By WJBC Staff
PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and Edmundo Sosa’s single walked off the Kane County Cougars 3-2 in 12 innings Thursday night. The win ends a 5-2 homestand and gives the Chiefs a perfect 7-0 season against the Cougars in Peoria. The Chiefs head to Wisconsin for a four-game series and road trip that starts Friday.
Chiefs starter Jake Woodford was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day and tossed three shutout innings in his first outing since the Midwest League All-Star Game. Steven Gallardo took over in the fourth inning and the first batter he faced, Collin Bray, launched a solo home run for a 1-0 Cougars lead. Kane County extended the lead to 2-0 in the seventh inning when Austin Byler hit a solo homer to left off Nick Frey.
Peoria got just one hit against former Chiefs pitcher Hector Hernandez as the 25-year-old delivered 5 1/3 shutout innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The Chiefs lost a runner on the bases between third and home to end the sixth before finally getting on the board in the seventh against Cody Clark. Brian O’Keefe hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot into the left-field berm, to cut the Kane County lead to 2-1. Chris Chinea and RJ Dennard each followed with singles but with two outs, Kody Bellow came out of the bullpen to strikeout Dylan Becker to end the inning.
The Chiefs were still down 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth as Julio Perez took over on the mound for Kane County. O’Keefe drew a leadoff walk on a full-count pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch. With one out he went to third on another wild pitch and Craig Aikin pinch ran with Dennard at the plate. A third wild pitch allowed Aikin to score the tying run before Perez got out of the inning to send the game to extras.
Both teams left the bases loaded in the 10th inning. Kane County had first and third with no outs and loaded the bases on an intentional walk with two outs. Jorge Rodriguez gave way to Luke Harrison and the Cougars left them loaded with a groundout. The Chiefs got an infield single from Carlos Torres with one out and Sierra singled to right. With runners on the corners, Perez struck out Edmundo Sosa before walking Eli Alvarez to load the bases. The hard throwing right-hander then struck out Aikin to end the inning.
The Chiefs won the game in the 12th against reliever Mason McCullough. Sierra worked a two-out walk and stole second with Sosa at the plate. The Chiefs All-Star shortstop delivered a ground ball single to left and Sierra easily scored ahead of the throw for the 3-2 walkoff win.
Woodford struck out four and allowed just one hit over three shutout innings. Gallardo allowed one run on two hits while striking out two in one inning of work. Frey allowed one run on one hit and one walk while striking out three over three innings. Rodriguez allowed four hits over 2 2/3 shutout innings while walking one and striking out five. Harrison allowed one hit over 2 1/3 shutout innings while striking out two.
