Beloit, WI– The Peoria Chiefs rallied twice with the long ball to beat the Beloit Snappers 7-5 Saturday night in Wisconsin. The win moves the Chiefs to 24-12 in the second half and 57-47 overall, a season-high 10 games over the .500 mark.
The Chiefs jumped on Daniel Gossett and Beloit from the start as Darren Seferina ripped the first pitch of the game into the right-field corner for a double. Seferina moved to third on a single by Paul DeJong and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex DeLeon for a 1-0 Chiefs lead.
Beloit came right back against Matt Pearce in the bottom of the inning with an unearned run. Joe Bennie led off with a double and moved to third on a flyout. A passed ball by catcher Luis Cruz allowed Bennie to score the tying run.
The Chiefs went back on top in the fifth against Gossett. Cruz walked with one out and moved to third on a double by Jake Gronsky. Seferina put the Chiefs on top 2-1 with a single to center but he was caught stealing second and the Chiefs left Gronsky at third.
Beloit took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth. James Harris led off with a single and after a fielder’s choice, Bennie launched a two-run homer to left field for a 3-2 Snappers lead. Sandber Pimentel led off the sixth with his 11th home run of the season, and first since June 12, for a 4-2 Snappers lead.
The Chiefs tied the game and knocked out Gossett in the seventh. Cruz was hit by a pitch with one out and Seferina tied the game with a two-run homer over the batters eye in center field. The homers, Seferina’s third of the season, was the fourth the Chiefs have hit off Gossett in 2015. DeJong followed with a double that ended Gossett’s night but reliever Carlos Navas got Oscar Mercado to fly out to center to keep the game tied.
DeLeon was hit by a pitch to start the eighth and Harrison Bader was safe at first with DeLeon forced out at second. Bader stole second and Beloit brought in lefty Jose Torres to face Steve Bean with two outs. Beloit shifted their infield leaving no one to cover third as Bader stole another base. Bean’s grounder was booted by an out of position third baseman near shortstop as Bader scored for a 5-4 Chiefs lead.
Beloit tied the game in the eighth against two Chiefs pitchers. Jose Brizuela led off with a double to right against Nick Lomascolo and after a strikeout of Pimentel, Kyle Grana came out of the bullpen. Max Kuhn tied the game with a single to center and moved to second on the throw home. With two outs, Argenis Raga singled to left but Gronsky’s throw home caught Kuhn between third and the plate to end the inning.
DeJong drew a two-out walk from Torres in the top of the ninth and stole second. With a 1-2 count, Mercado launched a two-run homer to left-center for a 7-5 Chiefs lead. Beloit put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but Brizuela flew out to left to end the game.
Pearce allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits over six innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter for his eighth straight start, extending his MWL record of consecutive innings without a walk to 52 1/3. Lomascolo allowed one run on one hit over 1 1/3 innings while striking out four.
Notes: Mercado stole two bases and leads the MWL with 41…He is tied for the ninth most steals in all of Minor League Baseball and tied for 10th on the Chiefs single season list…No Chiefs player has stolen more than 41 bases since Matt Lemanczyk swiped 56 in 2003…The homer in the 9th was Mercado’s first off a lefty this season and his third go-ahead home run…He also homered at Pohlman Field June 17…The Chiefs have hit nine home runs in five games in Beloit in 2015 and overall have 13 homers against the Snappers…Pearce last allowed more than two runs in a game on June 14 against South Bend…Pearce leads the Chiefs with 11 quality starts…Pearce has not walked a batter since June 8…The Chiefs stole six bases in a game for the second time this season with the other coming May 2 against Burlington…The Chiefs are 5-0 in Pohlman Field with one game left this season and 12-3 overall against Beloit with four games left…The only other time the Chiefs won 12 games against Beloit was in 1996…Gronsky played the outfield for this first time as a pro…The three-game series concludes Sunday at 2:00 p.m. as the Chiefs send RHP Luis Perdomo (5-8, 3.23) against Beloit RHP Junior Mendez (3-8, 5.38)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 1:45 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.
