Late Push Sends TinCaps Past Chiefs in Game Three

By Brendan Howe

July 28, 2022

PEORIA, IL - In what was his High-A debut Thursday, Inohan Paniagua twirled five shutout innings to set the tone for the Chiefs on Thursday. A late Fort Wayne rally, however, gave the TinCaps a 5-2 win at Dozer Park. Paniagua, a native of the Dominican Republic, posted an impressive

PEORIA, IL - In what was his High-A debut Thursday, Inohan Paniagua twirled five shutout innings to set the tone for the Chiefs on Thursday. A late Fort Wayne rally, however, gave the TinCaps a 5-2 win at Dozer Park.

Paniagua, a native of the Dominican Republic, posted an impressive 2.18 ERA while with Palm Beach this season to secure a well-earned promotion. Despite issuing lead-off walks in each of the first three innings, Paniagua did not budge over his five spotless frames. The newest Peoria hurler punched out six.

Both starters traded zeroes, each working into the fifth with the contest still without a score. Peoria cracked the scoreboard first in the sixth when Tyler Reichenborn blooped an RBI single to bring home LJ Jones for a slim 1-0 Peoria edge.

Reliever Levi Prater entered from the Chiefs bullpen in the top half of the sixth and spun a quick pair of scoreless innings before working himself into trouble in the eighth. After a walk, Prater rolled a ground ball to spin a 4-6-3 double play. However, another free pass followed by a base hit ended the southpaw’s evening. Andre Granillo was called upon to get the final out of the frame but TinCaps slugger Joshua Mears had other ideas. The Fort Wayne right fielder socked a 114 MPH line drive over the wall in left for a home run to put the TinCaps ahead, 3-1.

It didn’t take long for the Chiefs to respond in the bottom of the inning, as Jacob Buchberger led off the frame by clubbing his third homer of the season to bring Peoria back to within a run.

Granillo returned to the mound in an effort to keep the deficit at one, but was tagged for a pair of runs on a Robert Hassell RBI double and another RBI knock courtesy of Cole Cummings to stretch the Fort Wayne lead to 5-2 which went final.

The loss drops the Chiefs to 39-54 on the season and 11-16 in the second portion of the schedule. Game four comes tomorrow night at 6:35, with Wilfredo Pereira tabbed as the hurler for the Chiefs. Eric Berger gets the start for the TinCaps.