossing five shutout innings. He didn’t walk a batter and punched out eight, picking up where starter Quinn Mathews left off last night as he logged six scoreless frames, also fanning eight.

The Chiefs struck for two runs almost immediately. Zach Levenson singled to start the home-half of the first and Won-Bin Cho in his first at bat of the season hit an opposite field homer to make it 2-0.

Will Sanders struggled in that first frame but responded with a three-up, three-down second inning. Levenson came right back though and began the third inning with a no-doubter to left, his seventh homer of the season.

Peoria led 3-0 for the second night in a row but this time they added on before the Cubs could strike back. The former Hurricane struck again as Levenson doubled to begin the fifth. He scored on a Chris Rotondo single. An error on a throw from Jordan Nwogu, who sailed a thrower over the Jonathon Long’s head at first base on a potential flyable double-play sent Rotondo to third. He scored on a two-out single from Dakota Harris.

The 5-0 deficit was the largest the Cubs have faced since June 1.

Dionys Rodriguez came on for the sixth and got the first two batters out before the Cubs offense sprung to life. Jefferson Rojas singled, stole second, and scores two batters later on a bloop single to right from Long. Parker Chavers followed with a walk, reaching for a third time on the night, but the Cubs left the bases loaded and inched no closer.

Casey Opitz began the seventh with a solo-shot to right to make it 5-2. With two outs in the inning Gustavo Rodriguez came in and stymied the Cubs offense the rest of the way. The right-hander retired all seven batters he faced, striking out five.

Meanwhile the Chiefs added another run in the seventh on another RBI single from Harris, his second of the night.

Peoria now leads the series 2-0, with Ty Johnson set to make his first High-A start tomorrow for South Bend.