Rattlers Complete the Sweep in Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, IN - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers grabbed an early lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over the Fort Wayne TinCaps Sunday afternoon at Parkview Field. The win gave the Rattlers a three-game sweep of the TinCaps and concluded a successful six-game road trip.
Wisconsin (12-17) used a couple of bunt hits, a blooper, and an error to score a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Zach Clark started the rally with a one-out bunt single. Jay Feliciano's hit a grounder to third with two outs, but the ball was booted and the inning continued. Nick Roscetti dropped in a bloop single to right to get Clark home and send Feliciano to third. Joantgel Segovia was next and he dropped a bunt single up the third base line to knock in Feliciano for a 2-0 lead.

Segovia's hit, the first of his three on the afternoon, extended his current on-base streak to twenty straight games.

The TinCaps (13-17) had opportunities in the second and third innings against Wisconsin starting pitcher Dylan File. In the second, they had runners at first and third with one out when File got the batter to popout to medium left for the second out. Carlos Belen, the runner at third, lost track of how many outs there were and was jogging home. He was easily doubled off third to end the inning.

Fort Wayne had runners at first and second with one out in the third, but File escaped that inning with no damage as well.

The teams exchanged runs in the fourth inning. Gabriel García drove in Devin Hairston with a two-out single and the Rattlers were up 3-0 in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, Belen doubled to start the inning and scored on a two out single by Reinaldo Ilarraza.

Belen brought the TinCaps to within a run with a solo home run off File in the bottom of the sixth.

File went back out for the seventh and gave up a lead-off double to Ilarraza. The next batter bunted Ilarraza to third base and File left the game in favor of reliever Cody Beckman. 

The left-handed Beckman got the first batter he faced to ground out to shortstop Devin Hairston, who was drawn in near the grass. Hairston charged the ball, fielded it, and threw a strike to the plate to get Ilarraza for the second out. However, Beckman put the next two batter on base with a hit batsman and a walk. He would get out of the frame with the Rattlers still in front by one run.

Robbie Hitt took over for Beckman to start the bottom of the eighth inning and retired the TinCaps in order. However, Hitt issued a lead-off walk to Ilarraza to start the bottom of the ninth. A sacrifice bunt moved Ilarraza to second with the tying run. Hitt got the second out of the frame with a popup, but Ilarraza stole third with Jeisson Rosario at the plate.

Rosario ran the count full, but Hitt got Rosario looking at strike three to close out the game and earn his first professional save.

The Timber Rattlers completed the three-game sweep of the TinCaps at Parkview Field and concluded their six-game road trip with a 5-1 record. The Rattlers have won six of their last seven games dating back to a win over Peoria on April 29.

Segovia, who missed the first two games of the road trip after sitting out due to taking a pitch off his helmet on Sunday, returned to the lineup with a vengeance. In the four games he played on the trip, Segovia went 11-for-18 and raised his season average to .402. Segovia has reached base in 23 of 24 games played this season.
The Timber Rattlers return to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium to face the Lansing Lugnuts on Monday night. Christian Taugner (0-4, 4.50) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Zach Louge (3-0, 2.51) is set to start for the Lugnuts. Game time is 6:35pm.
Monday is a Qdoba Q*Monday with NASH-FM. Purchase a lunch entrée at any Qdoba location in Appleton, Neenah, or Oshkosh for lunch on Monday and receive a ticket to any Monday home game during the 2018 season. 

If you can't make it out to the ballpark on Monday, there are several ways to follow the action. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps. Subscribers to MiLB.tv can watch the game over the internet. Monday's game is also the first Timber Rattlers broadcast on Spectrum Sports for fans with Spectrum Cable.