MWL1 Peoria Chiefs

Chiefs Winning Streak Ends at Three

Published on August 4, 2011 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Peoria Chiefs News Release


Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs allowed four unearned runs in the first three innings and couldn't put together a rally in an 8-2 setback to the Burlington Bees Thursday night. The loss snaps the Chiefs three-game winning streak and marks the first time the Chiefs have lost to the Bees since July 1. Peoria falls to 14-25 on the half and 47-62 overall on the season.

Both teams took advantage of early scoring chances and got on the board in the opening frame. In the top of the first, Beau Taylor drew a leadoff walk and advanced on a wild pitch before Nino Leyja reached on a throwing error by Chiefs' shortstop Arismendy Alcantara. The throw across the diamond sailed high of Richard Jones at first and into foul territory, which allowed both runners to move into scoring position. After two quick outs, Yordy Cabrera put Burlington ahead with a sharp liner down the right field line that barely snuck into fair territory. Both Taylor and Leyja scored on the RBI double that made it 2-0 against Chiefs' starter Brett Wallach.

Peoria answered in its half of the first and cut the deficit to one against right-hander Jose Macias. Alcantara led off with a base hit to short and moved to second when Cabrera short-hopped a throw to first that bounced down the right field line. Rubi Silva followed with an infield single before Dustin Geiger made it 2-1 with a sac fly to right. Macias recovered to retire Jones on a groundout and Anthony Giansanti on a flyout to get out of the inning.

Another productive frame in the second that included three straight hits allowed the Chiefs to draw the game back even. With one out, Micah Gibbs singled to right and Smaily Borges knocked a base hit to center ahead of Jesus Morelli who drove a RBI single to right that made it 2-2.

Burlington bounced back in the top of the third for a big inning that brought all nine hitters to the plate. Taylor led off with a long triple to left-center field and Leyja walked to put runners on the corners with nobody out. A.J. Kirby-Jones followed with a sharp grounder to Geiger at third, but his throw to second went well wide of second and into right field. Taylor made it home easily on the throwing error and Leyja also moved up a base before Tony Thompson lined a RBI double down the left field line that made it 4-2. With two on and still nobody out, the Bees' continued their pressure when Cabrera recorded his third RBI of the game on a run scoring single to center. After Wallach struck out Wade Kirkland, Ryan Pineda tacked on the final run of the inning with a RBI groundout to second that scored Thompson for a 6-2 ballgame.

Chiefs' reliever P.J. Francescon threw three shutout innings before the Bees added to their lead in the top of the seventh when Thompson crushed a solo homer off Yohan Gonzalez. The Bees tacked on their final run of the game in the ninth as Thompson struck again, this time against reliever Roderik Pichardo. With two gone and the bases empty, Thompson unloaded on a 2-1 pitch and sent it over the left field fence for his second homer of the game and an 8-2 final score.

Wallach (0-1) allowed six runs, two earned, on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of work. He allowed three walks, struck out two, and suffered the loss in his 2011 Chiefs debut. Francescon allowed just two hits in 3 1/3 innings pitched. He did not allow a run and walked one batter, with a pair of strikeouts. Gonzalez allowed one run on two hits over two innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Pichardo pitched the final frame and allowed one run, his first as a Chief, on one hit.

Casey's General Store Player of the Game - Micah Gibbs (C) - Gibbs went 2-for-4 on Thursday and scored one of the Chiefs' two runs. He also threw out a would-be base stealer in the fourth inning.

Notes: Thursday was Wallach's shortest outing of the season at any levelChiefs catchers have thrown out at least one runner in each game of the Burlington seriesWallach is now 0-5 in his Peoria Chiefs career with seven starts in 2010The Chiefs lead the league with 91 home runs allowed against after giving up two more on ThursdayJones' hit streak was snapped at seven games as he went 0-for-3 with a walkThe Chiefs have committed 22 errors in 16 games against Burlington which have led to 20 unearned runsAlcantara committed his team-leading 35th error of the season, which was the first error Peoria had committed in 21 2/3 inningsMorelli recorded his first RBI this season with Peoria...Borges recorded his first hit since that last time he played on May 20 as he has been on the DL with a calf strain for the last 10 weeksAll three of Geiger's RBI with Peoria have been from sacrifice fliesThe Chiefs went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven on baseThe Chiefs are 6-10 against Burlington this season and 4-2 at home, with one game remaining on FridayPeoria concludes a four-game series with Burlington on Friday at 7:00 p.mFriday is 90's Night as well as the special Media Madness Bobblehead giveaway presented by CEFCUThe first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a special edition Kirk Wessler bobblehead (winner of the media bobblehead contest)Breakin' BBoy McCoy will also be at the ballpark to entertain fans between innings and there will be another post-game Tennis Ball Toss Pitch in for Charity presented by Humana to raise money for the ICC Men's Basketball ProgramThe Chiefs will start LH Austin Kirk (5-7, 3.36) against Burlington RH Blake Hassebrock (6-6, 2.38)The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pre-game show at 6:40 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for an iPhone/iPad app and a Droid app.

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