Zubia's Blast Bests Chiefs
Beloit, WI - For the second night in a row, the Chiefs were on the wrong end of a walk-off decision, losing 2-1 to the Beloit Sky Carp on Thursday. With the loss, Peoria fell to 19 games under .500 for the first time this season. Chiefs starter Dionys Rodriguez
Beloit, WI - For the second night in a row, the Chiefs were on the wrong end of a walk-off decision, losing 2-1 to the Beloit Sky Carp on Thursday. With the loss, Peoria fell to 19 games under .500 for the first time this season.
Chiefs starter Dionys Rodriguez was looking for his first win of the season against Beloit and worked around some early traffic to post a pair of scoreless frames.
In the third, one of Peoria’s hottest hitters struck again. Tommy Jew mashed his third homer in his last six games, a solo shot, to give the Chiefs a 1-0 cushion. Jew is now hitting .500 dating back to August 19.
After the lead-off man reached in the Beloit third, Rodriguez responded by retiring nine batters in a row to post five shutout innings. The right-hander then went back to the mound in the sixth but encountered some bad luck. A walk kicked off the inning and Beloit’s Jose Salas swiped second to place himself in scoring position. After a pop out, Bennett Hostetler hit a roller to the left side of the infield that caromed off of third baseman Noah Mendlinger and into the outfield to score Salas and tie the game, 1-1. Following a second Peoria error, Rodriguez was lifted after 5.2 innings of work. Left-hander Chris Gerard recorded the final out of the sixth to keep the game tied.
In the late stages of the contest, the Chiefs placed runners on base but could not get the go-ahead run home. In the eighth, Peoria had two men aboard with one out, but a strikeout and a flyout ended the frame. An inning later, the Chiefs put men on the corners with two outs but another strikeout ended the Peoria ninth.
Gerard, who whiffed four batters through 2.1 innings in relief, could not get the game to extras. Zach Zubia, who led off the Sky Carp ninth, drove a solo homer over the left field fence to give Beloit a 2-1 walk-off win. The defeat marked the second time this season that the Chiefs were on the losing end of a walk-off home run.
The series continues Friday from Beloit, Wisconsin. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.