MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Lose 9-8 in 10 on Wednesday

Published on July 18, 2012 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Comstock Park, MI - The Peoria Chiefs rallied to tie the West Michigan Whitecaps before blowing a 10th inning lead as birthday boy Eugenio Suarez celebrated with his fourth hit of the game, a walk-off single to lift the hosts to a 9-8 Wednesday night win. The loss drops the Chiefs to 10-15 on the half and 45-49 overall.

The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead in the second inning against Jeff Ferrell. Chad Krist one-hopped a double over the centerfield wall and moved to third on a groundout by newcomer Bijan Rademacher. With two down Oliver Zapata surprised the Whitecaps with a safety squeeze bunt-single as Krist score the first run of the game.

West Michigan took the lead in the third inning against Jose Rosario. Edgar Corcino led off with a walk and moved to second on a single by Brandon Loy. Eugenio Suarez singled on a hit-and-run to score Corcino and tie the game with Loy moving to second. With two outs Jeff McVaney laced a double into the left-center field gap to score both Loy and Suarez for a 3-1 Whitecaps lead. Rosario immediately called out the Chiefs coaching and training staff and left the game with an undisclosed injury. Sheldon McDonald replaced Rosario and retired Jason Krizan to end the inning.

The Chiefs bounced back and knocked Ferrell from the game in the fourth. Paul Hoilman led off with a walk and moved to third on a double by Javier Baez. Hoilman scored and Baez was out at third on a RBI fielder's choice from Krist. Rademacher reached on a bunt single and both runners moved up on a groundout by Zapata. Pin-Chieh Chen singled home both Krist and Rademacher as the Chiefs took a 4-3 lead. Slade Smith replaced Ferrell and Chen stole second, moving to third when the throw from the West Michigan catcher sailed into the outfield. Zeke DeVoss put the Chiefs up 5-3 with a single to left and he stole second base before Smith escaped the inning.

West Michigan responded in a big way in the bottom of the fourth. Pat Leyland, son of Tigers Manager Jim Leyland, led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. With two down Chad Wright doubled home Leyland to cut the Chiefs lead to 5-4. Loy singled home Wright to tie the game and Suarez launched a two-run homer to left to put the Whitecaps on top 7-5.

The game stayed 7-5 until the eighth. With Jade Todd in out of the West Michigan bullpen, the right-side of the infield lost a pop-up from Hoilman that fell for a double. Baez singled to right to put runners on the corners and Krist drove home Hoilman with a single to left. Baez scored on a groundout from Rademacher to tie the game at 7-7 before Zapata and Chen both drew walks. Todd escaped the inning with the game tied as DeVoss was out on a bang-bang play at first base on an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

The Chiefs loaded the bases against Dan Bennett and Michael Torrealba in the ninth inning but failed to score. Torrealba got Baez to pop up foul before he struck out Krist and Rademacher to escape the threat. Austin Reed also had to escape a jam in the ninth after Suarez walked and moved to third on a pair of one-out wild pitches. Reed got McVaney to pop up and intentionally walked Krizan before Leyland grounded out to end the frame.

With one down in the 10th Chen doubled to right against Torrealba to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. DeVoss delivered a double of his own to score Chen and give the Chiefs an 8-7 lead, their first lead since the fourth inning. Torrealba struck out Easterling and got Geiger to ground out as DeVoss was left at third base after a steal.

Larry Suarez came out of the Chiefs bullpen in the 10th inning and walked pinch-hitter Jeff Holm to start the inning. Holm was sacrificed to second and moved to third on an errant pickoff throw by Suarez. Wright hit a grounder to DeVoss who threw home but Holm dislodged the ball from Kirst at the plate to score the tying run. Wright stole second and after a strikeout scored the game-winning run on a single to the left field wall by Eugenio Suarez.

Rosario allowed three runs on five hits over a season-low 2 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one. McDonald allowed four runs on four hits and one walk over two innings. Luis Liria did not allow a run over 2 1/3 innings. He allowed two hits, hit a batter and struck out two. Reed did not allow a hit or a run over two innings while walking three and striking out two. Suarez (1-2) allowed two runs on one hit and one walk in 2/3 of an inning in his second blown save of the season.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game - Pin-Chieh Chen (LF) - Chen was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI, two singles and a stolen base. He now has back-to-back multi-hit games and has raised his average to .254 with five hits in his last eight at-bats.

Notes: Baez now has a career-best 13-game hit streak...During the streak Baez is 22-for-46 with four homeruns and 10 RBI and six multi-hit games...Hoilman leads the MWL with 30 doubles and is second with 42 extra-base hitsThe Chiefs were 0-for-4 with the bases loaded Wednesday night and are now hitting .203 with the bases full in 2012Krist has had multiple hits in all five of his starts with Peoria (11-for-22)... DeVoss has reached base in 12 straight games...The Chiefs had two errors from pitchers Wednesday nightThe Chiefs are now 5-4 in extra-inning gamesPeoria is 8-37 when allowing five runs or more and 24-11 when scoring five or moreThe Chiefs have lost nine games in their opponents final at-batDeVoss had his first multi-RBI game since April 15Suarez is 0-for-2 in save situations for the Chiefs this season and he was also 0-for-2 in Daytona this yearRosario is the first MWL pitcher to start 20 games this seasonHe is second in the MWL with 95 strikeouts and third in innings pitched with 111...McDonald had not allowed more than one earned run in any of his 19 outings before tonightMcDonald allowed a total of five earned runs in his first 36 1/3 innings before giving up four in the fourth inning as his ERA jumped from 1.24 to 2.11The Chiefs last played at West Michigan in 2010 when they dropped two of threeThis is the Chiefs second straight walk-off loss in Grand RapidsThe Whitecaps swept the three-game series in Peoria in June, 2011The three-game series continues Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ESTThe Chiefs will send RH Yao-Lin Wang (3-2, 3.19) to the mound in his first start of the season against Whitecaps RH Wilson Palacios (10-6, 3.47)The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pre-game show at 5:45 p.m. Central Time on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android.

Check out the Peoria Chiefs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from July 18, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central