Chiefs Salvage Series Finale Against South Bend

Peoria, IL– Led by their offense, the Peoria Chiefs pounded out 11 hits en route to a 7-2 victory Sunday at Dozer Park.

The Chiefs scored in four of the first five innings and set the tone early. With two outs in the first, Jhon Torres homered to left field to give Peoria the early 1-0 advantage. South Bend quickly responded in the top of the second and tied the game on an RBI groundout.

From there, the bottom of the order carried the load. Tyler Reichenborn, the 8th-place batter in the Peoria lineup, doubled down the left field line to give Peoria the lead right back. The next batter was Matt Chamberlain, who floated one into left to plate Reichenborn and extend the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second.

Two innings later, the duo of Reichenborn and Chamberlain were at it again. Reichenborn doubled again into the left field corner to push the lead to 4-1. Then, Chamberlain singled off the glove of third baseman Ryan Reynolds to give Peoria a 5-1 bulge. The bottom two men in the order reached a combined seven times in the win.

The Peoria offense didn’t stop there as the onslaught continued into the home half of the fifth. Jordan Walker extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a lead-off single to right field. After a wild pitch moved him to second, he swiped third to record his 10th steal of the year. Torres then collected his second extra-base hit of the contest when he tripled off the center field wall to push the Peoria advantage to 6-1. Later, catcher Pedro Pages lined one up the middle to make it 7-1in favor of the home team.

With the Chiefs comfortably in front, a 59-minute rain delay halted the proceedings in the bottom of the sixth. Upon resumption, the Peoria bullpen allowed just one run in three innings to hold the final margin at 7-2. Nick Trogrlic-Iverson recorded his second win of the series, as he twirled 2.1 scoreless innings.

The Chiefs will be off tomorrow, as will the rest of the minor leagues. They will kick-off a 12-game road trip starting Tuesday at West Michigan. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM.