Peoria – The Peoria Chiefs surrendered two solo homers in the early innings and failed to mount a comeback in a 7-5 loss Saturday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 29-32 in the second half and 69-62 on the season.
Juhmai Jones opened up the scoring with a solo homerun off Chiefs starter Ronnie Williams to make it 1-0 Bees. Troy Montgomery added another solo home run in the third inning to make it 2-0 Bees.
Eli Alvarez put the Chiefs on the board in the fifth inning. Carlos Torres singled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a groundout by Jose Martinez. Alvarez smacked a triple to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Bees added a run in the sixth inning after Jordan Serena singled and Brennon Lund doubled him home to make it 3-1 Bees. The Bees broke the game open in the seventh inning by plating three runs. Michael Barash reached on a fielding error, Jones singled, and Matt Thaiss tripled home both runners for a 5-1 lead. Serena singled home Thaiss to make it 6-1.
The Chiefs came back in the bottom half of the inning after Josh Swirchak singled, Torres doubled, and Magneuris Sierra moved Torres to third and plated Swirchak on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2. Torres scored on a groundout by Jose Martinez to make it 6-3.
The Bees grabbed another run in the eighth after a leadoff double by Connor Justus and a single by Brandon Sanger to extend the lead to 7-3.
The Chiefs rallied again in the bottom half of the frame with another pair of runs. Chris Chinea walked and Leo Pina smacked a two-run homer to make it 7-5. Matt Davis followed with a double, Torres singled, but Martinez struck out swinging to end the inning. Bees reliever Aaron Cox shut down the Chiefs in order in the ninth to end the game.
Williams (L, 1-3) allowed five runs, only three of them earned, on seven hits and two walks while striking out five across six and two-thirds innings.
