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MWL1 Burlington Bees

Bees Rally to Defeat Peoria in Extra Innings

July 3, 2018 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Burlington Bees News Release


Burlington, IA. - It was a long and crazy night at Community Field, as the Burlington Bees (2-10,32-49) ended the night on a walk off hit to beat the Peoria Chiefs (7-4,46-35) 9-8 in ten innings. Mayky Perez (1-0) came up big out of the bullpen tonight to earn his first victory with the Bees. Perez pitched the final three innings, allowed no hits, two walks, and struck out four. Kodi Whitley (3-1) suffered his first loss this year and also blew his first save after a frustrating relief outing. Whitley went the final two innings, allowed two runs, two hits, one walk, and struck out three.

Bees early lead on two run first

Peoria struck right away in the top of the first on a two out RBI single from Julio Rodriguez, but it was the Bees ended up having the lead going into the second. Leonardo Rivas started things off with a single to center, and Orlando Martinez hustled down the line to beat the throw to first for an infield single. Franklin Torres then drew a walk to load the bases and later on Julio Garcia delivered on a single to right to drive in Rivas and Martinez, giving Burlington a 2-1 lead after the first.

Traver's struggles lead to six run second

Mitchell Traver just didn't have his usual stuff again, as he got rocked in the second. Matt Fiedler led the second off with his fourth homerun to tie the game at 2-2. Peoria then got the bases loaded on a walk from Jose Martinez, a single by Nick Plummer, and another walk drawn by Irving Lopez. Elehuris Montero then sent his 18th double of the year to left, driving in two runs to give Peoria a 4-2 lead.

Yariel Gonzalez drove in another two runs right away on a single to center and Rodriguez followed him up with his second RBI single of the game, giving Peoria a 7-2 lead in the second inning. Traver would get out of the inning with a strikeout, but he did not come back out in the third. Traver's stats on the day were two innings pitched, seven runs on seven hits, three walks, and two strikeouts.

Bees pull themselves back in with runs in the third and sixth

Torres led the third off on a good note, hitting a single to left, and Garcia got him in scoring position on his second hit of the evening, to put runners on first and second. Harrison Wenson came up big with his 13th RBI on a single to left, cutting the Chiefs lead to 7-3.

After a couple quite innings, Burlington got things going again in the sixth, loading the bases on singles from Jeyson Sanchez and Rivas, and getting a walk from Torii Hunter. The inning looked like it was taking a turn for the worst after Martinez and Torres both struck out to give Peoria a shot at getting out of the jam. However, Fabian Blanco focused a bit too much on Kevin Williams and ended up throwing a wild pitch, allowing Sanchez to score from third, making the score 7-4.

Bees escape another big inning for Peoria

The Chiefs wanted no comeback for Burlington, as Montero led the inning off with a single, and Alexis Wilson drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Rodriguez again came up with a single to drive in Montero and give Peoria an 8-4 lead.

The Bees got things to go their way though, on a ground ball from Bryce Denton, which allowed Burlington to nearly complete a 5-6-3 triple play, but Denton did manage to beat the throw to first by a step. Fiedler then flew out to end the inning and Burlington escaped with only allowing one run.

Bees begin comeback

Peoria didn't enjoy their four run lead long, because Jeyson Sanchez sent his second ball over the fence this season for a solo shot, putting the Bees back within three runs in the bottom of the seventh.

In the eighth, Martinez started things off with a one out single and Burlington ended up loading the bases after Torres drew a walk, and Williams was hit by a pitch in the helmet. Garcia came up big again with the bases loaded, sending his third hit of the night to right field to drive in two runs and get Burlington back in the game, making the score 8-7.

Hunter delivers two out single in ninth

Connor Fitzsimons started the ninth inning off on a high note, drawing a walk and advancing to second on a wild pitch. However, Rivas suffered a frustrating strikeout after Fitzsimons advanced to second, and Peoria was only an out away from capturing victory. Hunter managed to work the count in his favor at two balls and a strike, and took advantage of the fastball count, sending a single just past the glove of Lopez for a single to center. Peoria had a chance to get Fitzsimons out at the plate, but the throw was off, and the Bees tied it at 8-8.

Williams finishes the job with walk off single

Peoria failed to advance their place runner in the tenth, which gave Burlington a chance to win it in the tenth. Martinez started the bottom of the tenth and Torres advanced him to third on ground out to second. Williams came up just needing to send a ball deep enough to score Martinez and Williams did just that, blasting one deep to center that ended up dropping for a single, giving Burlington a 9-8 walk off win.

No sign of quit

It would have been easy for Burlington to just call it quits early on. On a frustrating losing streak and down by five runs early, it didn't look like a night where the Bees were going to come back and win. Burlington finished the game with 17 hits and drew six walk. Although they did have another high strikeout night with 12, and left 14 runners on base, all the players in the lineup look like they were determined to get the game back in their favor all night. The offense is finally looking like they are focusing a lot more of their attention on just making contact, rather than trying to hit the ball 500 feet.

Two different stories in the bullpen

The Bees bullpen did what they do best again last night, shutting down opposing offenses, so they can pick up the win. Pitchers Austin Krzeminski, newcomer Austin Warren, and Perez combined to pitch eight innings, allow one unearned run, four hits, four walk, and throwing seven strikeouts.

For the Chiefs, their bullpen was the exact opposite of the Bees. Peoria's bullpen combined to throw six and a third innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, surrendering five walks, and throwing eight strikeouts.

Tonight, was a classic example of how much your bullpen can make an impact on a game. Burlington's relivers gave the offense a chance to come back in the game by keeping Peoria's offense at bay after the hot start. Peoria couldn't match that. The Bees offense continued to pound their pitching staff all game long. Once Burlington got within three you could see the pressure start to build on the relivers for Peoria and they couldn't quite live up to it.

Welcome to our club

The Bees had another debut appearance in last night's game, welcoming in Austin Warren. Warren is a 22 year old right hander, from Fayetteville, NC. He attended UNC Wilmington and was drafted in the sixth round by the Angels in this year's draft. Warren pitched two innings in his debut, allowing an unearned run, two hits, a walk, and a strikeout.

Looking Ahead

The Bees are back in action for their final game of the homestand, taking on Peoria at 6:30 pm. Bees are expected to start Jose Soriano, who is 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in three starts. Peoria is expected to throw Johan Oviedo. Oviedo is 3-6 with a 5.22 ERA in 13 starts and has looked pretty good as of late. He has only allowed seven runs in his last 20 innings, while throwing for 22 strikeouts. Oviedo has allowed 45 walks in 60.1 innings pitched, so the Bees may want to be patient at the plate early on.

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