Chiefs Rally Past Snappers Monday

Peoria, IL -  The Peoria Chiefs rallied twice on Monday and ended up with a 9-4 home win over the Beloit Snappers to knock the visitors out of a playoff spot with six games to play. The Chiefs are now 76-57, marking their most wins in a season since the 2009 team won 81 games.

The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first on Beloit starter Jean Ruiz. Wood Myers led off with a double to right and Justin Toerner brought him home on a single up a middle for a 1-0 lead.
     The long ball helped the Snappers move ahead in the top of the third against Chiefs starter Angel Rondon. Lazarao Armenteros hit a one-out solo homer that barely cleared the wall in left field to tie the game 1-1. With two down, Logan Farrar pulled a solo homer over the fence in right field to move in front 2-1.
     Peoria regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with a home run of their own. Zach Kirtley led off with a looping single to left. Dennis Ortega after missing a bunt attempt, slammed a two-run homer to left as the Chiefs went back on top 3-2.
     Beloit took a 4-3 lead but the Chiefs moved in front for good in the bottom of the sixth. Kirtley reached with one out on an infield single to third and Beloit changed pitchers, bringing in Seth Martinez. Ortega singled to left and Nick Dunn scored Kirtley on another single to put runners at the corners as the game knotted up 4-4. Rayder Ascanio put the Chiefs ahead on a line drive single to right center to plate Ortega. With runners at the corners, Brandon Benson joined the hit parade with a single to right as Dunn scored for a 6-4 lead.
     Another three-run inning helped the Chiefs pull away in the bottom of the seventh. Toerner tripled to right center with one out and came around to score on a chip shot single to right by Luken Baker for a 7-4 advantage. Kirtley lifted a double to right to plate Baker all the way from first and knock Martinez out of the game. Brandon Withers came in out of the bullpen and surrendered a two-out run-scoring single by Dunn as Kirtley crossed home plate for the 9-4 cushion.
     Rondon took a no-decision throwing three innings allowing two runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Ben Yokley pitched two innings allowing two runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeout. Whitley (4-1) earned the win throwing 2 1/3 shutout innings allowing three hits with no walks and one strikeout. Blanco pitched 1 2/3 scoreless and hitless innings with no walks and no strikeouts.
Notes: The Chiefs win the season series over Beloit 10-9...Ortega has six homers on the season, three against Beloit…The Chiefs have scored at least nine runs three times on the homestand…Peoria has 76 wins, sixth most in team history and the most since the 2009 team won 81 games…Including Friday's opener that was suspended in Beloit and counted by MiLB as a road game the Chiefs have 44 wins at Dozer Park which ranks as the fourth most home wins in team history and the third most at Dozer Park…Blanco leads the team with 42 appearances…Toerner, who joined the Chiefs Sunday from Advanced-A Palm Beach, is off to a 6-for-8 start at the plate with the Chiefs…He has a triple and three RBI…Rondon turned in the second shortest start of his career, the shortest start being 2 2/3 innings last season in the GCL...Myers has a seven-game hit streak...He exited the game after the first inning and Gorman entered to play third base...Luna had his six-game hit streak snap...The Chiefs have 33 comeback wins…Tuesday is a league wide off day...Chiefs Playoff tickets are on sale with Dugout and Field Box Seats available for $9 as the Chiefs host Quad Cities in Game One at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5…The Chiefs announced their 2019 schedule on August 17 and the entire schedule is available at www.peoriachiefs.com.