MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Peoria, IL –The Peoria Chiefs fell to the Clinton LumberKings 5-4 in extra innings on Tuesday night at O’Brien Field.  The loss brings the Chiefs to 27-31 in the second half and 57-69 on the season.

     A single run in the first inning off Clinton starter Michael Kirkman gave the Chiefs a quick lead over the LumberKings.  Jonathan Wyatt led off for the Chiefs with an infield single, and a sacrifice bunt by Nate Samson advanced him to second.  Wyatt continued to move during the at-bat of Jovan Rosa, as he stole third base and then made it home on a wild pitch to put the Chiefs on the board 1-0 over LumberKings. 

     The LumberKings matched the Chiefs with a run in the top of the second.  Mitch Moreland started off the inning with a single up the middle off Audy Santana on the mound for the Chiefs.  Justin Smoak followed with another single to right to move Moreland to third, and after a flyout to right field by Jonathan Greene, Moreland scored on an error by Samson at shortstop.  Santana got out of the inning, leaving two runners on with the two teams tied 1-1.

     The Chiefs followed suit with another one-run inning in their half of the second.  With two outs put quickly on the board, Luis Flores reached on a base hit off Kirkman and stole second base to move into scoring position with Wyatt at the plate.  Another wild pitch from Kirkman advanced Flores to third, and a single off the bat of Wyatt scored Flores to make it 2-1 in favor of the Chiefs. 

     One more run in the fourth extended the Chiefs lead over Clinton.  Dylan Johnston’s infield single to shortstop began the frame.  He moved to second on a wild pitch with Jake Opitz at bat and continued around the bases to third on an errant pickoff throw by Kirkman.  Opitz grounded out, and Luis Flores drove home Johnston with a sacrifice fly to put the Chiefs up 3-1.

     Clinton came back to tie the game in the fifth with a two-run inning against Santana.  Cristian Santana began the inning for the LumberKings with a walk, and Jose Felix singled to right to put two on.  Another single by Davis Stoneburner loaded the bases, and as Engel Beltre grounded into a fielders choice, Santana scored to put Clinton one closer at 3-2.  Felix came home to tie the game 3-3 on a duplicate fielders choice by Matt Lawson before Santana got out of the inning as Lawson was caught stealing.

     The LumberKings broke free of the tie in the eighth inning with one run against reliever Craig Muschko.  Stoneburner began the inning with an infield single and was advanced by a sacrifice bunt by Beltre.  Lawson bunted for a hit, putting runners at the corners, and Smith grounded into a fielders choice to score Stoneburner, giving the LumberKings the lead 4-3.

     The Chiefs came through in the clutch in the ninth inning to tie the game and bring the teams into extra innings.  Rebel Ridling was walked by reliever Julio Santana for the LumberKings.  Josh Harrison came in to pinch run for Ridling and advanced to second for the fifth stolen base of the night for the Chiefs.  Johnston and Opitz were retired for two outs, and Flores hit a double to left to score Harrison and tie the game 4-4.  Wyatt was hit by a pitch to leave the winning run at second, but Samson bounced out to the pitcher to end the inning.

     With two outs in the top of the tenth, Lawson hit a solo home run, his sixth of the season, to left-center off John Muller.  The Chiefs got a two-out single from Luis Bautista in the bottom of the tenth, but Harrison flew out to right to end the game with the Chiefs trailing 6-5.

     Santana threw a career-high six innings for the Chiefs, giving up three runs on five hits, walking one, and striking out three.  Muschko came in to relieve Santana, pitching three innings and allowing one run on three hits with one strikeout.  Muller took the loss, throwing the final inning and giving up the game-winning home run.  He also had one strikeout on the night. 

Player of the Game – Luis Flores (C) – Flores was 2-for-3 on the night with one run scored and two RBI for the Chiefs, including the game-tying run in the ninth inning.  He had a stolen base, a sacrifice fly, and caught one runner stealing. 

Playoff Watch: With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Chiefs are in a five-team battle for two second half Western Division playoff spots. The Chiefs remain five games behind Cedar Rapids in the Wild Card race as the Kernels lost to Beloit Tuesday night. Burlington remains atop the division with a 5-1 win over Quad Cities. The Chiefs are done playing Burlington, Quad Cities and Beloit while they have a four game series against Cedar Rapids at O’Brien Field August 21-24. The Chiefs will also play 8 against Clinton and Kane County, the two first-half playoff qualifiers. 

Notes…Samson set a new Chiefs career record for sacrifice bunts with 30…The Chiefs are 2-8 in their last ten starts against left-handed pitchers…Wyatt stole three bases in a game for the second time in his career, both of which came with the Chiefs this season… The Chiefs used the same lineup in back-to-back games for the first time since May 11 and May 12…Wyatt is 4-for-10 as the leadoff man at home with three runs scored…He is also 9-for-17 with six runs and five steals against Clinton this season…Tonight the Chiefs stole five bases, the most since they stole six on June 6, also against Clinton…The Chiefs are 0-3 all time against Clinton in extra innings at O’Brien Field…This was the 15^th extra-inning game this season, which is the third most in Chiefs history (16 in 1984 and 18 in 2003)…The Chiefs hadn’t lost an extra-inning game at home since June 22 against Beloit…The Chiefs have allowed 103 home runs, which is one away from the franchise record… The loss gives the Chiefs their first loss of the season at home against Clinton, putting the record at 5-1 with an overall season record of 6-6…Samson is now batting .299 and is under .300 for the first time since July 13…After an off-day on Wednesday, the Chiefs will continue their homestand as they play host to the Cedar Rapids Kernels for a four-game series beginning on Thursday night at 7:00 PM…The Chiefs will send RH Robert Hernandez (1-3, 5.34) to the mound against RH Jose Perez (0-2, 6.55) for the Kernels…The game can be heard live beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 PM online at www.peoriachiefs.com or on WOAM 1350.

See box score here: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_08_19_cliafx_peoafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb

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