Chiefs hold on to win home opener

Posted on April 10, 2016

PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs scored three runs in the bottom of the first and held on to beat the Burlington Bees 8-6 Saturday night in front of 4,299 fans in the coldest home opener in Dozer Park history. With the win the Chiefs are now 1-1 with one game left against Burlington at 5:00 p.m. Sunday.

The Chiefs scored three times in the bottom of the first after two Beers errors. Eli Alvarez reached on an error and with two on and one out he scored on a dropped pop up at second baes. RJ Dennard and Jose Godoy followed with run-scoring singles for a 3-0 Chiefs lead.

Peoria extended the lead in the third and knocked Jaime Barria from the contest. Magneuris Sierra led off with a single and Brian O’Keefe singled as well. With two down, Godoy singled home Sierra and Vaughn Bryan’s double made it 5-0. Casey Turgeon capped off the inning with a two-run single for a 7-0 lead as the Chiefs sent nine batters to the plate.

Peoria right-hander Sandy Alcantara cruised through four innings before allowing three runs on two walks, a hit batter and a single in the fifth. He gave way to Landon Beck for two shutout innings. Burlington cut the Chiefs lead to 7-6 on a three-run homer by Renyelmy Alberto in the eighth.

The Chiefs added an insurance run in the eighth as Craig Aikin doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a sacrifice fly from Edmundo Sosa for an 8-6 Chiefs lead before Tyler Bray slammed the door on the Bees in the ninth.

Alcantara (1-0) earned the win as he allowed three runs on four hits and three walks over five innings. The 20 year-old struck out four and hit a batter. Beck threw two shutout innings and allowed one hit while striking out one. Sasha Kuebel allowed three hits and three runs in one inning while Bray allowed one hit over one shutout inning with two strikeouts to earn the save.

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