Chiefs Split Friday Double Header
DAVENPORT, IA - The Peoria Chiefs started the second half Friday night with a double header split at Quad Cities losing game one 2-1 and winning game two 1-0. The Chiefs are now 1-1 in the second half and 38-33 overall on the season.
"We had two very good pitching performances coming off the break," said Manager Joe Kruzel. "Jimmy (Reed) threw extremely well and kept us in game one and Chase (Brookshire) threw a bunch of zeros in game two."
In game one, Quad Cities loaded the bases in the bottom of the first but came up empty as Reed got a strikeout and groundout. The River Bandits took a 1-0 lead in the third when Chan-Jung Moon hit his second home run of the season into the left-field berm.
The Chiefs loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with no outs against Edison Frias. Vaughn Bryan singled and was safe at second with Mason Katz reaching first on an error by shortstop Thomas Lindauer. Richy Pedroza beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt when Moon fell down at third base. But Frias recovered as Kenny Peoples-Walls struck out and Michael Schulze hit into a 1-2-3 double play.
Reed walked the first two batters in the sixth and gave way to Jhonny Polanco. A single by Brett Booth with one out scored Moon for a 2-0 Bandits lead. Polanco escaped the inning with a bases loaded 5-2-3 double play.
Katz singled off closer Frederico Tiburicio to start the seventh and was out on a fielders choice off the bat of Pedroza. Luis Perez pinch hit for Peoples-Walls and doubled off the wall in right-center to cut the Bandits lead to 2-1. Steve Bean pinch hit for Schulze and struck out before C.J. McElroy Jr. bounced out to end the game with the tying run at second.
"We got one solid hit in game one," said Kruzel. "We had chances but couldn't get the last hit and came up short."
Game two got off to an interesting start as Bryan singled with one out against Even Grills but was thrown out trying to get to third base on a single by Juan Herrera. Herrera was then caught stealing second to end the inning and had to come out of the game with an injured ankle that he jammed into the bag on the slide. Already playing with a short roster (24 players), the Chiefs gave up the DH before even throwing a pitch as Pedroza moved to shortstop, Katz to second and Justin Ringo from DH to first base.
Brookshire blanked the River Bandits over the first two innings and the Chiefs took the lead in the third. Perez singled to left and moved to second when Ronnie Mitchell bobbled the ball before throwing back to the infield. Perez moved to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Schulze for the 1-0 lead.
In the fourth Brookshire had to bat for himself in the three-spot in the lineup originally occupied by Herrera. With one out he put the first pitch in play with a solid groundout to first base. He was the first non-rehab Chiefs pitcher to bat in a game since 2000.
"Brookshire hit it hard," said Kruzel. "We told him to go swing it and he did but unfortunately he hit it right at the first baseman."
Quad Cities threatened in the sixth with one out as Moon and Brett Phillips singled. Kevin Herget took over on the mound with Peoples-Walls entering the game in right field as part of a double switch. Herget retired the next two Bandits on flyouts to end the sixth and recorded two outs to start the seventh before Austin Elkins singled. Steve Sabatino preserved the win with a strikeout of Booth who pinch-hit for Jon Kemmer.
"Brookshire kept them off balance and was very aggressive," said Kruzel "Herget and Sabatino preserved the shutout. Great comeback in game two after tough first game loss. Kids played their tails off in a tough situation and it was a fun game to win."
In game one Reed (3-3) took the loss allowing two runs on two hits over five innings. He struck out a career-high nine and also walked a career-high four Polanco allowed an inherited run to score while giving up one hit and one walk with a strikeout in his one inning. In game two Brookshire (2-3) earned the win with 5 1/3 shutout innings and three strikeouts with just four hits allowed. Herget allowed one hit and struck out one in 1 1/3 innings. Sabatino earned the save striking out the only batter he faced.
Notes: Justin Ringo has a team-best 12-game hit streak and with two hits in game one he has six multi-hit games…Perez was 3-for-3 on the day…Schulze had three hits Friday…The Chiefs hit into six double plays in the double header, tying a season-high with four in game two…Reed tied a career-high set May 20 with nine strikeouts, the last Chiefs pitcher with nine strikeouts was Rob Kaminsky on May 22…The last Chiefs pitcher to bat was Cubs rehabber Ted Lilly on April 19, 2010 as he singled and walked against Burlington…The last non-rehab pitcher to hit was Matt Vincent on April 30, 2000 against Lansing after 10 players were ejected in a brawl, Vincent walked, scored and was the winning pitcher…The Chiefs have played more double headers (eight) than any team in the Midwest League and are 11-5 in those games with four sweeps…Only Great Lakes (3-1) has a better double header win percentage at .750…The last time the Chiefs played eight double headers in a season was 2003…The Chiefs are 14-9 in the first game of a series, 6-6 on the road…The Chiefs and Bandits split six games in the first half, both going 2-1 at home…The Chiefs last won the first game of the second half in 2010 and last won the first game of the half on the road in 2004…The Chiefs used two pinch-hitters in a game for the first time all season in game one…Perez is now 2-for-2 with a home run, double and four RBI as a Chiefs pinch hitter in his career…Richy Pedroza served as the Chiefs designated hitter for the first time this season in game one…The series continues Saturday at 6:00 p.m. as the Chiefs send RH Blake McKnight (2-6, 4.89) to the mound against River Bandits RH Kevin Comer (0-0, 2.81)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 5:45 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.