By WJBC Staff
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Peoria Chiefs led 4-1 with one out and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth inning but ultimately lost 5-4 in 10 innings Tuesday night to the Fort Wayne TinCaps. The loss, their third in a row, drops the Chiefs to 8-10 on the season with five games left on the roadtrip.
The Chiefs got the scoring going on the top of the second against Padres top 10 prospect Logan Allen. R.J. Dennard singled, Chris Chinea walked and Thomas Spitz beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs. Allen recovered to get a strikeout and a fly out but the Chiefs scored as Eli Alvarez drew a walk. The Chiefs pushed the lead to 2-0 as Edmundo Sosa walked before Allen got Magneuris Sierra to ground out and end the inning.
Peoria couldn’t add on against Allen despite having a runner at second base with nobody out in the third inning. Chiefs starter Derian Gonzalez faced the minimum through four innings as he induced two double plays. Fort Wayne finally got something going in the sixth when Jonathan Pena reached on a dropped third strike and moved to third when the Chiefs made an error on Rod Boykin’s bunt single. Peter Van Gansen’s sacrifice fly cut the Chiefs lead to 2-1 before Ty France singled to right. Thomas Spitz threw a strike to the plate and Boykin was out trying to score from second and France was tagged out on the play by Sosa for a unique 9-2-4-6 inning-ending double play.
Former Bradley University pitcher Eliot Ashbeck threw four scoreless innings for Fort Wayne before the Chiefs scored against him in the seventh. Craig Aikin singled and stole second before Alvarez drove him home with a single for a 3-1 lead. Alvarez also stole second but the Chiefs couldn’t bring him home.
The Chiefs again put runners on first and second in the eighth with no outs against Gerardo Reyes but failed to add on. Peoria did get insurance against Reyes in the ninth with the help of two Fort Wayne errors. Aikin walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alvarez. Sosa beat out an infield single and Aikin scored on a throwing error by Reyes. Sierra reached on an error as well but the Chiefs left runners at second and third to end the innings.
Gonzalez cruised through eight innings and handed a 4-1 lead to the bullpen for the ninth. Stephen De La Cruz, pitching on his 23rd birthday, got the first out in the ninth before walking France. Austin Allen, the Midwest League leader in batting average at .509, doubled to left and Carlos Belen cut the Chiefs lead to 4-2 with a sac fly. Brad Zunica’s single to center scored Allen for a 4-3 game and Nick Frey replaced De La Cruz. In his 2016 Chiefs debut, Frey walked Kodie Tidwell and Pena’s single to right tied the game 4-4. Boykin followed with a walk to load the bases but Frey struck out Van Gansen to send the game to extas.
In the top of the 10th the Chiefs got a one-out single from Spitz and he moved to second on a groundout by Leo Pina. Aikin singled to center but Michael Gettys threw out Spitz at the plate with room to spare to keep the game tied.
France singled with one out in the bottom of the 10th for the TinCaps and Balen doubled to the right-field wall but France was held at third. Frey intentionally walked Daniel Bravo to load the bases and with a full count and two outs, Tidwell singled to center to win the game 5-4 for Fort Wayne.
Gonzalez threw a career-high eight innings and allowed just one run on five hits while walking three and striking out five. De La Cruz suffered his second blown save as he allowed three runs on two hits and a walk in 2/3 of an innings. Frey (0-1) allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out two in one inning of work in the loss.
