Chiefs' Late Scramble Falls Short, Drop Opener in Extras
August 17, 2022 - Midwest League (MWL)
Peoria Chiefs News Release
Peoria, IL - The Chiefs returned to Dozer Park for their second to last home stand of 2022 to host the Quad Cities River Bandits. Peoria fell behind the eight ball early, but stormed back with two runs in the eighth and three tallies in the ninth to force extras before an 8-6 Quad Cities win in 10 innings.
A pair of sacrifice flies in the opening frame got the night started for Quad Cities, plating two runs thanks to Darryl Collins and Juan Carlos Negret. Leading 2-0 in the third, Darryl Collins sent his second sac fly into right that brought in the game's third run.
Tyler Tolbert stepped up in the fifth following a double and tucked one of his own down the left field line to send in yet another run to stretch the River Bandits edge to 4-0.
In the sixth, Peoria received a gift wrapped run on a balk from River Bandits starter Adrian Alcantara, who despite that blemish was otherwise marvelous all evening. With the score now 4-1, Quad Cities wasn't content, adding an additional tally on the fourth sacrifice fly of the ballgame and second from Negret.
Upon reaching the eighth, the contest took a sharp right turn as the Chiefs woke up at the plate. Quad Cities traded an out for a run on an Osvaldo Tovalin ground out to make it a 5-2 score. Later, LJ Jones tapped a softly hit grounder up the third base line, and a wide throw from Cam Williams allowed Mack Chambers to circle the bases and score to slice the deficit to just two.
With the score 5-3 and things tightening up, the River Bandits tacked on some insurance with their fifth sac fly of the ballgame, to claw ahead 6-3. In the bottom of the ninth and down to their final three outs, the Chiefs rallied with six consecutive base runners. A Noah Mendlinger double to lead off the inning set the table for what followed. The next batter, Luis Rodriguez sent a liner to left and later Patrick Romeri punched one up the middle to make it a two run game again at 6-4. Tommy Jew was called upon to pinch run for Rodriguez and immediately came in to score on a pitch that was spiked in the dirt and traveled all the way to the backstop and suddenly the Chiefs trailed by just one. Todd Lott was the next to bat and promptly sent a sharp grounder through the hole on the left side to knot the score at six all. An intentional walk to Mack Chambers filled the bags with Chiefs for Osvaldo Tovalin, who sent a floater to short that was hauled in on a fine leaping snag by Tyler Tolbert that saved the game. Jones and Tyler Reichenborn were then set down to retire the side but the damage had been done.
In the 10th, Quad Cities wasted no time as Jack Alexander led off the frame with a ghost runner aboard. On a 1-0 offering, Alexander hit a rocket down the left field line to put Quad Cities ahead 7-6.Several batters later, Peyton Wilson singled to plate the eighth run of the game for the visitors.
Peoria attempted to pull one more rabbit out of their cap in the bottom of the tenth but the last ditch effort fell short, as the Chiefs went down in order to cap off a suspenseful series opener.
The loss bumps Peoria to 46-63 on the season. Game two comes tomorrow night at 6:35 with the Chiefs handing the ball to Zane Mills, while the River Bandits feature Noah Cameron.
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