Peoria, IL– The Peoria Chiefs rallied with two outs in the ninth and beat the Kane County Cougars 3-2 with a walk off RBI single by Brian O’Keefe. The win lifts the Chiefs to 20-10 in the second half and 53-45 overall with one game remaining in the home stand.
The contest was scoreless until the Cougars struck first in the fifth inning against Chiefs starter Jack Flaherty. Michael Perez walked, Collin Bray doubled, and Victor Reyes singled them both home for a 2-0 Cougars lead.
The Chiefs snagged a run in the bottom half of the fifth against Cougars starter Josh Taylor. Harrison Bader led off with a double and scored on a single by Kenny Peoples-Walls to cut the deficit to 2-1. Chiefs put runners on the corners but Darren Seferina was caught stealing second to end the inning.
The Chiefs waited until there were two outs in the ninth to initiate the comeback. Alex DeLeon laced a two-out double for the Chiefs first hit since the fifth inning. Jake Gronsky pinch ran for DeLeon and Nick Thompson drove him home with a RBI double to knot the game at two. Harrison Bader walked and O’Keefe needed only one pitch to send the fans home happy with a walk off RBI single to score Thompson for the 3-2 win.
Flaherty allowed two runs on five hits and one walk, striking out three over six and two-thirds innings of work in the no-decision. Nick Frey (1-0) earned his first win as he struck out three over two and third innings of perfect relief.
Notes: O’Keefe’s walk off single was his only hit of the ballgame…The Chiefs trail the Cougars by only three games for first place in the Midwest League Western Division, both teams are 18-6 in July…Flaherty tossed a career-high 6 2/3 innings…Peoples-Walls recorded the only multi-hit game for the Chiefs, his third of the season…Oscar Mercado stole his Midwest League leading 37th base and is now tied for 13th on the Chiefs single-season steals list…The Chiefs are 18-6 overall and 9-3 at home in the month of July…The 18 wins in a month are tied for the most since the 2009 Chiefs won 22 games in August…The Chiefs have 19 comeback wins and 11 wins in their last at bat this season…The Chiefs are 27-23 at home, 13-9 in one run games, and 42-19 when allowing four runs or less…Kane County had not lost a series in 10 attempts and they had not lost consecutive games against a Western Division team since May 22-23…The Chiefs and Cougars conclude their three-game series Sunday night at 6:30…The pitching matchup features Peoria RH Matt Pearce (6-9, 3.10) against Kane County RH Chris Oliver (2-0, 4.73)…Sunday is Princess Night at Dozer Park with appearances from Cinderella, Elsa, Pocahontas, and Snow White and a postgame fireworks show presented by AARP…The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a Harrison Bader poster courtesy of the Peoria Journal Star & City Link…It’s also PNC Kids Eat Free Sunday so kids 12 and under receive $5 admission, a free hot dog, chips, and a drink…There will be a pregame catch on the field at 5:30 p.m. followed by a team autograph session at 5:45 p.m.…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 p.m., on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android…The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the MiLB Inside the Park and Tune-In Radio Apps.
