By WJBC Staff
CLINTON, Iowa – The Peoria Chiefs scored in each of the first six innings and cruised to a 9-4 win over the Clinton LumberKings Friday night. The win moves the Chiefs back to .500 in the second half at 8-8 and they are 41-43 overall.
The Chiefs got on the board in the top of the first against Clinton starter Jeffeson Medina. Paul DeJong tripled to right field and with two on base he was out at the plate on a groundball to third. Oscar Mercado and Harrison Bader each stole a base in the inning and Mercado scored from third on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.
Clinton tied the game bottom one against Dewin Perez and the Chiefs went back on top in the second. With two down, Kenny Peoples-Walls slugged his first home run of the season into the left-field berm for a 2-1 Chiefs lead.
Peoria grabbed an unearned run in the third and added another in the fourth against Medina. In the third inning, DeJong singled and Mercado reached on an error with one out. Alex DeLeon put the Chiefs up 3-1 with a single to left as DeJong scored. Peoples-Walls drew a one-out walk in the fourth and scored on a double to left by Jhohan Acevedo for a 4-1 lead.
Clinton got a run back in the bottom of the fourth but left the bases loaded against Perez. The Chiefs added on with two runs in the fifth as Medina left the game. Mercado led off with an infield single and moved to third on a double by Bader. Both runners scored on a wild pitch for a 6-2 Chiefs lead before Osmer Morales took over on the mound for Clinton.
The Chiefs broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning against Morales. Darren Seferina walked with one out and scored on a double to left-center by DeJong. With two outs in the inning DeJong scored from second on a throwing error as Bader singled and advanced to second. DeLeon gave the Chiefs a 9-2 lead with a double to left-center, his 15th of the season.
Clinton grabbed a run against Chiefs reliever Nicholas Frey in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 9-3. The LumberKings added another run against Anderson Gerdel in the eighth with a single, double and RBI groundout from Arby Fields.
Perez (1-2) earned his first win in 2015 with five innings of work. The lefty allowed two runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out four. Frey allowed one run on three hits while striking out two in two innings of work. Gerdel allowed one run on two hits while striking out one in his one inning of work. Kyle Grana allowed one hit, walked one and struck out three in a scoreless ninth.
