Chiefs Power Past Kernels 16-6
PEORIA, ILL - Peoria struck for 16 Sunday afternoon, slugging by the Kernels 16-6 in the series finale. The Chiefs got their big offensive day started in the bottom of the first inning. A walk and an error put runners on second and third before a wild pitch opened the
PEORIA, ILL - Peoria struck for 16 Sunday afternoon, slugging by the Kernels 16-6 in the series finale.
The Chiefs got their big offensive day started in the bottom of the first inning. A walk and an error put runners on second and third before a wild pitch opened the scoring to make it 1-0.
The lead grew in the second. A pair of walks put two on for Won-Bin Cho, who blasted a three-run home run to right to expand the advantage to 4-0.
Cedar Rapids got on the board in the top of the third. A two-base error put Jay Thomason on second. A Jaime Ferrer single moved Thomason to third before a Marek Houston sacrifice fly scored him to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Peoria respond in the bottom of the inning. A single and two walks loaded the bases with no one out. After a pop out, an Ian Petrutz two-run double followed by a Cho two-run single lifted the Chiefs in front 8-1.
In the fourth, the Chiefs kept coming. Jalin Flores doubled to begin the inning and came home to score on a Josh Kross RBI single. Kross came in to score two batters later on a Cade McGee RBI double to set the Peoria advantage to 10-1.
The Kernels got back in it in the seventh. Singles from Miguel Briceno and Thomason put two on for Ferrer, who singled to drive in a run. After an Andy Lugo walk loaded the bases, an Eduardo Tait ground out scored a run to make it 10-3. The next batter, Brandon Winokur, then belted a three-run home run to left to close the gap to four at 10-6.
But that was the closest the Kernels would get. The Chiefs countered with two runs in the bottom half on a Rainel Rodriguez RBI single and a bases-loaded walk. Peoria then put the game away in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four times in the inning, capped off by a Flores two-run home run to make it a 16-6 game, the score that would be the final.
The loss drops the Kernels to 8-13 on the season as they go 1-5 in the series in Peoria. Cedar Rapids returns home Tuesday to begin a six-game series against West Michigan at 6:05; both starters in game one are TBD.