Chiefs hold on to beat Dragons

Posted on May 6, 2016

By WJBC Staff

PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs survived a dicey ninth inning to beat the Dayton Dragons 4-1 on Thursday night to end a two-game losing streak. The win moves the Chiefs to 11-16 on the season with two games left on the homestand.

The game was scoreless into the fourth inning as the Chiefs Ryan Helsley and Dayton’s Jose Lopez dueled. With one out in the bottom of the fourth Brian O’Keefe doubled off the right-field wall and Eli Alvarez drew a walk. Chris Chinea hit a grounder to shortstop that was bobbled by Luis Gonzalez for an error that loaded the bases. O’Keefe was thrown out at the plate on a fielders’ choice grounder to first base by Dylan Becker. Thomas Spitz put the Chiefs on top 2-0 with a single to center before Lopez got out of the inning.

With one out in the sixth inning, Alvarez tripled off the wall in right field and scored on a single by Chinea for a 3-0 lead. Peoria added another run in the seventh against Wendolin Bautista. Craig Aikin led off with a double and RJ Dennard was intentionally walked with two outs. O’Keefe singled up the middle to score Aikin and give the Chiefs a 4-0 lead.

Stephen De La Cruz came out of the Chiefs bullpen with a 4-0 lead for the ninth inning. He walked James Vasquez, hit Shane Mardirosian and walked Mitch Trees to load the bases with no outs. Landon Beck took over with the tying run at the plate and a wild pitch scored Vasquez to cut the Chiefs lead to 4-1. Beck struck out Mitch Piatnik looking and got pinch-hitter Ed Chartlon swinging before he struck out Zach Shields to end the game.

Helsley blanked the Dragons through 6 1/3 innings while allowing just three hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out five and left with a runner on second base after setting a career high in innings pitched. Nick Frey allowed one hit and struck out five over 1 2/3 shutout innings. De La Cruz did not record an out with two walks and a hit batter as he allowed one run. Beck earned his third save with three strikeouts.

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