Kaminsky Records Eight Strikeouts in 3-1 Chiefs Win

PEORIA, IL- Rob Kaminsky allowed just one run with eight strikeouts over six innings as the Peoria Chiefs defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 3-1 on Thursday night. The win brings the Chiefs to within two games of Wisconsin for the Wild Card lead and Peoria's record to 29-30 in the second half and 66-62 overall with 11 games remaining.

   The Chiefs got a run in the second inning against Tristan Archer. Rowan Wick ripped a ball high off the wall in straight-away center for a leadoff triple and scored on a Luis Perez ground out to second.

   Peoria scored two more runs in the fifth as CJ McElroy Jr. led off with a double and was sacrificed to second by Richy Pedroza. Justin Ringo singled in McElroy for a 2-0 lead. Ronald Castillo reached on an error by second baseman Chris McFarland before Wick hit a fly ball to center that was lost in the twilight and fell in for double as Ringo scored.

   Wisconsin got their only run in the sixth inning against Kaminsky. With one out, Clint Coulter hit his 20th home run of the year to left field but Kaminsky retired the next two batters.

   Kaminsky (7-2) pitched six innings allowing one run on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts to earn the win. Blake McKnight tossed a scoreless inning on one hit with a walk and a strikeout. Tyler Bray went 1 2/3 innings allowing one hit with three strikeouts. Kyle Barraclough struck out the only batter he faced for his eighth save.

Notes: Following Wednesday's game, Juan Herrera was promoted to Palm Beach…Kaminsky has nine quality starts out of 16 starts…The nine quality starts is second on the team while the 16 starts is tied for fourth-most on the team…Kaminsky's eight strikeouts is one short of his career-high set on May 22…Barraclough has saved each of the last six Chiefs wins…McElroy, Ringo, Wick and Cesar Valera each had two hits…Wick had two hits for the first time since August 2…Four of the Chiefs nine hits went for extra-bases…McElroy scored his 70th run of the season…Pedroza had two sacrifice bunts…Game two of the series is Friday at 7:00 p.m.…RHP Arturo Reyes (6-8, 3.86) starts for the Chiefs against LHP Wei-Chung Wang (0-2, 4.91) for Wisconsin…It's a Flat Screen Friday presented by Xfinity with six flat screen TV's to give away…There will be postgame fireworks presented by Pepsi…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:45 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.