APPLETON, WI – The Chiefs took the lead on the first pitch of the game and never looked back, beating Wisconsin 8-3 on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. With the win, Peoria clinches its second consecutive series win.
The Chiefs opened the contest with a bang. Jesús Báez hit his second leadoff home run of the series on the first pitch from Jason Woodward, stunning the crowd of 4,828. Two pitches later, Jack Gurevitch lasered a home run to the deepest part of the ballpark to make it back-to-back home runs for a 2-0 lead.
Jacob Odle made his High-A debut on the mound for the Chiefs and worked around six walks to allow just one earned run in 3.2 innings, striking out three.
After Wisconsin scored in the second, Jalin Flores got the run back for the Chiefs with an RBI single in the top of the third, making it 3-1.
The Chiefs blew the doors off the ballgame in the top of the sixth, rallying for five runs on three hits. Six consecutive Chiefs batters reached with two outs, including RBI knocks from José Suárez, Jose Cordoba and Flores. The rally grew the advantage to 8-1.
The Timber Rattlers scored their final two tallies on a two-run home run from Tayden Hall in the bottom of the inning, cutting the score to 8-3.
Peoria’s bullpen shut the game down from there. Christian Worley tossed two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth and José Davila shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
The Chiefs and Timber Rattlers will wrap up the series on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10pm. Fans can tune into the hometown broadcast online at PeoriaChiefs.com.
The Chiefs return home on Tuesday at 6:35pm to begin a six-game homestand against Beloit. Tickets are available at PeoriaChiefs.com.