Chiefs End First Half with 4-3 Win over Burlington

Peoria, IL - The Peoria Chiefs finished the first half of the season with a 4-3 win over Burlington on Sunday afternoon behind home runs from Dylan Carlson and Andy Young. The Chiefs improved to 30-39 and will now have three days off for the MWL All-Star Break before returning back to action Thursday at Burlington to start the second half.
    Burlington struck first with a run in the top of the first to give them a 1-0 lead against Chiefs starter Bryan Dobzanski. With two outs, Keith Grieshaber singled to left, Sam McDonnell walked, and John Schuknecht drove in Grieshaber with a single to make it 1-0 Bees. 

  The Chiefs answered in the second inning against Burlington's starter Nate Bertness to take a 3-1 lead. Stefan Trosclair singled to lead off the inning, and Juan Yepez followed with a single. With one out, Carlson homered to left field for his fifth of the year to give Peoria a 3-1 advantage.
    Peoria added an insurance run in the fifth inning off Bertness to take a three-run lead. Young led off the inning with a solo home run for his team-leading 12^th homer of the year to give the Chiefs a 4-1 lead.
    Burlington added two runs in the top of the ninth against Chiefs reliever Yeison Medina. The Bees loaded the bases on back-to-back walks to Schuknecht and Jeyson Sanchez as well as a single by Mario Sanchez to start the inning. Juan Moreno grounded into a fielder's choice to score Schuknecht to cut Peoria's lead to 4-2. With runners on the corners, Derek Jenkins hit into another fielder's choice to plate Sanchez, which trimmed the Chiefs lead to 4-3. With the tying run on first, Medina got Jahmai Jones to fly out to J.R. Davis in left field to end the game.
    Dobzanski allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts over three innings. Dewin Perez (1-2) earned his first win of the year throwing two perfect innings with two strikeouts. Eric Carter tossed one inning not allowing a run or a hit while walking one. Ronnie Williams threw 1 1/3 innings allowing one hit and striking out two. Brady Bowen came on for the final two outs of the eighth inning getting a double play to end the inning. He tossed 2/3 of an inning not allowing a run or a hit. Medina recorded his fourth save of the season allowing two runs on one hit and a pair of walks in the ninth.
Notes… With a walk in the second inning, Young extended his on-base streak to 32 games, most by any player in the MWL this season… Young hit his team-leading 12^th home run… It was his sixth home run of the year leading off an inning… The 12 home runs are the most at the All-Star Break by a Chiefs player since Josh Vitters hit 13 in 2009… His five home runs against lefties leads the team… Shane Billings extended his hit streak to 13 games with a double on the first pitch he saw… Billings stole his team-leading 11^th and 12^th bases of the season… It was his third multi-steal game of the year… The last time a Chiefs player had a two-steal game was May 30 against Wisconsin, also by Billings… Carlson hit his fifth home run of the year… It was the second of his career from the right side of the plate… Carlson tied a season-high with three RBI… The four stolen bases by the Chiefs today ties a season-high… All four runs scored by the Chiefs came on home runs… Today was just the second game all year Davis started in left field… The Chiefs will begin the second half on Thursday against Burlington on the road… With this three-game series and the four games at Burlington to start next half, Peoria will have played seven consecutive games against the Bees… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 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.