Gray and Woessner Lead Rattlers Past Bandits

DAVENPORT, IA – Joe Gray Jr got hot, and Tyler Woessner stayed hot to lead the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 6-1 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits on a chilly Saturday Night at Modern Woodmen Park. Gray went 3-for-5 with two doubles, three RBI, a stolen base, and a run scored for the Wisconsin offense. Woessner allowed one earned run over six innings for his third win in three starts for the Rattlers this season.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

Wisconsin (7-7) scored twice in the first inning to take the early lead. Eduardo García walked with one out to get on base. Gray, who had been 0-for-14 in the first four games of the series, followed with a double off the wall in left to score García. Gray’s double was Wisconsin’s first hit in the first inning and scored their first first-inning run in the series with the Bandits.

A wild pitch by Chandler Champlain put Gray on third and the River Bandits brought their infield in on the grass. Hot-hitting Alex Hall took advantage of the defensive alignment and smacked a single through the fielders to score Gray for a 2-0 lead.

Hall has knocked in seven runs in the series.

Quad Cities (6-7) rallied with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. Woessner walked Jack Pineda with two outs. Then, Pineda stole second. Kale Emshoff followed with a single to left-center to score Pineda.

The Rattlers added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning. Jose Acosta started the frame with a line drive to right-center. Acosta saw a chance to stretch the hit into a double and just beat the throw. Terence Doston moved Acosta to third with a grounder to the right side of the infield. Eric Brown Jr followed with an RBI ground out to score Acosta.

Woessner went six innings for the Rattlers. The only hit that he allowed was the RBI single by Emshoff in the second. Woessner retired the final ten batters he faced after issuing a two-out walk in the third inning. He struck out five and put himself in line for his third victory of the season. Woessner has allowed one earned run in each of his three starts in 2023.

Wisconsin used some small ball to score their first run in the seventh inning. Je’Von Ward walked. Acosta dropped a sacrifice bunt but beat the throw to first for a single. Doston also bunted for a sacrifice, and it worked out as Emshoff’s throw to first was wild. Ward scored and Acosta wound up at third base.

Gray stepped to the plate later in the inning with runners at second and third with two outs. Gray delivered a two-run single to center and the Rattlers were up 6-1.

Brannon Jordan took over for Woessner and pitched a scoreless seventh and a scoreless eighth with four strikeouts. Justin King pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts to close out the game and get Wisconsin back to the .500 mark for the season.

The series finale is set for Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park. Game time is 1:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM 1280, WNAM starting with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 12:40pm and on the internet at this link. The game is also available to subscribers of Bally Live.