Rattlers Drop a Frustrating Heartbreaker in Twelve Innings at Great Lakes
MIDLAND, MI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have lost four-games in a row for the first time in 2024 after a 5-4, twelve-inning loss to the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond on Wednesday night. The nearly four-hour marathon ended as the Loons scored twice in the bottom of the
MIDLAND, MI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have lost four-games in a row for the first time in 2024 after a 5-4, twelve-inning loss to the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond on Wednesday night. The nearly four-hour marathon ended as the Loons scored twice in the bottom of the twelfth inning to rally past the Rattlers.
Click here for the scoring plays
Wisconsin (70-45 overall, 28-21 second half) took the early lead with a run in the third inning. Eduarqui Fernandez walked, and Luis Lara doubled to put runners at second and third with one out. Eduardo Garcia was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Jadher Areinamo drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch from Loons starting pitcher Maddux Bruns to force in Fernandez for the 1-0 lead.
Great Lakes (61-53, 27-21) tied the game in the fourth inning. Sam Mongelli hit a lead-off homer, his sixth home run of the season, to even the score. That was the only run allowed by Wisconsin starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle.
Cooper Pratt responded in the top of the fifth with a one-out, solo home run and the Rattlers were back in the lead. Pratt has hit three home runs since joining the Timber Rattlers. However, this homer was not called a homer until after a discussion of the Dow Diamond ground rules.
It took some discussion, but Cooper Pratt (@Brewers) did go deep!
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 22, 2024
MLB's No. 62 prospect leaves the yard for the 3rd time for the High-A @TimberRattlers and 6th overall. pic.twitter.com/63vB9zo7sN
Cornielle recorded his eleventh strikeout of the game for the second out in the bottom of the fifth inning. However, he gave up a single to the next batter and left the game with 94 pitches under his belt. Cornielle allowed four hits and walked three in the game. His eleven strikeouts in the game are the most by a Timber Rattlers pitcher this season.
Alexander Cornielle went to eleven! Here is his 11th K of the night at Great Lakes on Wednesday! https://t.co/0vGQxbqzie via @milb
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 22, 2024
Bayden Root got a strikeout to end the fifth inning, and a strikeout for the final out of his scoreless sixth.
Chase Costello, who was just activated from the Wisconsin Injured List earlier in the day, entered the game in the bottom of the seventh. Dylan Campbell tied the game with a lead-off homer to right.
The game remained tied through regulation and went to extra innings with neither team scoring in the tenth in very different ways.
The Rattlers got their placed runner to third on a grounder to the right side before a strikeout and a foul out ended the threat. Jeferson Figueroa, the fifth Wisconsin pitcher of the night, faced two batters to keep the game tied. Kyle Nevin, the Loons runner at second to start the bottom of the tenth, tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt on a strikeout of Jake Gelof only to be thrown out on a strong, accurate throw by catcher Ramόn Rodríguez. Then, Figueroa struck out the final batter of the tenth.
In the Wisconsin eleventh, Fernandez put the Rattlers up 3-2 with a one-out, run-scoring double
Figueroa walked the first two batters in the bottom of the eleventh to load the bases. He got the first out on a force play at the plate and the second out on a strikeout, Wisconsin’s 23rd strikeout of the game. That brought Campbell back to the plate and the count went quickly to 3-0. Figueroa fought back with two strikes to get the count full. A foul ball by Campbell extended the drama. The final pitch of the sequence missed low, and Campbell didn’t offer at the pitch to draw the walk to force in the tying run. The inning ended on the 24th and final strikeout of the game by Wisconsin pitchers.
Eduardo Garcia put Wisconsin back in front in the top of the twelfth inning with a lead-off, RBI double to scored Pratt from second base. The hit by Garcia extended his hitting streak to seven games. However, the Rattlers could not push Garcia across the plate with an insurance run and the Rattlers were 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position in the game. They are 5-for-34 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of the series with the Loons.
Great Lakes had been 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position through the first eleven innings. In the twelfth, they became 0-for-14 on a grounder by Nevin that moved the placed runner from second to third. Gelof delivered the Loons first hit with a runner in scoring position with a single to center to drive in the tying run. Mongelli ended the marathon nine minutes before the game hit the four-hour mark when he lined a double to the corner in left on a 2-2 pitch from Figueroa to score Gelof from first base for the 5-4 win.
The 22 strikeouts are most in an extra-innings game by a Timber Rattlers team since at least 2005. The previous high post-2005 for Wisconsin pitcher was twenty strikeouts in a ten-inning game at home against the South Bend Cubs on May 22, 2022.
The Rattlers have lost seven straight games at Dow Diamond dating back to a trip here in the 2022 season.
Wisconsin is now 6-2 in extra-innings this season. Wednesday was just their third walkoff loss in 2024.
Game three of the series is Thursday night at Dow Diamond. Josh Timmerman is scheduled to make his Midwest League debut as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Loons have named Peter Heubeck (2-5, 2.81) as their starter. Game time is 6:05pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show set to go at 5:45pm. The game is also available on the internet and the Bally Live App.