Chiefs Double Up Bandits 9-2
DAVENPORT, IA - The Peoria Chiefs collected a season-high seven doubles, three from Carson Kelly, to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits 9-2 on Saturday night. The win moves the Chiefs to 2-1 in the second half and 39-33 overall as they go for the series win Sunday night in Davenport.
The Chiefs got the offense going in the third inning against Kevin Comer as Kenny Peoples-Walls doubled and Vaughn Bryan singled. C.J. McElroy Jr. put the Chiefs on top with a single to left and Justin Ringo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kelly doubled to center field as all three runners scored for a 4-0 lead. Mason Katz and Luis Perez each followed with RBI doubles and the Chiefs sent Comer out of the game with a 6-0 lead. The third inning totaled six runs, six hits and five doubles for the Chiefs before Chris Cotton got the Bandits off the field.
"In that situation I was looking for something to drive and I put a good swing on it," said Kelly. "They ran around the bases and put us on top for a good team win. This is a big confidence booster to get a big run game and make things happen. Hopefully we can continue to work hard and be consistent."
Quad Cities scored a pair in their half of the third against Blake McKnight. Jon Kemmer led off with a double and scored on a triple by James Ramsay. Chan-Jung Moon made it 6-2 as his RBI groundout scored Ramsay before McKnight shut down the Bandits.
Kelly extended the lead in the fourth as Bryan walked and McElroy reached on an infield single against Chris Cotton. With two on and two out, Kelly slammed his third double of the night off the center-field wall to score two and put the Chiefs on top 8-2.
Perez led off the fifth with the team's seventh double of the game, a deep fly ball to center off Cotton. A groundout moved Perez to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Peoples-Walls for a 9-2 Chiefs lead.
McKnight (3-6) earned the win allowing two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two in his second straight win. Chris Perry allowed one walk while striking out two over 1 1/3 hitless and scoreless innings. Zach Loraine walked one in two hitless and scoreless innings.
Notes: Justin Ringo was 0-for-4 with a hit by pitch to snap his team-best 12-game hit streak… The seven doubles were the most for the Chiefs since they had eight on August 18, 1994 against Madison…The franchise record of nine doubles in a game was set on July 19, 1990…Kelly set a new career-high with five RBI and finished with three doubles, one shy of the team and MWL record set by John Santor on June 6, 2003…C.J. McElroy Jr. batted second for the first time all season, he had been the Chiefs leadoff hitter in all 64 of his starts…Kelly, McElroy, Perez and Peoples-Walls all had multiple hits…Perez has three doubles in the series…With Juan Herrera placed on the DL Saturday afternoon and his replacement Rafael Medina not arriving in Peoria until 9:00 p.m. the Chiefs played the game with just one available bench player, catcher Steve Bean…Gerwuins Velazco wasn't replaced on the roster when he was promoted to Palm Beach during the All-Star Break…Medina is expected to be in uniform for the series finale on Sunday…This was the Chiefs first Saturday road win in five tries this season…McKnight has gone at least 4 1/3 innings in all 19 of his career starts and has gone at least five innings in seven of his nine starts for the Chiefs this season…Peoria won back-to-back games at Modern Woodmen Park in 20 games since May 7-8, 2012…The Chiefs and Bandits play their final Modern Woodmen Park game of the 2014 season on Sunday at 5:00 p.m….The Chiefs will start LH Rob Kaminsky (2-1, 1.45)…Quad Cities will have Astros RHP Anthony Bass on a rehab assignment but it isn't known whether Bass will start or the announced Sunday starter RH Andrew Thurman (3-4, 5.22) will get the ball...The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 4:45 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.