By Nathan Baliva
Davenport, IA – The Peoria Chiefs never trailed and scored seven runs in the final three innings as they earned a 9-2 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits Saturday night. The win moves the Chiefs to 25-23 on the season as they have four wins in the last five games.
The Chiefs plated two runs in the top of the third inning against Quad Cities starting pitcher Yoanys Quiala. Magneuris Sierra doubled to center with one out and scored on a double to left by Edmundo Sosa for a 1-0 Chiefs lead. Eli Alvarez followed with a double of his own to bring home Sosa for a 2-0 lead before Quiala escaped the inning.
Quad Cities answered back in their half of the third against Chiefs starter Derian Gonzalez. Bobby Wernes and Arturo Michelena drew back-to back walks and a bunt single by Aaron Mizell loaded the bases. Osvaldo Duarte hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Wernes and cutting the lead in half, but the Chiefs got out of the jam when Gonzalez induced a 5-4-3 double play to maintain the lead at 2-1.
The Chiefs added to their lead in the top of the seventh against reliever Chris Murphy. Jose Godoy led off with a single and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. After Godoy advanced to third on a Dylan Becker groundout, Godoy broke for the plate on a grounder from Craig Aikin. River Bandits first baseman Dexture McCall’s throw went wide of the plate as Godoy scored to make it 3-1. Aikin went to second on McCall’s throwing error and scored on a double by Sierra for a 4-1 Chiefs lead.
The River Bandits got a run against Chiefs reliever Harley Holt in the bottom of the seventh. Anthony Hermelyn singled, Wernes reached on an error and Michelena singled to load the bases. Hermelyn scored on a 4-6-3 double play and Duarte flew out to end the inning with the Chiefs up 4-2.
The Chiefs tacked on two more runs the eighth against Murphy. With one out, RJ Dennard and Thomas Spitz reached on errors. Godoy singled to score Dennard and Spitz came home on a sacrifice fly by Becker to give the Chiefs a 6-2 lead.
The Chiefs piled on three insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Sierra led off with a single and stole second before scoring when Alvarez reached on an error. With Alvarez at first, Brian O’Keefe drilled a no-doubt home run to left-center for the eventual 9-2 final score. The homer is the second of the season for O’Keefe, both coming in the state of Iowa.
Gonzalez (3-0) earned the win with six innings of one-run ball as he allowed five hits and three walks while striking out five. Holt earned his second professional save with three innings in which he allowed one unearned run on three hits without walking a batter or recording a strikeout.
