Chiefs Rally Late to Beat Rattlers 7-6

PEORIA, IL – Jesús Lujano, who had one homer in 122 games as a Wisconsin Timber Rattler in 2019, hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs to help the Rattlers take a 6-2 lead over the Peoria Chiefs Friday Night at Dozer Park. But, for the third night in a row, the Timber Rattlers bullpen couldn’t hang on to the lead and the Chiefs rallied for a 7-6 win with three runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth.

Wisconsin (5-5) put together a two-out rally in the top of the first inning against Peoria starting pitcher Michael YaSenka. Carlos Rodríguez started the rally with a two-out triple. Thomas Dillard followed with an RBI double. Korry Howell was next and he singled to left to score Dillard for a 2-0 lead.

Zade Richardson got the Chiefs (4-6) on the scoreboard with a one-out, solo home run in the bottom of the second.

Rodríguez answered for Wisconsin with a one-out, solo home run of his own in the top of the third and the Rattlers had their two-run cushion back.

Lujano added a run to Wisconsin’s lead with a long, solo homer to center field in the fourth inning.

Zach Mort, the Wisconsin starting pitcher, was cruising through the middle innings. He struck out four batters in a row from the end of the fourth to the start of the fifth and had retired seven in a row until he gave up a woo-out, solo home run to Brady Whalen in the sixth. Mort hit the next batter and left the game in favor of Taylor Floyd, who got the final out of the sixth.

Mort allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts and was in line for the win if the bullpen could hold the lead.

Lujano gave the bullpen a little more breathing room in the top of the eighth inning when he cracked his second home of the night. This one was a two-run home run to center and the Rattlers were up 6-2.

Harold Chirino took over in the bottom of the eighth inning and shattered the bat of lead-off hitter Jhon Torres, but Torres reached on an infield single. Then, Malcom Nunez singled to left on a payoff pitch after Chirino got ahead of him 0-2. Pedro Pages was next and he sent a hard grounder to third baseman Yeison Coca. Coca rushed to try to get to third for the force on Torres, but the ball popped out of his glove for an error and the Chiefs had the bases loaded with no outs.

Peoria scored their first run of the inning on a wild pitch by Chirino. Their second run scored on a passed ball against Dillard on a pitch that was ball four to Brady Whalen. That set the Chiefs up with runners at the corners and no outs and only trailing by two.

The Timber Rattlers did get a fortunate play for the first out of the eighth. Brendan Donovan hit a hard, low liner to third and Coca picked it on a short hop. The runners held as they thought the ball had been caught. Pages held at third, Whalen was forced at second, and Donovan beat the throw to first.

Chirino got the second out on a strikeout, but walked the next batter on a 3-2 pitch to reload the bases. Moises Castillo, who had the walkoff hit against Wisconsin on Wednesday night, lined a single to left that scored Pages, but was too hard hit to score Donovan.

Arman Sabouri relieved Chirino and struck out Matt Chamberlain for the final out of the eighth with the Rattlers still up by a run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Torres started the rally and it was with another infield single. He was running on a 1-2 pitch to Nunez and Nunez singled to right to send Torres around to third. Then, Nunez stole second and the Chiefs had the tying and winning runs in scoring position. Sabouri struck out the next batter for the first out, but Whalen lined the very next pitch down the line in right to score both runners and the Chiefs celebrated their second walkoff win over the Rattlers in three nights.

Game five of the series is Saturday night at Dozer Park. Victor Castañeda (1-1, 3.27) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Nathanael Heredia (0-1, 5.40) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 6:35pm. Catch the action on AM 1280 WNAM starting with the pregame show at 6:15pm. The game is also available on internet audio and through MiLB.tv.