BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers needed the win over the Beloit Snappers on Tuesday night for their third straight win over their in-state rivals and they got it. Wisconsin rallied from an early deficit to beat Beloit 8-3 at Pohlman Field and pick up another game on the
BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers needed the win over the Beloit Snappers on Tuesday night for their third straight win over their in-state rivals and they got it. Wisconsin rallied from an early deficit to beat Beloit 8-3 at Pohlman Field and pick up another game on the Western Division Wild Card leaders.
The Snappers (60-59 overall, 28-22 second half) took the lead in the first inning. Nick Allen doubled and stole third to start the inning. Lazaro Armenteros drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Austin Beck grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to score Allen and Beloit was up 1-0.
KJ Harrison brought the game back to even with a lead-off home run in the top of the second inning. The homer was the eleventh of the season for the Wisconsin first baseman.
Beloit loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second inning, but Rattlers starting pitcher Aaron Ashby struck out Armenteros and Beck to end the inning with the game still tied 1-1.
Wisconsin (58-62, 27-24) took the lead in the top of the third inning with three runs. Jay Feliciano reached on an error and Gabriel García walked and they both moved up a base on a wild pitch with one out. Zach Clark drove in both with a double to right-center. Eddie Silva followed with an RBI single to score Clark and extend his hitting streak to eleven games.
The Rattlers expanded their lead with three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Gilbert Lara started the inning with a double. Feliciano drove in Lara with a one-out double. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases and chased starting pitcher Jhenderson Hurtado from the game.
Clark was the first Rattler to face reliever Bryce Conley and he sent a slow grounder to third to score Feliciano. The throw to first pulled the first baseman off the base and Clark was safe to keep the bases loaded. Harrison reached on an infield single to send García across the plate for a 7-1 lead.
Ashby pitched a scoreless fourth and struck out the first two batters he faced in the fifth, but he could not get out of the inning after walking Beck, committing a balk, allowing a RBI single to Hunter Hargrove, and walking Logan Farrar. Christian Meister had to enter the game and he got the final out.
Conley kept the Rattlers in check through the eighth inning. He allowed one hit and struck out seven over his 4-2/3.
The Rattlers offense came alive again in the ninth after Conley left the game. Darren Seferina hit a tape-measure home run off Nick Highberger to start the inning and the Rattlers were up 8-2. Harrison stepped to the plate later in the inning needing a triple for the cycle. He would settle for a single for his first four-hit game of the season.
Michael Petersen gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-out single by Hargrove, but he ended the game with his seventh strikeout. Petersen pitched the final three innings to earn his fourth save of the season.
The victory allowed the Rattlers to pull to within 1-1/2 games of the Snappers for the Second Half Western Division Wild Card. There are nineteen games left in the season for Wisconsin.
The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with the first game of a three-game series at Community Field against the Burlington Bees on Wednesday night. Wilfred Salaman (0-1, 5.91) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Burlington has named Oliver Ortega (3-5, 3.66) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps.
