By Nathan Baliva
Appleton, WI – The Peoria Chiefs scored in the first and ninth innings but got nothing in between in a 4-2 loss to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Friday night. The loss drops the Chiefs to 8-8 in the second half and 48-38 overall with three games left in the series.
The Chiefs grabbed an early lead against Wisconsin lefty Jake Drossner. Magneuris Sierra led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout by Eli Alvarez. With two down Brian O’Keefe drew a walk and Sierra moved to third on a wild pitch. Chris Chinea’s infield single to short plated Sierra for a 1-0 lead before Leo Pina flew out to end the inning.
Wisconsin grabbed the lead in the third against Sandy Alcantara who racked up five strikeouts in the first two innings. Brandon Diaz was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Troy Stokes Jr. singled. Mitch Ghelfi doubled to tie the game and Stokes scored on a wild pitch for a 2-1 Rattlers lead. Jake Gatewood flew out to center and Sierra threw out Ghelfi at the plate to end the inning as O’Keefe held on despite a violent collision with the Rattlers runner.
The Rattlers added on in the fifth after the Chiefs left the bases loaded. Stokes singled to right and stole second with two outs. Ghelfi singled to center for a 3-1 Rattlers lead before Alcantara got out of the inning. Wisconsin added an insurance run in the seventh inning against reliever Harley Holt. Ghelfi singled with the bases loaded to drive home Luis Aviles for a 4-1 advantage.
The Chiefs didn’t go quietly in the ninth against Nathan Griep. Craig Aikin walked with one out and moved to second on a groundout. Sierra singled to left-center to cut the Wisconsin lead to 4-2 and bring the tying run to the plate. But Griep struck out Edmundo Sosa to end the game.
Alcantara (5-7) allowed three runs on four hits over six innings while taking the loss, his third in a row. He struck out nine, walked three, hit one and threw a wild pitch. Holt allowed one run on three hits and two walks over two innings while striking out two.
Notes… Chinea set a new career high with four hits…The Chiefs have six 4-hit games on the season…Sierra had his team-leading 30th multi-hit game…Sierra has eight outfield assists…Alcantara turned in his sixth quality start…Alcantara has six games of at least nine strikeouts…He leads the MWL with 107 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings for a 12.40 K/9 IP ratio…Alcantara is fourth in all of Minor League Baseball in strikeouts and the three above him are all in Triple-A and have all thrown at least 10 more innings…Aikin tied a Chiefs season-high with three walks…Six of Wisconsin’s seven hits came from the top two guys in their lineup…The Chiefs and Rattlers have split their first 12 games this season…Game two of the series is Saturday at 6:35 p.m. as the Chiefs start RH Juan Perez (3-1, 3.72) against Rattlers RH Corbin Burnes (0-0, 0.00)…Burnes was the Brewers fourth round pick in 2016 and will be making his MWL debut…The broadcast can be heard, starting with the Pre-Game Show at 6:50 p.m. on www.peoriachiefs.com/listenlive which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android…The broadcast is also available on the Peoria Chiefs Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
