Quad Cities Scores Early to Beat Wisconsin
GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Quad Cities River Bandits scored four runs in the first inning and held the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers offense in check to cruise to a 7-2 victory on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Carson Roccaforte drove in four runs to lead the Bandits to their
GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Quad Cities River Bandits scored four runs in the first inning and held the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers offense in check to cruise to a 7-2 victory on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Carson Roccaforte drove in four runs to lead the Bandits to their series-clinching victory.
Click here for the scoring plays
Justin Johnson gave the River Bandits (63-61 overall, 33-26 second half) the lead three pitches into the game with a lead-off home run. Roccaforte added to the Bandits lead later in the inning with a two-run triple. Shervyen Newton drove in Roccaforte with a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Roccaforte tripled again in the top of the third. This one knocked in one run for a 5-0 advantage. Wisconsin starting pitcher Will Rudy would retire the final seven batters he faced. Rudy allowed five runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts over five innings.
Eduardo Garcia got the Timber Rattlers (74-50, 32-26) on the scoreboard with a two-out, solo home run to center in the bottom of the third. The homer was Garcia’s third of the season.
Over the wall ➡️ On the board.#tratnation pic.twitter.com/RjwLdiGRKq
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) September 1, 2024
Aidan Maldonado was activated from the Wisconsin Injured List earlier in the day and he came on to pitch the top of the sixth inning. Trevor Werner doubled to start the inning. Roccaforte singled him home for a 6-1 lead. Maldonado had to escape a bases-loaded one-out jam to keep the game from getting out of hand. He did with a little help from himself and a lot of help from Luis Lara in center field. Maldonado got the second out with a strikeout. Johnson, who hit a grand slam on Thursday night, sent a sinking line drive to center. Lara raced in and made the diving catch for the final out to keep the deficit at five.
It was the second stellar grab of the game for Lara, who has made numerous spectacular catches this season while patrolling the outfield for the Rattlers. He also robbed Johnson of extra bases in the second inning with a grab just before crashing into the fence in front of the Quad Cities bullpen after a long run.
The power of the Lederhosen 💪
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 1, 2024
Luis Lara (@Brewers) makes two inning-ending catches during the @TimberRattlers' Bratoberfest. pic.twitter.com/liy6OcFjCS
The Rattlers nearly took a big bite out of that deficit after Lara’s big defensive play in the sixth inning. They had runners at the corners with two outs against Hunter Patteson and Hedbert Pérez at the plate. Pérez hit a deep drive down the line in right. The ball just barely went foul at the last moment for a long, loud strike. Patteson got Perez to tap out in front of the plate moments later for the third out.
Milwaukee Brewers reliever Enoli Paredes entered the game for the Rattlers in the top of the seventh inning for his second rehabilitation appearance of the series. Spencer Nivens hit a lead-off home run, his eighteenth homer of the season. Jac Caglianone was next, and he tripled. Paredes stranded Caglianone at third with a pair of strikeouts and a popup. In the eighth, Paredes struck out the side on ten pitches.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wisconsin had runners at the corners with no outs after a walk to Ramόn Rodríguez and a single by Pérez. Eduarqui Fernandez got the run home, but it was on a 5-4-3 double play. The next batter was retired for the final out.
Quad Cities maintains their two-game lead over the Peoria Chiefs in the race for the second half West Division playoff spot. The Chiefs won 8-4 at Beloit on Saturday night. There are seven games remaining in the regular season.
The Timber Rattlers have lost four in a row and will try to avoid their first five-game losing streak on Sunday in the series finale. Mark Manfredi (6-2, 3.59) has been announced as the starting pitcher for the Rattlers. Oscar Rayo (5-0, 2.14) is set to start for the Bandits. Game time is 1:10pm CDT.
Sunday is the final Brewers Sunday with 107.5, The Fan of the regular season with players and coaches wearing their Brewers-themed jerseys one more time before the playoffs start. The jerseys are available in an online auction here.
The final home game of the regular season is also Fan Appreciation Day with a Family 4-Pack ticket special: Four box seat tickets; four hot dogs, four sodas, and one parking pass for $40 is available at this link. All fans in attendance will have chances to win prizes in each inning. The first 1,000 fans in the ballpark will receive a team photo poster courtesy of Blue Print Service Company. There is Catch on the Field presented by TruGreen from noon to 12:30pm. The postgame player autograph session for fans is courtesy of Fox Cities Cards. That poster will be perfect for autographs.
If you can’t make it to the ballpark, there are several ways to follow the Timber Rattlers action. The game will be televised on CW-14 starting at 1:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show set to go at 12:50pm. The game is also available on the internet and the Bally Live App.