By WJBC Staff
COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. – The Peoria Chiefs dug themselves a big hole for the second night in a row and lost to the West Michigan Whitecaps 6-4 on Thursday night. The loss, their second in a row, drops the Chiefs to 14-13 in the second half and 54-43 overall.
The game was scoreless with two outs and nobody out in the bottom of the second when Juan Perez gave up a double to Leo Laffita. Franklin Navarro singled to right and Laffita stopped at third until right fielder Bladimil Franco threw wildly to the plate. Laffita raced home before the Chiefs could corral the ball for a 1-0 Whitecaps lead. Cam Gibson walked and Derek Hill singled home Navarro with another hit to right. Franco bobbled the ball for another error as Gibson moved to third with West Michigan leading 2-0.
Perez did not record an out in the third inning as the Whitecaps sent nine to the plate for the second time in the series. Will Maddox led off with a single and scored on a double to right by Will Allen. Brett Pirtle singled home Allen for a 4-0 lead and Franco misplayed a hit by Jose Azocar turning a single into a RBI triple. Laffita was hit by a pitch and Navarro singled home Azocar for a 6-0 Whitecaps lead. Josh Wirsu came out of the Chiefs bullpen with two on and no outs to record three straight outs and keep the Chiefs down 6-0.
The Chiefs got on the board against Eudis Idrogo in the fourth inning. Eli Alvarez singled to start the inning and stole two bases with Brian O’Keefe at the plate. After a strikeout and a pop-up, Leo Pina beat out an infield single to shortstop as Alvarez scored to the deficit to 6-1.
Peoria knocked Idrogo from the game with a two-out rally in the sixth. Chris Chinea singled and moved to third on a double by Pina. RJ Dennard knocked Idrogo from the game with a two-run double down the right-field line to cut the Whitecaps lead to 6-3. Jordan Smith came out of the bullpen and Franco grounded out on the first pitch to end the inning.
The Chiefs kept the offense going on the seventh against Smith. Carlos Torres led off with a single and moved to third on a single by Sierra. Torres scored as the Whitecaps turned a fantastic 6-4-3 double play on a ball hit by Edmundo Sosa. Laffita, the shortstop, dove to his left to catch the ball, flipped it out of his glove on target to second base as David Gonzalez made the transition and threw to first for the double play. Alvarez followed with a double but O’Keefe grounded out to end the inning with the Chiefs down 6-4.
After the Chiefs left two runners on base in the eighth, Sierra started the ninth with a double off Ryan Milton. Sierra stayed at second as Sosa grounded out to shortstop and Alvarez struck out looking. Sierra stole third but O’Keefe struck out swinging to end the game.
Perez (3-3) took his second straight loss as he allowed six runs on nine hits over two innings. He walked one, hit one and struck out two. Wirsu allowed one hit and struck out three over two shutout innings. Tyler Bray struck out six and allowed two hits over three shutout innings. Stephen De La Cruz struck out one in one perfect inning. The Chiefs bullpen combined to strikeout 10 batters with no walks over six shutout innings.
