Negret's Homer Sends Chiefs to Extra-Inning Loss

Davenport, IA – Juan Carlos Negret’s two-run, 10th inning homer sent the Chiefs to a 7-5 defeat in extra innings Tuesday at Modern Woodmen Park.

After walking off with three wins against West Michigan last week, Peoria found themselves on the wrong end of a game-ending homer. With one out in the inning, Negret homered over the wall in left off of Gustavo Rodriguez to give Quad Cities their first win against the Chiefs in their last 11 tries.

The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead Tuesday. In the second inning, Chris Rotondo led off the frame with a walk. Following a stolen base and a passed ball, Rotondo was at third with no one out in the inning. Alex Iadisernia promptly brought him home with a sac fly to make it a 1-0 ballgame.

Peoria starter Max Rajcic cruised through the first two innings before working around some traffic in the middle innings. The right-hander stranded two men in scoring position in the third. An inning later, River Town moved to third with no one out but was left stranded.

Chiefs batters were patient against Quad Cities starter Frank Mozzicato but were unable to get a clutch hit with runners in scoring position. Mozzicato walked six batters over five frames but Peoria could not extend their lead.

In the sixth, Peoria broke through against the River Bandits bullpen. Right-hander Marcus Olivarez, who made his High-A debut Tuesday, surrendered a two out, two-run double to R.J. Yeager to score Rotondo and Darlin Moquete and extend the Peoria lead to 3-0.

In the home half of the inning, Rajcic recorded two outs before being lifted for Edwin Nunez. The hard-throwing right-hander walked Carter Jensen to load the bases for Kale Emshoff. The Quad Cities first baseman doubled to the wall in left to clear the bases and tie the game, 3-3. The next batter, Justin Johnson, doubled inside the bag at first to give the Bandits their first lead, 4-3.

Nunez turned in a scoreless seventh to keep the game close and turned it over to Andrew Marrero. Quad Cities scratched a run in the bottom of the eighth on a hit by pitch, a pair of walks and sac fly to take a 5-3 lead into the ninth.

Peoria had another late rally in them on Tuesday. With the top of the order up, Yeager and Nathan Church each singled to place runners at first and second with no one out. After a Jimmy Crooks strikeout, Ramon Mendoza singled home Yeager and moved Church to third, cutting the deficit to 5-4. The next batter, Osvaldo Tovalin reached on an infield hit to tie the score. A 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth forced the game into extras.

The Chiefs went down in order in the top of the 10th to open the door for Negret’s heroics. His 19th home run of the season served as the winner.

With the loss, Peoria’s postseason magic number stayed put at seven. Game two of the series is set for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.