An inning after the Chiefs made it a one-run ballgame, the Whitecaps quickly erased any home momentum with an eight-run eighth inning to cruise to a 13-6 victory on a sweaty Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park.
After opening the week 4-0, the Chiefs dropped the final two games of the series.
In the second, Whitecaps starter Connor Fenlong walked Cade McGee, José Suárez and Chase Heath with one out, loading the bases for Anyelo Encarnación.
Fenlong plunked Encarnación in the helmet with the first pitch of the plate appearance, bringing in the first run of the game.
Luis Pino struck out and Tai Peete bounced out to leave the bases juiced and a 1-0 lead after the second.
In the fourth, McGee led off with a solo shot to left field to make it 2-0 Chiefs.
Leonel Sequera was pulled in the fifth inning after allowing a one-out single and a walk.
Jawilme Ramírez entered the game in relief and surrendered a deep fly ball to left-center off the bat of Bryce Rainer, but Peete leapt at the wall and reached over to rob a home run.
The next batter, Clayton Campbell, followed with a no-doubt three-run homer to left, putting West Michigan ahead 3-2.
Sequera was charged with two earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out three in 4.1 innings.
Fenlong went five frames, allowing two runs on one hit, walking three and striking out three.
The Whitecaps kept it rolling in the sixth when Zach MacDonald launched his first High-A home run, in solo fashion, off Nate Dohm to extend their lead to 4-2.
Peoria had an opportunity to answer in the bottom half when it loaded the bases with nobody out. Suárez struck out, Chase Heath flied out and Michael Dattalo grounded out to leave all the ducks on the pond.
In the seventh, West Michigan scored again when Luke Shliger recorded an RBI single to make it 5-2.
The Chiefs made their move in the bottom of the seventh. Jack Gurevitch lifted his fifth home run of the week before Jalin Flores rocketed a line-drive homer on the very next pitch that also cleared the left field wall to cut their deficit to 5-4.
Gurevitch finished the week 10-20 (.500), leading Peoria with five home runs and eight RBIs.
In the eighth inning, the Whitecaps made the Chiefs’ rally short-lived. West Michigan scored eight runs on six hits against reliever Dylan Driessen, highlighted by Andrew Sojka’s grand slam and three RBI singles to make it 13-4.
Peoria scored two final runs in the ninth on Flores’ two-run single to make it 13-6.
Peoria’s bullpen combined to allow 11 runs on 11 hits across 3.2 innings.
Despite the loss, the Chiefs won the series four games to two.
Peoria heads to Iowa for a six-game set with the Cedar Rapids Kernels for the first contest on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. Fans can listen to the hometown call on PeoriaChiefs.com.
Tickets are available on PeoriaChiefs.com for the next homestand when the Chiefs return to Dozer Park August 4-9 to host Quad Cities and for all remaining home games this season.