Three seventh-inning home runs rallied the Chiefs to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Whitecaps on Friday night at Dozer Park.
The Chiefs have won four straight games and clinched their first series victory since a sweep of Beloit June 2-7.
After Thursday’s first run came on a two-out, ninth-inning walk-off walk, Friday’s scoring started right away.
Luke Shliger’s single drove in Bryce Rainer (Tigers No. 2 prospect) after his one-out walk to make it 1-0 West Michigan.
On the first pitch of the bottom of the first, Tai Peete belted a home run three-quarters of the way up the batter’s eye to tie the game at 1-1. All three of Peete’s home runs this week have been crushed on the first pitch of the at-bat.
Whitecaps starter Carlos Marcano exited early with an apparent injury, tossing two innings of one-hit, one-run ball while walking two and striking out one.
Peoria left a man on third base in the second, third and fourth innings.
Ryan Harvey was excellent in relief for West Michigan, allowing four hits and no runs while walking none and striking out one over three innings.
Meanwhile, Chiefs starter Ty Van Dyke was outstanding, allowing one run on two hits while walking one and matching a career high with seven strikeouts.
In the fifth, Tai Peete singled with two outs before Jack Gurevitch roped a line drive into the left field corner. Instead of giving the Chiefs runners on the corners, Peete was thrown out trying to advance to third.
Cristian Santana broke the 1-1 tie with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning off Peoria reliever Jack Martinez, putting West Michigan back in front 2-1.
After a single and a walk, Juan Hernandez recorded an RBI single on a 62-mile-per-hour blooper up the middle that took a bad hop on shortstop Jalin Flores, scoring Zach MacDonald and making it 3-1.
Following the seventh-inning stretch, the Chiefs’ offense came alive with a four-run frame.
Sammy Hernandez blasted a leadoff solo homer onto the left-field concourse to cut the Chiefs’ deficit to 3-2.
Anyelo Encarnación drew a walk before Cameron Nickens sent a towering two-run homer just over the right field fence to give Peoria its first lead of the night, 4-3.
The next batter, Peete, crushed a line-drive homer to right-center to make it back-to-back for his second long ball of the night, extending the Chiefs’ lead to 5-3.
Peete also had a pair of homers on Tuesday and is batting 9-for-13 (.692) with four home runs this week.
With a two-run lead in the ninth, Martinez struck out the first two batters before allowing a single and a runner to reach on a dropped third strike, but Samuel Gil grounded out to end the game.
Martinez finished his four relief innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out seven.
The series continues on Saturday at 7:05 p.m., when Cardinals No. 4 prospect Tanner Franklin takes the bump.
It’s Christmas in July at Dozer Park, with Sparkle Express providing ice scrapers for the first 1,000 fans. Stick around after the game for fireworks, courtesy of Fitzgerald Equipment.
Tickets are available on PeoriaChiefs.com or at the Dozer Park box office.
Fans can watch the game on MiLB.TV and the Bally Sports Live app or listen on PeoriaChiefs.com.