GENEVA, IL - Thomas Dillard continued his hot hitting and that helped the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers cool off the Kane County Cougars with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field. Dillard snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run in the seventh inning to send the
GENEVA, IL - Thomas Dillard continued his hot hitting and that helped the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers cool off the Kane County Cougars with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field. Dillard snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run in the seventh inning to send the Rattlers to a win that ended the Cougars six-game winning streak.
Wisconsin (51-53 overall, 20-15 second half) scored a run in the top of the second inning to take the lead. Antonio Piñero singled with one out and Brent Díaz was hit by a pitch. Korry Howell followed with a single to score Piñero. The Rattlers would load the bases with one out, but could not push any more runs across the plate in the inning.
Kane County (59-45, 24-11) responded with a run to tie the game in the bottom of the third. Buddy Kennedy started the inning with a double. Dominic Fletcher followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Blaze Alexander lined a double just fair down the line in left to score Kennedy. Fletcher tried to score from first on the play, but a strong relay to the plate from Piñero got Fletcher at the plate to keep the score tied 1-1.
The Rattlers had rallies going in both the fourth and fifth innings as they had two runners on base with one out, but Cougars reliever Ryan Miller escaped both jams with an inning-ending double play in each inning.
There would be no double play in the seventh inning. David Fry started the inning with a single. Dillard was next and he lined a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left for a two-run home run. Dillard has homered in three straight games for the Rattlers and is 7-for-15 during a four-game hitting streak with two doubles, two walks, five runs scored, and seven RBI to go along with his three home runs.
Reliever Max Lazar entered the game in the sixth inning and worked four scoreless while allowing two hits to pick up his fourth win of the season.
The conclusion of play on Sunday marked the halfway point of the second half of the season. Here is a look at the Western Division playoff picture with 35 games remaining in the season. The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Cedar Rapids Kernels are already into the postseason as the first half qualifiers. Kane County leads the division with a 24-11 record. The Clinton LumberKings, who beat Cedar Rapids 5-0 on Sunday, are 22-13 and trail the Cougars by two games. Wisconsin is four games behind the Cougars for the top spot in the division. They are two games behind the LumberKings for the second half Wild Card.
The final game of the series - and Wisconsin's road trip - is Monday night at Northwestern Medicine Field. Logan Gillaspie (3-5, 3.83) is set to start for the Timber Rattlers. Ryan Weiss (6-5, 3.47) has been named as the starter for the Cougars. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:10pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.
