BELOIT — The Beloit Sky Carp pitching staff had wriggled out of jam after jam through six innings against the Peoria Chiefs on Tuesday night.
Eventually, the throwers ran out of any room to shimmy.
Sky Carp reliever Xavier Meachem blasted four runs in the seventh inning as the Chiefs defeated Beloit 7-3 at a clear, warm and humid ABC Supply Stadium.
“We should have got out of the seventh down one run,” manager Billy Gardner Jr. said. “We just gotta make a play. A couple of (free bases) in there, Meach just didn’t have it tonight. He couldn’t finish a couple of guys off.”
The six-game series is now tied between the two squads at 1-1.
With the Sky Carp ahead 3-2, Peoria loaded the bases off a Tre Richardson walk, Won-Bin Cho single and a hit by pitch from Sammy Hernandez. Pinch hitter Alex Iadisernia sent a two-out single past the shortstop and into left field to put the Chiefs up 4-3.
In the next at-bat, Brayden Jorbert hit a chopper to shortstop Jay Beshears, giving Beloit a chance to get out of the inning with a one-run lead, as Gardner said.
But Beshears one-pumped his throw before sending the ball into the dirt and past first baseman Brock Vradenburg, allowing Hernandez to score. Brody Moore’s RBI single made it 6-3 before a ground out ended the big frame.
It was one of four errors, three from Beshears, on the night for Beloit, which allowed three unearned runs.
“Uncharacteristic for us,” Gardner said. “We've done a pretty good job defensively taking care of the baseball. It's tough to win when you walk six guys and make four fielding errors.”
It was also an atypical outing for Meachem, who came into the night with a 2.04 ERA.
“He’s done good for us all year in high-leverage situations. He just didn’t finish guys off,” the manager repeated. “He had a (1-2) count against Iadisernia, and the ball just found a hole. A bit unlucky there.”
It spoiled a solid six frames tossed by Noble Meyer and Alex Williams, who worked around trouble in practically every frame.
Richardson put Peroia in front 1-0 in the first when his single into left scored Darlin Morquete, who had singled. But Chase Davis, who had walked, was thrown out trying to advance to third as Mark Coley sent the ball home, where catcher Ryan Ignoffo snatched it and fired it to Beshears.
Meyer loaded the bases with one out in the second behind two walks and a hit batter. Moore flew out, but Morquete drew a base on balls to make it 2-0 before Meyer got a strikeout to leave the bags full.
He stranded a runner at second in both the third and fourth as he finished with two earned runs on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
“Four walks, you don’t want that from him at all,” Gardner said. “But in the last two innings he was sharp. His breaking ball was sharp and he threw some really good changeups.”
Williams worked around two hits and a walk with four strikeouts in two innings, stranding a runner in scoring position both times.
Beloit had cut into the lead in the third when Mark Coley was hit by a pitch then used his speed to steal second and score on Gage Miller’s single to left.
Kemp Alderman doubled in the fourth and Wilfredo Lara tied the game with his single into center.
Coley used his sprinting abilities again in the fifth as he singled and swiped both second and third before scoring on Miller’s sacrifice fly to left.
“Our coordinator Angel (Espada) is always encouraging me to run, be aggressive and put myself in scoring position,” Coley said. “I have the speed where I can be able to turn a single into a double or a triple and just put pressure on the defense and allow my team to score me without having to get many hits.”
Beloit knocked Peoria starter Inohan Paniagua for three runs on five hits in five innings but was shutout over the final four frames by Tyler Bradt and Osvaldo Berrios, who allowed just one hit.
“They switched up how they approached our hitters,” Coley said.”They were a little more fastball heavy, early on with the breaking ball, and we just didn't adjust well enough.”
Lara had two hits for Beloit, which was outhit 11-6. Moore, Davis and Cho each had two for the Chiefs.
Despite the setback, the Sky Carp (26-30 in the second half) are 6-4 in their last 10 games and currently are four games back from a playoff spot, which the Quad Cities River Bandits currently hold at 30-26. Peoria (29-27) also sits in between Beloit and the playoff spot, making this series all the more crucial.
With 10 total games left in the season, the Sky Carp will have to try and stack wins in order to take over the postseason berth.
“This is why you play baseball,” Coley said. “It’s the push for September. Us, Quad Cities, Peoria, we’re all in the running. The ball is in our court, and we play to win.”
The two squads continue the six-game series on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at ABC Supply Stadium.
• BOXSCORE:
PEORIA 7, BELOIT 3
Peo..110 000 410 — 7 11 1
Bel....001 110 000 — 3 6 4
PEORIA (ab-r-h-rbi) — Moore, ss, 6-0-2-1; Moquete, dh, 5-1-1-1; Davis, cf, 4-1-2-0; Richardson, 2b, 4-1-1-1; Cho, rf, 5-1-2-0; Paige, 3b, 4-1-1-0; Hernandez, c, 2-1-0-0; Kretschmar, lf, 3-0-0-0; Iadisernia, ph-lf, 2-1-1-2; Jobert, 1b, 4-0-1-0. Totals: 39-7-11-5.
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Shade, cf, 4-0-0-0; Miller, dh, 3-0-1-2; Ignoffo, c, 3-0-0-0; Alderman, rf, 4-1-1-0; Lara, 2b, 4-0-2-1; Cappe, 3b, 4-0-1-0; Vradenburg, 1b, 4-0-0-0; Beshears, ss, 3-0-0-0; Coley, lf, 2-2-1-0. Totals: 31-3-6-3.
E: Richardson, Beshears 3, Coley. DP: Peo 1. LOB: Peo , Bel 4.2B: Paige, Moore, Davis, Alderman. SF: Miller. SB: Jobert 2 (2), Cho (11), Coley 3 (28). CS: Cappe.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Peo, Paniagua 5.0-5-3-3-1-6; Bradt (W,4-3) 3.0-0-0-0-0-4; Berrios 1.0-1-0-0-0-1. Bel, Meyer 4.0-4-2-2-4-4; Williams 2.0-2-0-0-1-4; Meachem (L,1-4) 1.0-3-4-2-1-1; Storm 2.0-2-1-0-0-5.
WP: Williams, Storm. Balk: Baniagua, Storm. HBP: Hernandez by Meyer; Herandnez by Meachem; Coley by Paniagua.
T: 2:42. Att.: 1,172.
Most Popular
Comments / 0