Wisconsin Beats Dragons 4-2 to Take Series

DAYTON, OH - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the Dayton Dragons 4-2 on Friday night at Fifth Third Field. Wisconsin's offense scored single runs in the first three innings to build an early lead and the pitchers made that lead stand for the win.

The Timber Rattlers (44-46 overall, 13-8 second half) took the lead with an unearned run in the top of the first inning. David Fry and Thomas Dillard both singled with two outs to extend the inning. A throwing error on a grounder to third off the bat of Gabriel García allowed Fry to score for the 1-0 lead.

Dayton (36-55, 8-13) rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the first inning. Pabel Manzanero doubled with two outs to drive in Michael Siani from third base.

Connor McVey tripled to start the Wisconsin half of the second inning. Leugim Castillo knocked in McVey with a soft grounder to second and the Rattlers were back in front.
Chad McClanahan added to the Rattlers lead in the third inning with an RBI grounder to score Dillard from third base.

The Dragons had a threat in the fifth inning against starting pitcher Logan Gillaspie as the eight and nine hitters in the lineup start the frame with singles. Siani, the leadoff hitter in the Dayton lineup, was asked to bunt the runners over, but a quick pick up and throw to third by Kekai Rios got the force. Gillaspie struck out the next batter, but walked Jay Schuyler to load the bases for Manzanero.

Gillaspie escaped the jam when he got Manzanero to ground out to third and the Rattlers stayed up 3-1.

Wisconsin added to their lead in the top of the sixth. McClanahan drew a walk to start the inning and McVey bunted him to second base. Kekai Rios followed with a single to right to score McClanahan and Wisconsin was up 4-1.

Gillaspie worked a scoreless sixth inning and turned that three-run lead over to the bullpen. He walked two and struck out four as he scattered six hits to put himself in position for his third win of the season.

Robbie Hitt was the first Wisconsin reliever and he pitched around a one-out single in the seventh inning to extend his current scoreless streak to 14-1/3 innings. Hitt has not allowed a run since May 31.

The Dragons cut into the lead in the eighth inning when Manzanero hit a lead-off homer in the eighth inning against Peter Strzelecki. The right-hander retired the next three batters in order.

Tyler Gillies emphatically closed out the game by striking out the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to collect his second save.

Wisconsin took two of three games in the series at Fifth Third Field to take the series from the Dragons.
The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip on Saturday night with game one of a three-game series against the Bowling Green Hot Rods at Bowling Green Ballpark. Reese Olson (2-5, 5.25) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Bowling Green has named Alan Strong (6-4, 3.33) as their starter. Game time from Kentucky is 6:35pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:15pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.