The Peoria Chiefs behind another strong pitching performance from lefty Kyler Burke defeated the Burlington Bees 2-1 before 1,367 fans. Both of the Chiefs runs came by way of sacrifice flies. In the fourth, designated hitter Taylor Davis drove in Ryan Cuneo, who walked and then took third on Anthony Giansanti’s single. Burlington scored their only run in the third when B.A. Vollmuth drove in Sean Jamieson, who doubled. The victory gives Peoria its first four-game winning streak of the season. Click here for complete game stats.
-Bob
With a sellout crowd of 7,142 in attendance for Star Wars night at the ballpark, starter PJ Francescon put on a show of his own leading the Peoria Chiefs to a dominating 2-1 win over the Burlington Bees Saturday night. Despite the win, the game saw the end of Paul Hoilman’s franchise-record 24-game hit streak which began on April 14th. The Chiefs took advantage of some faulty defense in the bottom of the third. After walking his fifth batter of the game to start the frame, Burlington starter Raul Alcantara hurled an errant pickoff throw to first allowing Zeke DeVoss to scoot all the way to third. Taiwan Easterling was unable to get one past the drawn in infield but another errant throw from shortstop Sean Jamieson allowed DeVoss to cross home giving Peoria a 1-0 lead without recording a hit. After back-to-back flyouts, Easterling stole second and was brought home on a RBI single by Wes Darvill extending the Chiefs’ lead to 2-0. Click for complete game stats.
-Bob
The Quad Cities River Bandits scored three first-inning runs but were held scoreless the rest of the way as the Peoria Chiefs, aided by a go-ahead, three-run home run from first baseman Ryan Cuneo, came from behind for a 5-3 Wednesday night victory to avoid being swept at home in the opening series of the Rivertown Showdown before 1,161 fans. The Chiefs were shut out for two innings by River Bandits left-hander Dail Villanueva (0-1), but they loaded the bases in the third inning with a walk, a double by Paul Hoilman and a hit batter. An error by David Medina and a groundout by catcher Taylor Davis then brought in the Chiefs’ first two runs. Michael Jensen retired 17 of the final 19 batters he faced to finish with five strikeouts in six innings pitched, and right-hander Yao-Lin Wang pitched two perfect innings following Jensen. Click Here for Game Stats.
-Bob
The Peoria Chiefs used a tenth inning, RBI single from Elliot Soto to pull through in a back-and-forth game and defeat the Lake County Captains, 6-5 on Friday night. With the victory, the Chiefs took two of the three games of the series and improve to 42-49 on the season. For the second night in a row, the Captains led after the first half inning as Lake County grabbed a 1-0 lead against Chiefs’ right-hander Starling Peralta. After two quick strikeouts, Jordan Casas reached on a throwing error by Peralta and moved to second when the ball bounced into foul territory. Jesus Aguilar put the Captains on top, and continued to frustrate Peoria, with a RBI double that bounced off the left field wall. The Chiefs won the game in the 10th against reliever Joey Mahalic. Peoria designated hitter Ryan Cuneo lifted a single into left and Greg Rohan laid down a sacrifice bunt then Richard Jones was intentionally walked before Soto bounced a base hit up the middle for the game-winning run. Yohan Gonzalez (4-3) earned the win with one run allowed on two hits in two innings of work. He walked one and struck out two batters. Attendance for the game at O’Brien Field was 2,442.
-Bob
Chicago Cubs’ right-hander Carlos Zambrano pitched four innings in a rehab assignment on Friday night as the Peoria Chiefs fell 4-1 to the Beloit Snappers. Zambrano allowed just an unearned run on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision in front of 5,610 fans. With the loss, Peoria falls to 5-10 in the second half and has dropped each of its last three series. Big Z allowed one unearned run on three hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out four in the no decision. Su-Min Jung allowed just one hit in four innings and also walked four batters. Pete Levitt (0-1) pitched two innings and suffered the loss. He allowed three runs on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
-Bob
