Chiefs ninth inning rally falls short
July 24, 2005 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release
Patterson gets four hits, Harvey homers in loss Lansing, MI - Battling nearly unplayable filed conditions and an early deficit, the Peoria Chiefs scored five times in the top of the 9th but fell to the Lansing Lugnuts 7-6 Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Chiefs fall to 11-19 on the half and 46-54 on the season, a season worst eight games under .500 through 100 games.
Lansing jumped all over Chiefs ace Sean Gallagher (10-4) in the 1st inning and continued the attack in the 2nd. With the bases loaded and one out in the 1st, David Hicks doubled off the wall in right field, clearing the bases for a 3-0 Lugnuts lead. In the 2nd, Gallagher gave up a single to David Corrente and walked Eugenio Velez before getting the first out. Christian Snavely drove a fly ball to deep center and over the head of Sam Fuld who banged off the wall trying to make the catch. The ball bounced toward right and Fuld slipped on a muddy warning track as Snavely circled the bases for an inside the park home run and a 6-0 Lansing lead.
The Chiefs got on the board in the 3rd inning against Russ Savickas (5-3). Fuld led off with a walk and advanced to third on Eric Patterson's second single of the day. Ryan Harvey got the Chiefs on the board with a RBI fielders' choice, his 68th RBI of the season.
Trailing 7-1 into the top of the 9th, the Chiefs came out swinging against Lugnuts reliever Joey McLaughlin. Anthony Granato led off with a solo homer into the right field berm his 4th of the season. Alan Rick followed with a long triple off the wall in center and scored on a base hit by Joe Simokaitis to cut the lead to 7-3. Drew Larsen walked and Darryl Harang reliever McLaughlin and induced a 5-4-3 double play from Fuld. Patterson drew a two out walk before Harvey crushed an opposite field homer, his 18th of the season to make it a 7-6 game. Jesse Schmidt followed with a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate but Bo Flowers lined out to 1st to end the game.
Gallagher was knocked around for the first time all season in his 20th start. The right-hander allowed a season high six earned runs and tied a season high with five walks while striking out three and allowing five hits. His MWL leading ERA jumped from 1.95 to 2.40. Pepsi Player of the Game
Eric Patterson (2B)- Patterson drove his MWL leading average to .347 with his second four hit game of the season. The second baseman singled in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th before walking and scoring in the 9th. His other four hit game of the season game May 30th in Clinton.
Notes... Since the groundscrew didn't tarp the field overnight despite the forecast of storms, the start of the game was delayed 40 minutes as they worked to repair the infield... Gallagher had been 6-0 with a 1.20 ERA on the road in nine starts this season...Peoria is now 16-4 in Gallagher's starts...Eric Patterson has hit safely in 8 straight and now leads the team with 33 multi-hit games and 2 4-hit games...The Chiefs were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and hit into a season high five double plays...The Chiefs return home for a four game series against the Dayton Dragons on Mountain Dew Half-Price Ticket Monday...Peoria will have newcomer Mike Billek, a 2005 3rd round pick on the mound against LH Juan Frias...Game time in 7:00 PM...The game can be heard on 1350 WOAM and www.peoriachiefs.com.
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Midwest League Stories from July 24, 2005
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