By WJBC Staff
CLINTON, Iowa – The Peoria Chiefs scored four late runs and had the tying run on third base with no outs in the seventh but couldn’t pull even in a 6-5 loss to the Clinton LumberKings on Monday night. The loss, their fourth in a row, drops the Chiefs to 1-4 in the second half and 34-39 overall on the season.
All-Star starter Luis Perdomo ran into immediate trouble as Arby Fields led off the game with a single to center and stole second. With one out, Chantz Mack delivered a bad-hop single off the shoulder of shortstop Oscar Mercado to score Fields for a 1-0 Clinton lead.
The Chiefs tied the game against Jeffeson Medina in the top of the third. With two down Darren Seferina drew a walk and moved to second on a balk. Mercado singled to left to plate Seferina and tie the game but Mack’s throw to second was in time to get Oscar and end the inning.
Clinton broke the game open and knocked out Perdomo in the third. Two walks and a singled loaded the bases with one out and Mack’s base-hit put Clinton on top 2-1. With the bases still loaded Perdomo gave way to Anderson Gerdel and a sacrifice fly from Patrick Leyland put Clinton up 3-1. Estarlyn Morales cleared the bases with a triple to left for a 5-1 Clinton lead before Gerdel got out of the inning. Clinton went on top 6-1 in the fourth on a solo home run by Gianfranco Wawoe.
Peoria started their comeback against Medina in the fifth. Seferina doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch before Mercado walked with two outs. Danny Diekroeger’s double to left plated but runners and cut the Chiefs lead to 6-3 but he was stranded at second base.
Reliever Blake McKnight threw three scoreless innings to keep the Chiefs in the game and the offense went back to work in the seventh against reliever Osmer Morales. Kenny Peoples-Walls led off with a walk and moved to second on a single by Jhohan Acevedo. Seferina tripled into the right-field corner to close the gap to 6-5 with no outs in the inning. However the Chiefs couldn’t tie the game as Morales struck out the next two batters and a groundout ended the inning with Seferina left at third base. Morales and Ronald Dominguez combined to retire the final nine Chiefs batters as the game ended 6-5.
Perdomo (3-7) took the loss while allowing five runs on four hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings. Gerdel threw 2 2/3 innings and allowed one run on two hits while striking out one. McKnight allowed two hits and walked two over three shutout innings.
