By WJBC Staff
PEORIA – The Peoria Chiefs scored twice in the first inning and held on for a 2-1 win over the Kane County Cougars Wednesday afternoon. The win, their third in row, moves the Chiefs to 7-7 in the second half and 47-37 overall as they go for the sweep on Thursday.
After the Cougars left a runner at third in the top of the inning the Chiefs took the lead in the bottom of the first against Emilio Vargas. Magneuris Sierra beat out an infield single and stole second before Edmundo Sosa walked. Eli Alvarez singled to right and Sierra scored on an error by Joey Armstrong with Sosa taking third on the play. Alvarez moved to second on a wild pitch and with two outs Sosa scored on a balk for a 2-0 Chiefs lead.
Dailyn Martinez, who was roughed up Sunday against Clinton, was much better his second time around. He allowed a run in the second inning on a double by Armstrong, a single by Fernery Ozuna and a sacrifice fly by Gerard Hernandez. He pitched out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings as the Cougars left two runners on base each time.
Martinez left with a runner on second and two outs in the seventh inning and Tyler Bray got the final out of the inning. Kane County put a runner on third against Bray in the eighth but he got a flyout to end the threat. Stephen De La Cruz allowed a two-out single in the ninth before securing his fourth save of the season.
Martinez (1-1) allowed one run on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings while walking three and striking out seven to earn his first Midwest League win. Bray allowed one hit and struck out one over 1 1/3 shutout innings. De La Cruz struck out two in a shutout ninth.
