PEORIA, IL – The Chiefs tied a franchise single-game record with seven home runs, including two apiece from José Suárez and Tre Richardson III, on Wednesday night en route to an 11-4 victory over Beloit at Dozer Park.
The seven longballs tied a mark achieved on May 20 last season against Dayton.
After the Chiefs allowed just one run in Tuesday’s double-digit victory, Beloit struck first in the opening inning. Peoria starter Ty Van Dyke walked two batters before Chase Jaworsky launched a three-run homer to give the Sky Carp an early 3-0 lead.
After Jalin Flores drew a walk against Beloit left-hander Joey Volini, Suárez crushed a two-run homer to left field to trim the deficit to 3-2.
Suárez struck again in the third inning. Following a Jack Gurevitch hit by pitch, Suárez belted his second two-run homer of the night to put the Chiefs in front 4-3. The blast marked Suárez’s third home run in his last two games and gave Peoria its first multi-homer performance by a player this season.
The Sky Carp tied it up in the fourth when Jacob Jenkins-Cowart doubled in Jaworsky to make it 4-4.
Van Dyke tossed 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on three hits while walking four and striking out a professional career-high seven batters. Jawilme Ramirez faced two batters and recorded the last out of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Richardson III joined the home run parade and knocked a solo homer out to left to give the Chiefs a 5-4 advantage.
Nate Dohm took over in the fifth and pitched the rest of the way for the Chiefs, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out two in four scoreless innings to earn the victory.
Richardson joined Suárez in the two-home run club with a first-pitch leadoff sixth inning long ball to give Peoria a 6-4 lead.
The home run barrage bled into the seventh inning when Won-Bin Cho crushed a leadoff shot to right field to make it 7-4 Chiefs.
In the eighth, Josh Kross connected on a solo homer, and Cade McGee capped the night with a three-run blast to put the Chiefs in front 11-4.
With 81 home runs through 53 games, Peoria is on pace to break the franchise’s single season record of 122, set in 2002 (Yadier Molina hit seven of those home runs).
Peoria, now 26-27, aims for its third straight win in Thursday’s 6:35 affair with the Sky Carp.
Fans can purchase tickets at PeoriaChiefs.com or the Dozer Park box office. Watch the game on MiLB.TV or the Bally Sports Live app, or listen on PeoriaChiefs.com.
