Pereira Whiffs 13 Bandits Batters, Quad Cities Rallies Late

Peoria, IL - Chiefs starter Wilfredo Pereira punched out a career-high 13 batters Sunday but a late Peoria lead slipped through the cracks as the Quad Cities River Bandits stormed back to capture a series victory with an 8-7 dramatic win at Dozer Park.

Peoria was first to the scoreboard in the opening inning after a pair of doubles, Todd Lott set the table for Jacob Buchberger who knocked him in with one of his own to get the game's first run.

In the top of the second, Quad Cities jumped in front on a Cam Williams blast that made it a 2-1 score. The homer was the only real blemish on the day for Chiefs starter Wilfredo Pereira, who was otherwise fantastic. Pereira fanned 13 Quad Cities batters over his six innings of work. His 13 punchouts were the most by a Chiefs hurler since May 23, 2016, when Sandy Alcantara whiffed 14 batters against Beloit.

In the middle innings, the Chiefs found their footing and got back on track offensively, tying up the game in the fourth when Patrick Romeri singled into left field to knot the ballgame at two. One inning later, Osvaldo Tovalin cracked a wall ball double to bring around the go-ahead run and put the Chiefs in front once more, 3-2. Later in the frame, Peoria tacked on yet another tally on a Noah Mendlinger base knock.

In the sixth, Peoria got the first two men aboard via back-to-back base hits, but a 1-4-3 double play quickly put two outs on the board. Tommy Jew stepped in and salvaged the inning, plating the fifth Peoria run of the afternoon and stretching the lead to 5-2. One batter later, Todd Lott picked up his fourth hit of the contest, a solid single, to plate Jew and boost the lead to 6-2. Lott turned in the second four-hit performance of the week and lifted his August batting average to .361.

After Peoria recorded runs in three straight frames, Quad Cities dug deep and rallied back, scoring a pair in the seventh off a wild pitch and an RBI groundout to slice the Chiefs lead down to two at 6-4.

The visitors overstayed their welcome in the eighth, taking the lead with three additional tallies in the frame. A leadoff homer from Peyton Wilson inched them closer at 6-5 with the middle chunk of the order still due. With a runner on and Juan Carlos Negret at the dish, a fly ball down the right field line got up and over the wall for a home run to put the River Bandits ahead 7-6. In the ninth, they added an insurance run just for good measure to push the score to 8-6 going to the ninth.

Trailing a couple, Peoria gave it a run down the stretch for the third day in a row. Francisco Hernandez came off the bench in a pinch-hit spot and drew a four pitch free pass. Aaron McKeithan then pinch-hit for Noah Mendlinger and plated Buchberger to cut the deficit to 8-7. The baton was then passed to Mack Chambers who was rung up on an inside pitch to end the threat and give Quad Cities a win.

Peoria will take in an off day Monday before traveling to Beloit for a six-game series on Tuesday. First pitch is tabbed for 6:35 in the opener.