Chiefs Win on 1-0 Walk-Off Wild Pitch
Peoria, IL - A wild pitch scored Jacob Wilson in the ninth inning to give the Peoria Chiefs a 1-0 walk-off victory against the Quad Cities River Bandits on Saturday night. The win came in front of 7,111 fans, the largest Dozer Park crowd of the season, and kept the Chiefs three games behind Beloit for the final playoff spot in the Western Division.
A Chiefs player doubled in the second, third and fourth innings against Mike Hauschild, but in each instance failed to score. Patrick Wisdom doubled in the second, Breyvic Valera cracked a two-bagger in the third and Jacob Wilson hit his team leading 12th double of the season in the fourth.
Quad Cities threatened to score in the eighth against Sam Tuivailala after Ariel Ovando led off with a single. He was replaced by pinch-runner Ruben Sosa, who stole second. After Teoscar Hernandez struck out, Jordan Scott walked and Austin Elkins hit an infield single to load the bases. Joe Donofrio replaced Tuivailala, and struck out Carlos Correa to end the threat keeping the score deadlocked at 0-0. Quad Cities loaded the bases again in the ninth but Donofrio struck out Hernandez to keep the game scoreless.
The Chiefs finally broke through in the ninth inning with the game-winning run. Wilson led off with a walk and Jordan Walton moved him to second with a bunt single. Wisdom moved them both over with a sacrifice bunt, and Quad Cities attempted to intentionally walk Jeremy Schafer. But Gerard Sanchez's first pitch sailed to the backstop and Wisdom sprinted home to win the game.
Joe Cuda gave up two hits in seven scoreless innings while striking out eight. Tuivailala allowed two hits and one walk with a strikeout in 2/3 of an inning. Donofrio (3-0) gave up one hit and one walk in 1 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out three.
Notes: This was the first Chiefs 1-0 win since May 5 against Fort Wayne and the first walk-off win since May 27 against Wisconsin…Cuda tied a career high and set a season high with seven innings pitched… The Chiefs are now 6-2 when tied entering the ninth inning… The walk-off win was their seventh in their last at bat this season…. Cuda also allowed a season low of three hits... After his strikeout in the eighth inning Donofrio has now retired 17 of 18 first batters he's faced this season… The game marked the first time and Astros affiliate has ever played in Dozer Park…The Chiefs continue their series against Quad Cities with game two at 5:00 p.m on Sunday… St. Louis Cardinals RHP Jake Westbrook will make the rehab start with the Chiefs… A 14-year MLB Veteran Westbrook is 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 2013 but landed on the DL on May 12 with an elbow inflammation… He pitched for Double-A Springfield on Tuesday… Westbrook is 100-96 in the Majors…the last MLB player to rehab in Peoria was Carlos Zambrano on July 8, 2011… Quad Cities has not yet announced their starting pitcher… Kids 12 and under will receive a free ticket for the game at the ticket office as part of Sonic Superkids Sunday… The first 1,000 fans at the ballpark will receive a Chiefs Mini Bat courtesy of Caterpillar… The first 1,500 receive a free Jacob Wilson poster courtesy of the Journal Star… Sunday is also Super Hero Day with guest appearances by Spiderman, Superman, Batman and Robin… All fans can play catch on the field at 4:00 p.m… Chiefs players (excluding Westbrook) will sign autographs on the field at 4:15 p.m… All kids can run the bases during post game… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Premier Print Group pre-game show at 4:40 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android.