Beloit, WI – The Peoria Chiefs scored early and often Monday night to beat the Beloit Snappers 8-1 in a rain-shortened game on the road. With the win, their fourth in a row, the Chiefs are now 14-16 on the season with two more games in Beloit.
With the rain falling, Magneuris Sierra led off the game with an infield single and moved to third on an error by Snappers pitcher Xavier Altamirano on a grounder by Edmundo Sosa. The Chiefs took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Brian O’Keefe and left two runners on base in the first.
Leading 1-0 the Chiefs added on in the third inning as they sent nine batters to the plate. Sierra again led off with a single and Sosa singled to left to put runners on the corners. Eli Alvarez extended his hit streak to nine with his team-leading 10th double as both runners scored for a 3-0 Chiefs lead. O’Keefe made it 4-0 with a single to left and with two outs and two on, Dylan Becker doubled home a run for a 5-0 Chiefs lead.
Sierra singled off Altamirano for a third time to lead off the fourth inning and Beloit brought in Armando Ruiz from the bullpen. With two on and two outs, R.J. Dennard put the Chiefs on top 6-0 with a single to left-center.
Thomas Spitz greeted lefty reliever Evan Manarino with a single to center in the fifth, the fourth time in the game the Chiefs started an inning with a hit. Becker’s second double of the game scored Spitz from first and put the Chiefs on top 7-0.
After Beloit scratched across a run against Chiefs starter Derian Gonzalez in the sixth, the Chiefs answered in the seventh. Becker drew a one-out walk and Jhohan Acevedo singled to left. With two down, Sosa doubled to left to plate Becker for an 8-1 lead. The tarp went on the field at 9:05 pm before the start of the eighth inning and the game was called as final at 9:37.
Gonzalez (1-0) earned his first win of the season as he allowed one run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five while not allowing a runner past first base until the sixth inning. Nick Frey allowed one walk over 1 1/3 shutout and hitless innings with three strikeouts.
Notes: The Chiefs have won a season-high four games in a row, outscoring the opposition 24-3 in that stretch…Alvarez has a nine-game hit streak in which he has 12 hits, seven extra-base hits, and seven runs scored…Alvarez drew his team-leading 16th walk…Sierra had his third 3-hit game of the season and 12th multi-hit game, both of which lead the Chiefs…Sierra scored three runs in a game for the second time this season…Dennard has 10 multi-hit games…O’Keefe had his first multi-RBI game of the season as did Becker…Every Chiefs starter had at least one hit in the game…The Chiefs were 5-1 in Beloit last year while going 14-4 against the Snappers overall…The Chiefs are now 1-4 in the first game of a series on the road…The Chiefs have not hit a home run on the road this season…Chiefs starting pitchers had not allowed an earned run in 25 2/3 innings before the run in the sixth…Lefty Chandler Hawkins was promoted to Palm Beach on Monday as the Chiefs received RHP Harley Holt from Extended Spring Training…The move leaves the Chiefs with 13 right-handed pitchers and zero left-handed pitchers on the roster…The series continues Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. as the Chiefs send RH Jake Woodford (0-3, 3.68) to the mound against Snappers RH James Naile (1-4, 4.39)…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:15 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.
