Timely Hitting Dooms Chiefs in Seventh-Straight Loss

Davenport, IA – Despite holding the Quad Cities River Bandits to just five hits Wednesday, the Chiefs lost 4-2 to drop their seventh-straight game and fall to 0-5 in the season’s second half.

Right-hander Zach Haake, who began the year in Double-A, made a rehab assignment for Quad Cities on Wednesday and limited the Chiefs early. Peoria racked up three hits in three innings against Haake but his five punchouts propelled him to three scoreless frames.

On the Peoria side, Wilfredo Pereira not only matched Haake, he bested Haake. Pereira, who entered Wednesday’s contest with a 1.80 ERA against the River Bandits, punched out the side in the second and did not allow a hit through four.

With the game scoreless in the fifth, Quad Cities finally broke through. After a lead-off walk, Parker Bates connected on his fifth home run of the year to give Quad Cities a 2-0 advantage. Bates’ homer served as the first knock of the game for the River Bandits.

The Quad Cities lead was brief, however. The Chiefs responded with two runs of their own in the top of the sixth to bring the game back to even. Tyler Reichenborn led off the frame with a walk to extend his on-base streak to 23 games, continuing the longest streak by a Chiefs batter this season. After Reichenborn swiped second, one of Peoria’s six stolen bases on the night, Osvaldo Tovalin was hit by a pitch to place runners at first and second for Francisco Hernandez. Hernandez, who had already collected a pair of hits, doubled to left to score Reichenborn and make it a 2-1 game. One pitch later, a safety squeeze from Ramon Mendoza scored Tovalin to tie the contest.

After a scoreless sixth, Pereira became just the third Chiefs starter to work into the seventh inning this season. With one out in the inning, it was Bates who again delivered. His triple to right scored the go-ahead run to make it 3-2. The next batter, Burle Dixon, singled off Nathanael Heredia to plate Bates and double the Quad Cities. All told, Pereira surrendered just four hits but was tagged with the loss.

The Chiefs made things interesting in the ninth before coming up short. Mack Chambers, who returned from the injured list Wednesday, poked a pinch-hit single to left to start the mini-rally. He later stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. After Mike Antico worked a six-pitch walk, he swiped his third base of the game to place himself in scoring position for Reichenborn. Quad Cities reliever Kasey Kalich dispatched the Peoria left fielder to end the game.

The Chiefs will look to snap their losing skid at seven on Thursday when Logan Gragg takes the ball. Gragg owns a 1.13 ERA in the month of June, the second-lowest ERA of any Midwest League hurler. First pitch is slated for 6:30 from Davenport.