Chiefs fend off Nuts’ late rally, 7-4

LANSING, Mich. – Andrew Williamson led off the game with a home run, Anyelo Encarnación went 4-for-4 with a single, double and two triples, and the Peoria Chiefs (24-27, 56-61) held off the Lansing Lugnuts (22-29, 51-64), 7-4, in front of a Friday night crowd of 6,268 at JacksonⓇ Field™.

Catcher Bryan Arendt went 2-for-3 with a walk, single and a three-run homer for Lansing, which had won the first three games of the series.

Bryan Arendt smashes his first High-A home run, and the Nuts are back in the ballgame! pic.twitter.com/zgYLEyPciw

— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 22, 2026

The Chiefs spent the first six innings building up a 5-1 lead thanks to Williamson’s homer and a Tristan Bissetta RBI single in the first, a Williamson sacrifice fly in the fourth, a Jalin Flores RBI single in the fifth, and a Ryan Weingartner RBI double in the sixth.

The Lugnuts had only one hit through five innings – an Arendt single in the fourth. In the sixth, Jake Reinisch and Jared Davis drew walks from Chiefs reliever Rubén Menes, bringing Arendt to the plate. On the first pitch of the at-bat, the North Carolina native sent a 409-foot, three-run blast to left field to cut the deficit to one. It was his first High-A home run.

“It was very cool just to see the ball go out of this ballpark, and have it be just a three-run homer was, it was pretty surreal,” Arendt said. “It was a really good feeling.”

But the Chiefs fired back with a two-run eighth, powered by an Anyelo Encarnación RBI triple and an Andrew Williamson RBI double, and stifled the Lugnuts’ offense to seal the win.

In his first start of the season, Jose Dicochea finished three innings, allowing four hits, two runs and three walks with three strikeouts. Dicochea rebounded from the first inning, in which he surrendered two hits, two walks and both of his runs.

“I think at first it was kinda just almost jitters you could say, just anxious to get out there, cause’ I settled in, let the defense work behind me,” Dicochea said. “Everything kinda went to plan after that.”

“Just getting the fastball back up in the zone and away,” catcher Arendt said about Dicochea settling in. “He was just leaving a couple middle there in that first inning, and other than that, he locked back in.”

Riley Huge pitched two innings, giving up five hits and two runs before handing the mound to Tzu-Chen Sha. Sha fired two innings, allowing four hits, three runs and one walk with two strikeouts, and Abel Mercedes finished the game by blanking the Chiefs in the final two innings.

Reinisch drew three walks to extend his team-high on-base streak to 32 games.

Jorge Marcheco gets the start for Lansing on Friday, opposing Chiefs’ right-hander Jacob Odle. Lansing will celebrate its hispanic/latino community as it hosts Fiesta Locos, with live music, food vendors and a pre-game plaza party.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m., and the first 1,000 fans will receive a Sugar Skull bobblehead giveaway. It is also Faith and Family Night, and LAFCU fireworks are planned for after the game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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