Whitecaps Win Fourth Straight
PEORIA, IL – The West Michigan Whitecaps had spent nearly the entire night trailing the Peoria Chiefs, but two pitches completely changed the trajectory of the contest as part of a 3-2 victory on Saturday at Dozer Park. The eighth inning saw a one-out walk to Seth Stephenson turn into
PEORIA, IL – The West Michigan Whitecaps had spent nearly the entire night trailing the Peoria Chiefs, but two pitches completely changed the trajectory of the contest as part of a 3-2 victory on Saturday at Dozer Park.
The eighth inning saw a one-out walk to Seth Stephenson turn into three straight pitches of a wild pitch-passed ball-wild pitch sequence to tie the game before Max Anderson broke the tie with a go-ahead solo home run to give West Michigan the go-ahead run in the contest. The Whitecaps have won four straight contests, nine of their last 12 games, and are now back to .500 for the first time since April 18, when their record stood at 6-6.
The first inning saw Peoria take a lead they preserved throughout the contest when Leonardo Bernal stroked a two-run single to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead. In the sixth, Luke Gold cut the deficit in half with a sacrifice fly to score Bennett Lee to bring the tally to 2-1. In the eighth, the Whitecaps tied the game and took the lead in the span of consecutive pitches. A wild pitch from Chiefs reliever Roy Garcia plated Stephenson to knot the ballgame at two, and Anderson blasted the next pitch off the batter’s eye in center field for his fifth home run of the season to give West Michigan the lead and ultimately the deciding run in the contest.
The Whitecaps record jumps to 19-19, while Peoria falls to 13-25. ‘Caps pitcher Jack Anderson (1-0) tossed two quality scoreless innings out of the bullpen to pick up his first win of the season, while Peoria’s Roy Garcia (1-1) gave up both West Michigan runs in the eighth in taking his first loss of the year. Anderson, Erick Pinales, and Michael Bienlien combined to toss the final four innings of scoreless baseball to finish the contest, with Bienlien collecting his second save, giving West Michigan pitchers just eight runs allowed in the five games of this series. Stephenson went 2-for-3 at the plate in a contest that saw West Michigan win the ballgame despite being outhit by the Chiefs 9-4. The ‘Caps guarantee themselves a series win with the victory and have a chance to win five of six by taking the series finale on Sunday.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps and Peoria Chiefs conclude their six-game series Sunday at 3:05 pm. Pitcher Colin Fields gets the start for West Michigan against Top-10 St. Louis Cardinals prospect Connor Hjerpe. Don’t miss the action; tune into broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 2:50 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids. Get tickets for all 2024 home contests or listen to games live at whitecapsbaseball.com.