By WJBC Staff
PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs were unable to generate much offense against stellar pitching from the Kane County Cougars as they fell 7-1 on Sunday. The loss drops the Chiefs to 25-26 with one game remaining in the home stand.
The Cougars struck first in the third inning off Chiefs starter Jack Flaherty. Ildemaro Vargas singled, Victor Reyes singled, and Cody Regis walked to load the bases. Vargas scored on a double-play ball grounded into by Colin Bray.
The Chiefs tied it up with a run in the bottom half of the third off Cougars starter Wei-Chieh Huang. Blake Drake doubled and Darren Seferina followed suit with a double, but Drake was held at third. He scored on a balk by Huang to tie the game at one, but Seferina was thrown out at the plate on a fly out to end the inning.
The Cougars regained the lead in the fourth with a two-out rally. Stryker Trahan doubled, Elvin Soto singled, and an errant throw by Oscar Mercado allowed Trahan to score to make it 2-1 Cougars.
The Cougars added three more runs in the sixth against reliever Julio Mateo. With Joe Munoz on first, Trahan belted his seventh homer of the year to make it 4-1. Soto walked, Vargas singled and Victor Reyes drove home Soto with an RBI single for a 5-1 Cougars lead.
The Cougars plated another in the seventh on an RBI single by Vargas to make it 6-1. Kane County capped the scoring in the ninth as Ryan
Gebhardt doubled and scored on a single by Soto to make it 7-1.
Flaherty (0-1) suffered the loss allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks, striking out four over four innings pitched. Julio Mateo allowed three runs on four hits and three walks, striking out one in two innings of relief in his Chiefs debut. Kyle Grana allowed one run on one hit and two walks in two thirds of an inning. Robby Rowland allowed one hit and struck out one across an inning and a third of work. Jhonny Polanco allowed one run on two hits and a walk, striking out three in an inning of work.
