Davenport, IA-The Peoria Chiefs got another strong outing from Midwest League Post-Season All-Star Austin Gomber to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits 4-2 Saturday night. The win moves the Chiefs to 38-23 in the second half and 71-58 overall with nine games remaining in the regular season.
The Chiefs jumped out to an early lead against Quad Cities starter Joshua James. Harrison Bader singled with one out in the second inning and scored on a double to left-center by Brian O’Keefe. Steve Bean singled home O’Keefe for a 2-0 lead before James got out of the inning.
Gomber allowed only an unearned run in the fourth inning as he improved to 15-3 on the season while striking out eight batters and allowing just two hits over six innings. Quad Cities scored in the fourth when Jose Fernandez walked, stole second, stole third and scored on a throwing error by O’Keefe.
The Chiefs scored an unearned run against James in the eighth as Derek Gibson singled and advance to second on a throwing error. He moved to third on a wild pitch as Josh Swirchak walked and scored on a sacrifice fly by Paul DeJong. Peoria extended the lead to 4-1 in the ninth as Bader launched his seventh home run of the season on the first pitch thrown by reliever Sean Naemark.
Quad Cities threatened in the ninth against reliever Jery Then. Then walked the first two batters before a fielder’s choice and a strikeout gave the Bandits two on with two outs. Wander Franco hit a comebacker that Then knocked down, but the Chiefs reliever threw wildly to first allowing a run to score. With runners on second and third and the Chiefs up 4-2, Then struck out Marlon Avea to end the game.
Nick Lomascolo relieved Gomber in the seventh inning and struck out one in a perfect inning for his team leading seventh hold. Nicholas Frey walked one and struck out three in a hitless inning. Then earned his second save allowing an unearned run on one hit and two walks while striking out two in one inning.
Notes: DeJong has a 10-game hit streak, while O’Keefe has a nine-game hit streak…Bader has homered twice on the road trip…Bader, O’Keefe and Bean all had two hits and a RBI…The Chiefs went 5-12 against Quad Cities this season…Gomber leads the MWL with 15 wins and 140 strikeouts…He is one of just three pitchers in all of MiLB to have 15 wins this season…With 140 strikeouts Gomber is tied for 12th on the Chiefs single season list with Jeff Schwarz from 1985…The 140 strikeouts are the most by any Chiefs pitcher since 1996…The 15 wins have Gomber tied for second with three others on the Chiefs single season list…Tyler Johnson was the last to win 15 games in 2002…Gomber is 9-0 with a 1.67 ERA in 10 starts since the All-Star break…He is 5-0 with a 1.27 ERA in seven starts in the state of Iowa and 9-0 with a 2.03 ERA in 12 road starts…The Chiefs return home for the final homestand of the regular season…All tickets to Sunday’s 5:00 p.m. game against Cedar Rapids are $5.00 and the first 1000 fans receive a Team Photo Poster…There will also be an auction of the Chiefs light-blue Throwback Jerseys…Peoria will start RH Landon Beck (0-1, 12.00) against Kernels RH Keaton Steele (5-4, 3.33)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 4:45 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.
