Chiefs Walked Off Thursday
Appleton, WI- The Peoria Chiefs led 3-2 going to the bottom of the eighth inning but gave up two late runs and lost on a walk-off single to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-3 Wednesday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 21-12 in the second half and 53-47 on the season heading into Thursday's series finale.
The visitors jumped out to an early lead as Oscar Mercado drew a leadoff walk from Eric Hanhold and promptly stole second base, his 39th steal of the season. Paul DeJong launched a 2-1 offering over the 405-foot-sign in right center and into the beach party area for a two-run home run and a 2-0 Chiefs lead. The homer is the second with the Chiefs for DeJong and his sixth overall since being drafted in June.
Wisconsin tied the game in the second inning against Chiefs starter Dewin Perez. Sthervin Matos singled to left with one out and Alan Sharkey tied the game with a two-run home run over the right-field wall.
Wisconsin left two on base in the third and left the bases loaded after drawing three walks in the fourth. The Chiefs regained the lead in the top of the fifth as Kenny Peoples-Walls hit his fifth home run of the season over the high left-field wall for a 3-2 advantage. Andrew Sohn followed with an infield single and stole second before Scott Lieser came out of the bullpen to end the inning.
The Rattlers got even in the eighth. Steve Sabatino allowed a leadoff double to Francisco Castillo and Matos' sacrifice bunt put the tying run on third with one out. Sabatino got Sharkey to ground out to first and Kyle Grana took over on the hill. Grana got ahead of Luis Aviles 0-2 before a bloop double in front of a diving Peoples-Walls in left field tied the game. Grana got a groundout to end the inning with the game tied 3-3.
With one out in the ninth, Grana walked three straight Rattlers batters. Castillo ended the game with a single to right for a 4-3 Wisconsin win.
Perez allowed two runs on four hits and four walks over five innings while striking out two. Sabatino allowed one run on two hits and one walk over 2 2/3 innings while striking out two. Grana (1-2) allowed one run on two hits and three walks over 2/3 of an inning while striking out one.
Notes: The Chiefs had not lost back to back games since July 3-4…The Chiefs are 45-3 when leading after seven innings…Sohn extended his hit streak to 14 games, the longest streak by a Chiefs hitter since Javier Baez hit safely in 16 straight in July 2012…Sohn has 21 hits during the streak…The Chiefs have homered in three straight games….Mercado leads the MWL with 39 steals which also leads all Cardinals Minor Leaguers…Perez has walked at least three batters in all five starts since returning from the disabled list…Grana was charged with his first blown save in 16 chances…Nick Thompson hit into two double plays and leads the team with seven on the season…Wisconsin has turned four double plays so far in the series…The Chiefs are 13-10 in one-run games and have lost nine games in the opponent's final at-bat…The series concludes against the Timber Rattlers on Thursday at 12:05 p.m.…The Chiefs will start LH Austin Gomber (10-3, 3.36) against Rattlers RH Jon Perrin (1-1, 6.32)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 11:50 a.m., on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android…The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the MiLB Inside the Park and Tune-In Radio Apps.