Chiefs Blow Two Leads, Lose Monday
GENEVA, IL- The Peoria Chiefs wasted two leads and spoiled a great start by Jimmy Reed Monday afternoon in a 5-4, 11-inning loss to the first-place Kane County Cougars. The loss drops the Chiefs to 27-23 on the season with their first four-game losing streak.
Kane County got on the board in the second inning against Reed. With one out, former Chief Jacob Rogers powered a solo home run to the picnic tables in right-center, his fourth homer of the season.
The Chiefs left runners on first and second in the second inning and first and third in the third against Justin Amlung. Playing in his first game of the season after a seven-week stint on the disabled list, Gerwuins Velazco tied the game in the fourth with a towering home run to left field. The blast, the third of his career, was the fourth for the Chiefs on this roadtrip.
Peoria took the lead in the top of the seventh against reliever Michael Heesch. Velazco singled to center, his third hit of the game, and moved to second on a single by Michael Schulze. Richy Pedroza drew a walk to load the bases and Velazco scored as C.J. McElroy Jr. drew a walk. James Pugliese came in for Heesch and Jimmy Bosco put the Chiefs on top 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to left.
Reed did not allow a base runner after Carlos Penalver singled in the third until a one-out triple by Shawon Dunston Jr. in the eighth. Chris Perry came in out of the bullpen and struck out Jacob Hanneman for the second out. A groundout to third by Penalver ended the eighth with a runner stranded at third.
Zach Loraine started the ninth for the Chiefs and Ben Carhart singled for Kane County. Yasiel Balaguert followed with a single before Rogers singled in Carhart to cut the Chiefs lead to 3-2. After a strikeout, Daniel Lockhart singled to load the bases and David Bote was hit on the hand with a 0-2 pitch to tie the game. Steve Sabatino came out of the bullpen and struck out pinch-hitter Will Remillard before Jacob Hanneman bounced to second to send the game to extras.
After the Chiefs wasted a leadoff double from Juan Herrera in the 10th, Velazco led off the 11th inning with a double. Vaughn Bryan pinch ran and moved to third on a wild pitch as Schulze walked. Pedroza's sac fly scored Bryan for a 4-3 lead but Schulze was left at first.
The Cougars came out swinging again in the bottom of the 11th as Cael Brockmeyer doubled past a sliding Bosco in right-field. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sac fly by Bote. Jordan Hankins, who came into the game defensively in the 10th, crushed the first pitch he saw all game for a walk-off homer to right-center. Kane County started the series with the least amount of homers in the MWL at 13 but now have three in 20 innings against the Chiefs.
Reed threw a career-high 7 1/3 innings. He allowed one run on four hits without issuing a walk. The left-hander struck out three and hit a batter. Perry retired both batters he faces with a strikeout. Loraine allowed a season-high four hits and a season-high two runs over 2/3 of an inning while hitting a batter and striking out one. Sabatino allowed a walk and struck out two over 1 2/3 hitless and shutout innings. Herget (3-2) allowed two runs on two hits in 2/3 of an inning.
Notes: The four-game losing streak is the longest for the Chiefs since a six-game slide August 22-27, 2013…Reed's 7 1/3 innings marked the longest outing of the season for a Chiefs hurler and longest since Silfredo Garcia threw nine innings on August 8, 2013 against Wisconsin in a 10-inning win…Reed retired 15 straight Cougars from the third inning until the Dunston triple with one out in the eighth…Perry leads all pitchers in the Cardinals Minor League system with 51 strikeouts, one more than Alex Reyes…Justin Ringo, who has hit safely in all six Chiefs starts and has six extra-base hits, was out of the lineup after dislocating his shoulder diving into second base in the ninth inning Sunday and is listed as day-to-day…In his first start of the season, Gerwuins Velazco singled in his first at-bat…Velazco's only other home run in a Chiefs uniform also came against the Cougars on July 29, 2013 at Dozer Park…The four hits were a career-high for Velazco...Pedroza singled in the third after starting the season 0-for-12… The Chiefs are 8-6 in day games…Today was just the second road Monday game for the Chiefs all season (1-1)…Reed is the first Chiefs starter to make nine starts…The Chiefs are 5-4 in games started by Reed…After going 0-for-7 Monday, Peoria is 6-for-37 on the roadtrip with runners in scoring position…Chiefs starters have gone at least 5 1/3 innings in four straight starts but have allowed a home run in four straight outings…Peoria and Kane County will meet four more times in the next seven days and seven times before June 12…This series concludes Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. as the Chiefs send RH Blake McKnight (1-4, 6.68) to the mound against Kane County RH Duane Underwood (1-1, 2.43)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 10:45 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.