The Peoria Chiefs led 3-2 going to the bottom of the eighth inning but gave up two late runs and lost on a walk-off single to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-3 Wednesday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 21-12 in the second half and 53-47 on the season heading into Thursday’s series finale.
The visitors jumped out to an early lead as Oscar Mercado drew a leadoff walk from Eric Hanhold and promptly stole second base, his 39th steal of the season. Paul DeJong launched a 2-1 offering over the 405-foot-sign in right center and into the beach party area for a two-run home run and a 2-0 Chiefs lead. The homer is the second with the Chiefs for DeJong and his sixth overall since being drafted in June.
Wisconsin tied the game in the second inning against Chiefs starter Dewin Perez. Sthervin Matos singled to left with one out and Alan Sharkey tied the game with a two-run home run over the right-field wall.
Wisconsin left two on base in the third and left the bases loaded after drawing three walks in the fourth. The Chiefs regained the lead in the top of the fifth as Kenny Peoples-Walls hit his fifth home run of the season over the high left-field wall for a 3-2 advantage. Andrew Sohn followed with an infield single and stole second before Scott Lieser came out of the bullpen to end the inning.
The Rattlers got even in the eighth. Steve Sabatino allowed a leadoff double to Francisco Castillo and Matos’ sacrifice bunt put the tying run on third with one out. Sabatino got Sharkey to ground out to first and Kyle Grana took over on the hill. Grana got ahead of Luis Aviles 0-2 before a bloop double in front of a diving Peoples-Walls in left field tied the game. Grana got a groundout to end the inning with the game tied 3-3.
With one out in the ninth, Grana walked three straight Rattlers batters. Castillo ended the game with a single to right for a 4-3 Wisconsin win.
Perez allowed two runs on four hits and four walks over five innings while striking out two. Sabatino allowed one run on two hits and one walk over 2 2/3 innings while striking out two. Grana (1-2) allowed one run on two hits and three walks over 2/3 of an inning while striking out one.
