GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers recorded an amazing, 7-6, come-from-behind victory over the Burlington Bees on Friday Night at Neuroscience Group Field for a three-game sweep. Wisconsin scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth with the final three runs scoring on the most unlikely way
GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers recorded an amazing, 7-6, come-from-behind victory over the Burlington Bees on Friday Night at Neuroscience Group Field for a three-game sweep. Wisconsin scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth with the final three runs scoring on the most unlikely way you may ever see.
Burlington (44-69 overall, 14-30 second half) took advantage of a bout of wildness by Wisconsin starting pitcher Wilfred Salaman to take the lead in the third inning. Salaman walked the bases loaded with one out. He got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but walked Tim Millard to force in a run. That was the end of the night for Salaman, who tossed 79 pitches in just 2-2/3 innings.
JT Hintzen relieved Salaman and got the final out of the inning to keep the deficit at one run.
Wisconsin (55-61, 24-23) rallied for the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Zach Clark and Kenny Corey started the uprising with one-out singles. An errant pickoff throw to second allowed both runners to move up a base. Gabriel García blooped a single over the drawn-in infield to get Clark home with the tying run. Nic Pierre's sacrifice fly knocked in Corey and the Rattlers were up 2-1.
The Bees went right back in front in the top of the sixth inning against Hintzen. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out for Julio Garcia, who singled to right to send two runs across the plate for a 3-2 lead. Torii Hunter Jr. drove in the final run of the inning with a ground out and the Bees had a 4-2 advantage.
Hunter added an insurance run for Burlington with an RBI single against reliever Carlos Herrera in the top of the eighth. They added another insurance run in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Keinner Piña. That was not enough insurance.
Eddie Silva singled to start the bottom of the ninth inning against Anfernee Benitez. KJ Harrison followed with a one-out single to put runners on the corners. Benitez threw a wild pitch to allow Silva to score the first run of the inning before walking Payton Henry. Benitez got the second out, but gave up an RBI single to Kenny Corey that scored Harrison. The hit was Corey's third of the night.
García was the winning run and he drew a walk on four pitches to load the bases and knock Benitez out of the game.
James Ziemba relieved Benitez and got ahead of Pierre with two quick strikes. The next pitch was low and inside and Pierre swung and missed, but the ball popped into foul territory and Pierre took off for first base. The throw to first by Pina for the final out was wild and down the line in right. Henry and Corey scored to tie the game and García raced all the way around to the plate. He dove in headfirst ahead of the throw to score the winning run.
The Timber Rattlers begin a seven-day road trip on Saturday night with a game against the Beloit Snappers at Pohlman Field. Nelson Hernández (10-7, 4.57) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Beloit has named Mitchell Jordan (5-2, 2.39) as their starter. Game time is 7:00pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:40pm. The broadcast is also available on the Tune In and IHeart Radio apps.
