Wisconsin Scores Twice in the Ninth to Beat Fort Wayne

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had one hit through eight innings and trailed the Fort Wayne TinCaps 2-1 heading to the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. The Rattlers weren’t fazed, and they rallied for two runs to beat the TinCaps 3-2.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

Zavier Warren gave the Timber Rattlers (15-10) a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning. The frame started with Tristan Peters and Tyler Black drawing walks. Joe Gray Jr hit a deep fly to left and Peters was able to tag and take third to set up Warren.

Fort Wayne (12-13) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third inning on a walk and two singles. Then, Justin Lopez hit a grounder to first and the throw to the plate was off target to allow the tying run to score.

Wisconsin starting pitcher Justin Jarvis scattered six hits and three walks over five innings in the game. In the first four games of the series, Wisconsin starters have allowed one run over 22 innings pitched.

The Rattlers knocked Fort Wayne starting pitcher Efraín Contreras out of the game after the first inning. He was making his first appearance in a game since September 2, 2019 and made thirty pitches while walking three batters in the bottom of the first.

Fort Wayne’s relievers stifled the Wisconsin offense through the eighth inning. The only hit for the Rattlers before the ninth was a lead-off single by Alex Hall in the fifth.

The TinCaps broke the 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth. Jack Stronach drew a leadoff walk against reliever Kent Hasler. The first out was recorded by Hasler on a strikeout but an error on a grounder off the bat of Adam Kerner put runners at first and second. Ripken Reyes was next, and he sent a grounder back to the mound that Hasler knocked down and got the force at second. However, Reyes was able to beat the throw to first and keep the inning alive. Rosier hit a sharp grounder to first that Wes Clarke dove and kept on the infield, but the ball trickled away from him and Stronach scored on the infield single by Rosier for a 2-1 lead.

On Thursday night, Fort Wayne broke a 1-1 game open with three runs in the top of the ninth inning and had to hold off a Wisconsin rally in the bottom of the ninth as the Rattlers scored twice and had the bases loaded with two outs before falling short in a 4-3 loss. The TinCaps were unable to hold off the Rattlers on Friday night.

Gray started the bottom of the ninth with a single and Warren cracked a double to left-center to put the tying and winning runs in scoring position with no outs. Clarke drew a walk and ball four from reliever Nick Thwaits was wild to let Gray score the tying run and move Warren to third with the winning run. The TinCaps elected to walk Carlos Rodríguez to load the bases and replace Thwaits on the mound with Luke Boyd to face Ethan Murray.

The third pitch from Murray was wild and Warren scored easily to give the Rattlers their fifth walkoff win of the season. This was the second time the Rattlers have won a game this year on a walkoff wild pitch with Warren scoring the winning run.

Game five of the series is Saturday afternoon. Russell Smith (0-1, 6.60) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Fort Wayne has named Danny Denz (0-1, 9.64) as their starter. Game time is 1:10pm.

The Timber Rattlers will celebrate baseball’s Hispanic Heritage by transforming into Los Cascabeles de Wisconsin with some amazing bright orange jerseys and a fun logo for this game. This is the first of three Hispanic Heritage games this season and this one has a unique Paint-Your-Our Sugar Skull Bobblehead as a giveaway for the first 1,000 fans courtesy of DiGiorno. There will also be other celebrations of Hispanic culture throughout the day, including an appearance by a charming Miracle Keeper and an enchanting Flower Princessa.

Family Day is courtesy of Stacey Hennessey Century 21 Affiliated and 101.1 WIXX featuring Kids Run the Bases for children twelve and under courtesy of Meijer after the game.

If you can’t make it out to the stadium, there are several ways to follow the action. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and on internet audio starting with the pregame show at 12:50pm. The game is also available on MiLB.tv.