Rattlers’ Late Rally Steals Matinee from River Bandits

Appleton, Wisconsin – For the second-straight game, the Quad Cities River Bandits found themselves on the wrong end of a come-from-behind victory, as they fell to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium.

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Tuesday, the Bandits took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Wednesday, with Spencer Nivens picking up his first RBIs since April and driving in Trevor Werner and Carson Roccaforte with a two-run single.

While those two tallies would be the only Quad Cities would muster against Tate Kuehner, River Bandits’ starter Bend Kudra matched the southpaw’s 6.0-inning day with a quality start of his own. However, Wisconsin would use Luis Lara’s RBI double in the fifth—a fly ball to right field that Jean Ramirez failed to locate in the sun—and Matt Wood’s RBI single in the sixth to tie the game 2-2 in Kudrna’s final two frames.

The deadlock wouldn’t last long though, as Brett Squires put the Bandits back in front in the top of the seventh by launching a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer to right field for his team-leading ninth of the season and his summer’s fourth against Wisconsin.

After Chase Wallace kept the Rattlers off the board with his scoreless inning of relief, Quad Cities swung for the fences again against Stiven Cruz, with Carson Roccaforte swatting a solo shot to right-center field for a 5-2 Bandits’ advantage.

River Bandits’ right-hander Brandon Johnson was tasked with protecting the lead in the eighth, but struggled to find his command. After the Rattlers loaded the bases with one out, the reliever walked Eduarqui Fernandez to plate a run and then surrendered an RBI single to Jheremy Vargas to trim the Bandits’ lead to 5-4.

Natanael Garabitos would then take over for Johnson, but would give up the lead on Luis Lara’s two-run single, which put Wisconsin in front 6-5 for their first and only lead of the game. The right-hander would later get out of another bases loaded jam by getting Jadher Areinamo to bounce into an inning-ending double play, but Quad Cities had no response at the plate in the ninth, going down one-two-three to Aaron Run to end the ballgame.

Despite allowing three runs over 2.0 innings, Cruz (1-1) earned the win for the Rattlers, while Johnson (3-3) was credited with a hold and loss combo, giving up four runs over one out. Rund’s save marked the right-hander’s first of the season.

Quad Cities will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Thursday with Steven Zobac (2-4) scheduled to get the start against Wisconsin’s K.C. Hunt (1-0, 4.50). First pitch at Fox Cities Stadium is set for 6:40 p.m.