Chirinos Blasts Rattlers Past Beloit
GRAND CHUTE, WI – Jesús Chirinos saved the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from a tough defeat at the hands of the Beloit Sky Carp on Saturday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Beloit rallied from a 5-0 deficit to take a 7-5 lead in the top of the ninth. Then, Chirinos played
GRAND CHUTE, WI – Jesús Chirinos saved the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from a tough defeat at the hands of the Beloit Sky Carp on Saturday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Beloit rallied from a 5-0 deficit to take a 7-5 lead in the top of the ninth. Then, Chirinos played the hero by cracking a three-run, walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the Rattlers to an 8-7 victory.
Click here for the scoring plays
The Rattlers (25-13) had the lead from almost the very start of the game. Luis Lara reached on an error to start the bottom of the first inning and Wisconsin made the Sky Carp pay for the miscue. Beloit starter Ike Buxton hit Dylan O’Rae to put two runners on base. Gregory Barrios followed with a single to left to score Lara. The throw home was off line and that allowed both O’Rae and Barrios to move into scoring position.
Matt Wood scored O’Rae and moved Barrios to third with a ground out. Luke Adams drove in Barrios with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Alexander Cornielle, the Wisconsin starter, tossed five scoreless innings. He allowed two hits, hit two batter, and struck out four. In his last three starts, Cornielle has pitched eighteen shutout innings with seventeen strikeouts.
Barrios added with the Rattlers advantage with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning.
It's Gregory's game and the Sky Carp are just playing in it.
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) May 18, 2024
2-for-3, R, 2B, 3 RBI - League-leading 13th double of the season 🔥
Top 6
T-Rats 5 | Sky Carp 1#tratnation pic.twitter.com/3ewcVyyNwC
Beloit (18-19) started their comeback in the sixth inning against reliever KC Hunt as Jake DeLeo drove in a run with a two-out double.
Hunt pitched a perfect seventh but had issues finding the final out in the eighth. The Sky Carp had runners on second and third with one out and Torin Montgomery grounded out to short to drive in one run. DeLeo made it 5-3 with an RBI single. Sam Praytor cut Wisconsin’s lead to a single run with a double to the gap in right-center. Hunt got his fifth strikeout of the game to end the inning with the Rattlers still in the lead.
Yerlin Rodriguez, who was 5-for-5 in save opportunities coming into Saturday went out for the top of the ninth to face the top of the Beloit order. He got the first out before giving up singles to Jake Thompson and Mark Coley II. Josh Zamora, who had homered in the previous two games in the series, singled to right and it looked like the bases would be loaded with one out. However, Eduarqui Fernández misplayed the ball to allow Thompson and Coley to score to give the Sky Carp a 6-5 lead.
Montgomery added an insurance run for Beloit with a two-out, infield single that trickled up the third base line to score Zamora from third.
The Timber Ratters had to come back in the bottom of the ninth against Josh Ekness, a right-hander with a high-90s fastball who had allowed just one run and struck out 24 in seventeen innings between the Florida State League and Midwest League this season.
Tayden Hall started the rally by drawing walk with one-out, only the fourth walk by Ekness this season. Terence Doston kept the rally going when he dropped a single into center on a 1-2 pitch to set the stage for Chirinos.
Ekness got ahead of Chirinos with two quick strikes. Then, he missed his location on his 0-2 pitch and Chirinos didn’t miss the opportunity. Chirinos crushed the hanger out of the stadium for his second home run of the season to give Wisconsin an 8-7 victory.
"SWING, DRIVE, LEFT FIELD"... 💣 3-Run WALK-OFF HOMER from Jesús Chirinos! 💪 #tratnation #timberrattlers #walkoff #milb pic.twitter.com/SnYgdWbDoJ
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) May 18, 2024
The walkoff homer by Chirinos was the first by a Timber Rattler since Joey Wiemer hit a three-run walkoff home run to beat Beloit 7-5 on September 5, 2021.
The victory by the Rattlers clinched a series win over the Sky Carp with four wins in the first five games of the series with one game left between the teams this weekend.
Sunday afternoon is the series finale for the Rattlers and Beloit. DL Hall is scheduled to make the start for the Timber Rattlers on a Major League rehabilitation assignment from the Milwaukee Brewers. Alex Williams (1-2, 8.18) is set to start for the Sky Carp. Game time is 1:10pm.
The walkoff homer by Chirinos was the first by a Timber Rattler since Joey Wiemer hit a three-run walkoff home run to beat Beloit 7-5 on September 5, 2021.
The victory by the Rattlers clinched a series win over the Sky Carp with four wins in the first five games of the series with one game left between the teams this weekend.
Sunday afternoon is the series finale for the Rattlers and Beloit. DL Hall is scheduled to make the start for the Timber Rattlers on a Major League rehabilitation assignment from the Milwaukee Brewers. Alex Williams (1-2, 8.18) is set to start for the Sky Carp. Game time is 1:10pm.
The Freshmen series of bobbleheads begins with a Garrett Mitchell collectable on Sunday courtesy of Pepsi for the first 1,000 fans to attend the game. This is also a Brewers Sunday with 107.5, The Fan and Timber Rattlers players are set to wear their 2024 Brewers-themed jerseys and caps. Catch on the Field is presented by TruGreen from noon to 12:30pm to allow fans to get on the outfield – weather permitting – to play catch. Players will be available for autographs with fans in a postgame autograph session courtesy of Fox Cities Cards.
If you can’t make it out to the ballpark, there are several ways to catch the action. The game will be televised on tv-32 starting at 1:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 12:50pm. Fans can also listen to the audio on the internet or watch the game on the Bally Live App.