By WJBC Staff
APPLETON, Wis. – The Peoria Chiefs rallied from a 4-1 deficit and Brian O’Keefe hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the 8th inning for a 5-4 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Tuesday afternoon. The win moves the Chiefs to 27-30 in the second half and 67-60 overall.
The Chiefs took an early lead with an unearned first inning run against Corbin Burnes. Eli Alvarez reached on a strikeout with a passed ball with two outs. He stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by catch Max McDowell before scoring on a single by O’Keefe.
Dailyn Martinez cruised through the first with a 1-0 lead before running into trouble in the second innings. Wisconsin put two on base to start the frame and tied the game on a wild pitch. With two down, Carlos Belonis singled home a run for a 2-1 lead and Trent Clark singled home two more for a 4-1 Rattlers lead.
The Chiefs plated a run in the fourth against reliever Alex Farina as RJ Dennard singled home Jose Godoy with two outs. In the sixth inning Alvarez led off with a double but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. The next three batters all collected singles as Leo Pina drove home O’Keefe to cut the Wisconsin lead to 4-3. Wisconsin couldn’t turn an inning-ending double play on a ground ball from Dennard as he brought home Godoy to tie the game 4-4.
The game was still tied in the eighth inning when O’Keefe homered into the Wisconsin bullpen off Zach Brown. The blast put the Chiefs on top 5-4 and Josh Wirsu retired all six Rattlers to finish off the 5-4 win.
Martinez (5-5) earned the win as he allowed four runs on six hits over seven innings. Martinez walked one, threw three wild pitches and tied a career high with nine strikeouts. Wirsu picked up his second save of the season with three strikeouts over two perfect innings.
