Bean's Walk-Off Double Lifts Chiefs to 4-3 Win
PEORIA, IL- Steve Bean's double in the 11th inning scored Kenny Peoples-Walls from first base to give the Peoria Chiefs their first walk-off win of the season in a 4-3 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Friday morning. The win pushes the Chiefs record to 24-16.
Peoria got the scoring started right away. CJ McElroy Jr. reached on a throwing error to begin the home half of the first. Juan Herrera erased McElroy on a ground out, but stole second and advanced to third when the throw went into center field. With two outs Ronald Castillo singled up the middle for the game's first run.
The Chiefs tacked on two more in the second as the first four batters got on. Bean walked and Mason Katz doubled him to third. Jake Stone singled home Bean and Michael Schulze followed with a single of his own to score Katz and give the Chiefs a 3-0 lead.
Peoria had plenty of opportunities to add on to the lead over the next three innings but came up empty. They loaded the bases with no one out in the third and couldn't score, then got a leadoff triple in the fourth by McElroy but stranded him at third. The Chiefs also got the first two on in the fifth but left them at the corners.
Wisconsin tied the game with a three-run sixth inning. Back-to-back one-out walks spelled the end of the day for Chiefs starter Rob Kaminsky. Chris Perry came in and walked the first man he faced to load the bases. Rafael Neda singled up the middle to score one before Francisco Castillo capped a 12-pitch at-bat with a two-run single to right to tie the game.
The game remained tied at three into the 11th when Peoples-Walls lined a one-out single to left off Mark Williams. Bean drilled a 2-0 pitch to the wall in right and Peoples-Walls scored from first on the double, lifting the Chiefs to the 4-3 win.
Kaminsky worked a career-high 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Perry went the next 2 1/3 innings allowing one run with two hits, a walk and six strikeouts. Zach Loraine tied his career-high with 2 1/3 innings and did not allow a run on one hit, a walk and two strikeouts. Kevin Herget (3-1) pitched the final inning with two strikeouts to get the win.
Notes: Peoples-Walls had his fourth three-hit game…Castillo had his second straight multi-hit game…The walk-off double for Bean was his first extra-base hit of the year…The Chiefs had four stolen bases, tied for the most on the season…Herrera stole two bases to give him a team-high 14…The Chiefs were issued two intentional walks, to Stone and Castillo, their first two of the season…The Chiefs are 2-0 in extra-inning games this season…This was the Chiefs first extra-inning game at home…The Chiefs left a season-high 16 men on base…Game three of the four-game series is Saturday at 6:30 p.m….RHP Michael Holback makes his debut for Peoria while RHP Preston Gainey (1-2, 3.10) starts for Wisconsin…It's Washington Strong Night as the Chiefs will wear special jerseys and auction them off with proceeds to benefit the Washington Tornado Relief Fund…The first 1,000 fans will receive an Alex Reyes OYO sports figure courtesy of Frontier Communications…It's also the first post-game fireworks display of the season, presented by Spring-Green…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:10 p.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 Tune-In Radio App.