Rodríguez Shines in Rattlers Win

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers aren’t going anywhere yet. The Rattlers beat the Western Division-leading South Bend Cubs 5-2 on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium to creep just a little bit closer in the playoff race with a month to go in the regular season. Carlos Rodríguez picked up the win in his first home start for the Rattlers with six solid innings.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

A lead-off walk came back to haunt Rodríguez in the top of the fourth inning. The free pass was given to Luis Verdugo. Pablo Aliendo found the gap in right-center with one out for a triple to send Verdugo home with the first run of the game.

Jeferson Quero singled to start the bottom of the fourth inning for Wisconsin’s first hit off South Bend starting pitcher Luis Devers. Then, Devers hit Joe Gray Jr and gave up a single to Ben Metzinger to load the bases with no outs. Jose Acosta sent a fly ball to foul territory in left that was caught for the first out of the inning, but Quero was able to tag and score the tying run.

The Timber Rattlers (56-48 overall, 20-19 second half) took the lead in the bottom of the sixth against Cubs reliever Jarrod Wright. Gray singled with one out and Metzinger followed with a double to right to put runners on second and third. Wright got the second out but threw a wild pitch to let Gray score before he could record the final out.

Rodríguez allowed one run on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts over six innings. He picked up his first Midwest League win and set a new single-game high as a professional for innings pitched with this performance.

Wisconsin added to their lead in the seventh inning with two more runs on sacrifice flies. Reidy Mercado started the rally with a bunt single and Miller followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Jackson Chourio knocked in Mercado and moved Miller to third with a deep fly to center. Then, Zavier Warren lined out to deep left to score Miller for a 4-1 lead.

In the eighth, Wisconsin tacked on a run with a two-out rally. Acosta dropped in a bloop single to left. Then, Piñero doubled to the wall in left-center to score Acosta for a 5-1 advantage.

Taylor Floyd, who relieved Rodríguez to start the seventh inning and had allowed one hit over his first two innings, went back out for the ninth and walked the first two batters he faced. James Meeker was called into the game and allowed an infield single to load the bases. Jonathan Sierra followed with a broken-bat single to score a run to make the score 5-2. That put the tying run on base and brought the lead run to the plate for South Bend (58-47, 24-15).

Meeker got the first out on a force out at the plate. However, that brought Pete Crow-Armstrong, the #4 prospect in the Chicago Cubs organization, to the plate.

Crow-Armstrong and Meeker battled to a full count before Meeker got a swing and miss for strike three on the ninth pitch of the at bat. Meeker closed out the game for his tenth save by striking out Fabian Pertuz on a 3-2 pitch.

Meeker works his magic for the East Wisconsin Savings Bank #SAVE 😀🪄

'Saves’ are presented by East Wisconsin Savings Bank “ Teaching Kids to save is such a game-changer!” https://t.co/M0CWOJ3BxZ pic.twitter.com/S1Uw8pG5Vq

— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 12, 2022

The Beloit Sky Carp won their game on Thursday night with a 4-2 comeback win against the West Michigan Whitecaps. That allowed the second-place Sky Carp to pull to within three games of the Cubs. The Rattlers are four games behind South Bend. There are 27 games remaining in the regular season.

Game four of the series is Friday night. Zach Mort (5-3, 4.38) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. South Bend has named Kohl Franklin (1-6, 8.55) as their starter. Game time is 6:40pm.

Fang, the Timber Rattlers mascot, celebrates his birthday on Friday night. If you are one of the first 1,000 fans to attend this game, you will receive a bobblehead of Fang playing kickball courtesy of Dairy Queen. Speaking of kickball there is a pregame kickball game starting at 5:40pm featuring Fang and all his mascot friends, including Bernie Brewer, Whiffer, and many more.

Bring a non-perishable food item as a donation to St. Joe’s Food Pantry and you will receive a piece of Fang’s Birthday Cake!

Make sure the kids stop at the Touch a Truck display presented by Boldt and AAA on the way into the stadium to get close to and learn about police cars, fire trucks, tow trucks, and other community vehicles.

Fans of legal drinking age may purchase Arty’s Supper Club Cocktails for half-price as part of a Supper Club Friday from Arty’s and 101.1 WIXX once they are inside.

Johnson Financial Group presents postgame fireworks, and after the fireworks, children twelve and under may run the bases courtesy of Menasha Corporation.

If you can’t make it out to the ballpark, the radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and internet audio starting at 6:20pm. The game is also available on MiLB.tv for subscribers.