Chiefs capitalize on umpire's decision, beat Snappers 1-0
An umpire's controversial call spoiled a fierce pitchers' duel as the Peoria Chiefs escaped with a 1-0 victory over the Snappers Friday night.
Starters Kyle Finnegan ( 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER) and Jimmy Reed (7 IP, 2H, 0 ER) exchanged seven innings of scoreless baseball before Peoria put up the only run of the game in the eighth inning.
The Chiefs took the 1-0 lead on a questionable call that resulted with the ejection of Snappers manager Rick Magnante. Peoria's Vaughn Bryan sent a ball down the first base foul line and didn't move out of the batter's box, expecting the ball to be called foul. The umpires disagreed, calling the ball fair, and Bryan capitalized on the stunned Snapper defense to score Robelys Reyes from first base.
Magnante vehemently disagreed with the call and voiced his opinion to umpire Josh Root before Root sent him to the locker room.
The Snappers couldn't rally in the following two innings after Peoria took the lead, only recording one hit in the eighth and ninth frames.
Peoria recorded six hits and two errors, while the Snappers offense only produced three hits on the night.
After the first five innings saw a lack of scoring chances, both teams had quality opportunities to score in the sixth and seventh innings but weren't able to convert. In the sixth inning, the Chiefs could've had runners on first and third base, but Steve Bean was tagged out at second base trying to stretch a single.
In the seventh inning, the Snappers led off the frame with a double by Tyler Marincov but couldn't turn the hit into a run. After a Chih-Fang Pan groundout sent Marincov to third base, Luis Baez popped up to end the inning.
The Snappers hit the road for two series against Burlington and Wisconsin before returning to Pohlman Field on June 13th to face the Kane County Cougars.