Chiefs Beat Loons Saturday

Midland, MI - The Peoria Chiefs picked up a fourth straight victory with a 6-2 road win over the Great Lakes Loons on Saturday night. The win puts the Chiefs at 17-10 in the second half and 56-41 overall

     The Chiefs got off to a quick start against Loons hurler Jeronimo Castro. With two down in the first inning Elehuris Montero and Zach Kirtley drew consecutive walks. Julio Rodriguez put the Chiefs on top 1-0 with a single to left.
     Peoria added on in the second with another two-out run. Andres Luna singled with two outs and stole second base. Nick Plummer delivered a single for a 2-0 lead before Castro got out of the inning.
     The Chiefs ended Castro's night in the third with more two-out production. Rodriguez doubled to the gap in left-center and Bryce Denton connected for his eighth home run of the season and a 4-0 Chiefs lead.
     The game stayed 4-0 as Paul Balestrieri cruised into the sixth inning without allowing a hit and facing the minimum. Great Lakes ended the no-hit bid with a one-out single before Balestrieri worked through the next two innings without allowing a run.
     Peoria added on against reliever Sven Schuller in the eighth. Jose Martinez singled, Luna was hit by a pitch and they pulled off a double steal with one out. Rayder Ascanio delivered a two-run single for a 6-0 lead before Great Lakes changed pitchers. The Loons avoided the shutout when Eric Peterson hit a two-run homer off CJ Saylor in the bottom of the eighth inning.
     Balestrieri (7-4) earned the win as he allowed three hits over seven shutout innings. The right-hander walked three and struck out seven. Saylor allowed two runs on two hits over one inning as he struck out one. Fabian Blanco retired all three batters he faced while recording a strikeout to end the game in a non-save situation.
Notes… The Chiefs have at least 12 hits in three straight games…Denton has six of his eight homers since the All-Star break…Saturday's home was his first with a runner on base since he hit a grand slam in April against Wisconsin…Peoria has won eight straight road games against teams from the Eastern Division…With a record of 14-8 and two games left the Chiefs have at least matched their best record (14-10, 2010) against the East since the new scheduling format started when Lake County and Bowling Green joined the MWL after the 2009 season…Plummer played a game as a pro in his home state for the first time collecting a RBI single and a walk…He was on the DL last season when the Chiefs played six games in Michigan and he was injured for the Lansing series this week…The Chiefs starting pitching has four straight quality starts and 10 straight games with at least five innings…The Chiefs are 7-1 in the last eight games with the starting pitching posting a 1.79 ERA in that span…The series continues Sunday at 2:05 p.m. Eastern time…The Chiefs will start RH Alvaro Seijas (2-6, 5.06) against Loons RH Edwin Uceta (3-5, 3.43)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 12:50 p.m. Central time on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive and is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network on the Tune-In Radio App…The game is also available to subscribers on MiLB.TV.