Peoria, IL- The Peoria Chiefs lost 2-1 to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in game three of the four game series Saturday afternoon. The loss snaps a two-game win streak and puts the Chiefs at 8-8 heading into Sunday’s series finale.
The Chiefs got on the board in the bottom of fourth inning when Edmundo Sosa connected on his first home run of the season off Timber Rattlers starter Freddy Peralta to give the Chiefs the lead 1-0.
Chiefs starter Junior Fernandez pitched four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the top of the fifth. Timber Rattlers right fielder Carlos Belonis led off with a single and Fernandez hit Jake Gatewood on the forearm. Luis Aviles singled to load the bases and with two outs Monte Harrison singled scoring Belonis and Gatewood to give the Timber Rattlers their first lead in this series at 2-1. Aviles was thrown out at third to end the inning but the Chiefs lead was gone.
Fernandez (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season pitching eight innings, striking out a career-high 10 batters, giving up two runs on six hits and walking none. Steven De La Cruz replaced him in the ninth inning retiring the Timber Rattlers in order and striking out one.
Notes: Sosa extended his hit streak to 12 games on a single to center in the bottom of the first… Alvarez went 0-for-4 to end his eight-game hit streak…The Chiefs played the shortest game of the season two hours and 13 minutes…Sosa’s home run was the Chiefs third home run of the season and first since RJ Dennard homered on April 11, a span of 396 at-bats…Fernandez struck out a career-high 10 and pitched a career high eight innings…The eight-inning outing is the longest by a Chiefs pitcher this season and the longest since Matt Pearce through eight innings on July 26, 2016 against Kane County…The Chiefs pitching staff did not allow a run for in 22 2/3 consecutive innings before the Harrison single…Starting pitchers have gone at least five innings in all 16 games…The Chiefs pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts and have 38 strikeouts in the first three games of this series…The Chiefs and Timber Rattlers conclude their four-game series Sunday at 2:00 p.m…Sunday is Bark in the Park Day with dogs welcome at the stadium…The first 1000 fans will get a player poster featuring Chiefs first baseman R.J. Dennard courtesy of PJStar.com and CityLink…Sunday also features a Senior Sunday as seniors get $5.00 tickets…Sunday is also a PNC Kid’s Sunday, where Kids 12 and under get $5.00 tickets, $1.00 ice cream sandwiches, can get player autographs on the field pregame and can run the bases postgame…All fans can play catch on the field starting at 1:00 p.m.…The Chiefs will start RH Brennan Leitao (1-1, 2.25) against Wisconsin RH Jordan Yamamoto (0-0. 1.80)…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 Tune-In Radio App.
