Rattlers Win Big in Game One at Quad Cities

DAVENPORT, IA – The game time temperature was nearly 90 degrees on Tuesday night as the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers opened their series with the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park. The rising mercury seemed to help the Rattlers offense as they cranked out sixteen hits, including four home runs, and scored in every inning except the sixth on their way to a 17-4 win. Tristan Peters led the way as he reached base in all six of his plate appearances with a homer, a triple, four walks, and four runs scored.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

Wisconsin (18-10) scored a run in the first inning. Tyler Black singled to start the game with Zavier Warren and Joe Gray Jr drawing walks to load the bases with no outs. Darrien Miller grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but that scored Black for the 1-0 lead.

Ethan Murray doubled the lead with a solo home run in the top of the second.

Quad Cities (11-17) scored a run in the bottom of the second to snap Brandon Knarr’s scoreless innings streak at 13-2/3 innings. Burle Dixon doubled, and Peyton Wilson singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Kale Emshoff drove in Dixon with a sacrifice fly.

Gray crushed a long home run to left-center with two outs in the top of the third inning. Gray’s third homer of the season was a solo shot, and the Rattlers were up 3-1.

The Timber Rattlers poured on the offense in the fourth inning with five runs to take command of the game. River Bandits starting pitcher Tyson Guerrero walked two batters with one out and was replaced by Emilio Marquez.

Carlos Rodríguez and Antonio Piñero greeted Marquez with back-to-back RBI singles. Then, Black hammered a three-run home run to right and Wisconsin was up 8-1. Black’s homer was his first with the Timber Rattlers.

Peters added a solo home run for the Rattlers in the top of the fifth.

Tyler Gentry singled with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to drive in a run for the River Bandits.

Knarr got the final out in the bottom of the fifth and turned the game over to the bullpen. Knarr allowed two runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts to put himself in line for his fourth straight win.

Emshoff hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Cristían Sierra and the River Bandits thought they had a chance on the comeback.

The Wisconsin half of the seventh took that chance at the comeback away from Quad Cities. The Rattlers sent twelve men to the plate and scored six runs to take a 15-4 lead.

Gray started the inning with a double. Darrien Miller followed with an RBI triple, and he would score later on a wild pitch. Three walks loaded the bases and Piñero blooped a single to right to score a run. Black had an infield single to get another run home. After a pitching change, Gray was grazed with a pitch to force in the fifth run of the inning. Miller got another chance in the inning, too, and he walked with the bases loaded.

The Timber Rattlers added one more run in the ninth inning. There was a single and two walks with two outs to load the bases. Murray drew the final walk of the night, unlucky number thirteen for Quad Cities pitching, to force in the final run.

Joey Matulovich, who entered the game from the Wisconsin bullpen to start the seventh inning, worked a perfect eighth inning, and a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

The Timber Rattlers have won four straight games and have matched their high-water mark of the season at eight games over the .500 mark.

Game two of the series is Wednesday evening. Antoine Kelly (1-0, 2.49) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The River Bandits have named Adrian Alcantara (2-1, 3.50) as their starter. Game time is 6:30pm. Game time is 6:30pm with the radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM and internet audio starting at 6:10pm.