Love's Arm, Whalen's Bat Powers Chiefs Past River Bandits

Davenport, IA – Austin Love logged seven innings of one-run ball while Brady Whalen homered twice in his 2022 High-A debut to lead the Chiefs to an 8-2 win over Quad Cities Saturday.

Love was on his game from the start. The right-hander, who beat the same River Bandits club on June 9, allowed just one base runner through two nearly flawless innings.

With the game scoreless in the third, Brady Whalen reintroduced himself to the High-A level. The 2019 Midwest League All-Star mashed a two-run homer to right for his first hit in a Chiefs uniform this season. For Whalen, it was his seventh blast of the year.

In the bottom of the fourth, a Quad Cities scoring chance went by the wayside. With Luca Tresh standing at third, the Quad Cities catcher streaked for the plate on a ground ball towards first. Peoria first baseman Osvaldo Tovalin gloved the ball and retired Tresh at the plate to keep the River Bandits scoreless.

After an RBI fielder’s choice put Peoria up 3-0 in the fifth, Love surrendered his first and only blemish in the bottom of the sixth. The Chiefs starter retired the first two men he faced before a Diego Hernandez double placed a runner in scoring position. The next batter, Herard Gonzalez singled to left to cut the deficit to 3-1. Love retired Morgan McCullough to get out of the frame.

In the seventh, Peoria broke the game open. All nine batters came to the plate in the inning as the Chiefs scored four times. Ramon Mendoza was hit by a pitch to start the frame. A Wade Stauss double then placed runners at second and third with nobody out. Following a fly out, Todd Lott walked to load the bases. With the sacks full, Tyler Reichenborn drew a free pass to make it 4-1. In the process, Reichenborn extended his on-base streak to 26 games, the longest stretch by a Chiefs batter since 2017 when Stephen Trosclair reached in 36-straight contests.

The big blow came from Jacob Buchberger. His two-run single to right plated Stauss and Lott to extend the Peoria lead to 6-1. Then, Osvaldo Tovalin brought in Reichenborn to put a bow on the frame and make it 7-1.

Now with a six-run cushion, Love maneuvered through the bottom of the seventh on the strength of a 4-6-3 double play. The right-hander became the second hurler this season to log a start of seven innings. Love allowed just four hits on the night while striking out five.

Quad Cities scratched a run in the eighth before Whalen got it right back in grand fashion. Whalen connected on his second blast of the game, a lined shot to right, to create the final margin of 8-2. For the Chiefs, it was the second multi-homer game of the week after not logging one this season. For Whalen, it was his first multi-homer outing since June of 2021 when he homered three times in a win over Wisconsin.

Levi Prater got the last three outs of the game to secure the victory for Peoria. Zane Mills will start tomorrow in Sunday’s series finale. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.