Rattlers Drop Final Game of First Half

DAVENPORT, IA - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers All-Star catcher David Fry showed he is more than a catcher in Sunday's game against the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park. He played everywhere on the diamond except the pitcher's mound in the game, a 3-2 loss to the playoff-bound Bandits.
The River Bandits (43-23) took the lead in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out, RBI triple by Trey Dawson.

Wisconsin (31-38) took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Chad McClanahan walked and Connor McVey reached on a bunt single. A ground out moved both runners into scoring position. Brent Díaz got McClanahan home and moved McVey to third with a sacrifice fly to center. Yeison Coca was next and he ripped a triple off the wall in right-center to score McVey and the Rattlers were up 2-1.

Meanwhile Fry was moving around the diamond while the Rattlers were in the field. He started the game at third, moved to short in the second, took second in the third, and wrapped up the infield with an inning at first base in the fourth. Fry moved to the outfield from there and played left in the fifth, center in the sixth, and right in the seventh.

The Rattlers had a chance to add to their lead in the top of the sixth inning as McVey and Je'Von Ward drew walks with one out, but they were left stranded.

Anthony Bender entered the game in the bottom of the seventh as Wisconsin's fifth pitcher of the game and gave up a lead-off single. That was cleaned up as the Rattlers turned a 5-4-3 double play. Michael Wielansky extended the inning with a single to bring Ross Adolph to the plate.

Bender got ahead of Bender with two quick strikes, but Adolph cracked the next pitch over the wall in right-center for a two-out, two-run homer and the River Bandits were up 3-2.

Fry completed his tour by catching the bottom of the eighth inning. In a statistical quirk, Fry did not record an out or an assist at any of his defensive positions during the game. In a quirk from something out of a screenplay, Fry had a chance to send the game to the bottom of the ninth when the Rattlers tried to rally in the top of the ninth. 

Brice Turang kept the game alive by drawing a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch from Jose Alberto Rivera. Korry Howell followed with a sharp single to right to put runners at the corners and bring Fry to the plate.

However, Rivera struck out Fry to end the game. Rivera had eight strikeouts in three scoreless innings for the win.

Wisconsin left ten runners on base in the game and were just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The only Timber Rattler to ever play all nine positions in a game was Craig Kuzmic, who did that on September 6, 1999.

Fry, Turang, Jesús Lujano, Logan Gillaspie, and Adam Hill are all heading for the Midwest League All-Star Game at Four Winds Field in South Bend, Indiana. The game will be played on Tuesday, June 18 at 6:35pm CDT.
The rest of Timber Rattlers are off for the All-Star Break for the next three days. The whole team will start the second half schedule against the Clinton LumberKings at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday night as the Wisconsin Udder Tuggers as part of Salute to Cows Night! First pitch on Thursday is 7:05pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:45pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet