Rattlers Deal Great Lakes a Hall of Pain

MIDLAND, MI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got a big game from Alex Hall and from their pitching staff to defeat the Great Lakes Loons 4-2 at Dow Diamond on Wednesday night. Hall had three of Wisconsin’s five hits, had a hand in all four of their runs, and was behind the plate for three Rattlers pitchers, who recorded thirteen strikeouts.

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Great Lakes (62-54) took the lead in the bottom of the first as they scored two runs on three doubles. Eddys Leonard started the inning with a double. Jorbit Vivas knocked in Leonard with a one-out double. Ryan Ward followed with another double and the Loons were up 2-0. That would be all the scoring for Great Lakes on the night.

Wisconsin (56-59) tied the game in the top of the third inning. Chad McClanahan drew a walk. Hall was next and he cracked a home run to right. Hall’s first homer as a Timber Rattler evened the score 2-2.

Rattlers starting pitcher Brandon Knarr settled in after the first inning and worked through the fifth without allowing another run. He gave up five hits, walked one, and struck out four in the game.

The Loons pitchers held Wisconsin hitless after the home run by Hall in the third inning until Hall singled with one out in the eighth off reliever Lael Lockhart.

That single was followed by a walk to Sal Frelick and Lockhart was pulled in favor of Michael Hobbs, who got the second out of the inning. That brought Joey Wiemer, who had homered in the eighth inning on Tuesday night to break a 3-3 tie and send the Rattlers to a win, to the plate.

Hobbs walked Wiemer on five pitches to load the bases. Zavier Warren stepped in and walked on a 3-2 pitch to force in Hall with the go-ahead run.

Cristían Sierra relieved Knarr to start the sixth and struck out six over 2-1/3 scoreless innings. He walked Vivas with one out in the bottom of the eighth and was relieved by Nash Walters. Walters retired both batters in the eighth and maintained the one-run lead.

Carlos Rodríguez started the top of the ninth inning with a single and was at second with two outs. Then, Hall delivered one more time with a single to left to score Rodríguez with an insurance run.

Walters went back out for the bottom of the ninth and struck out the first two batters he faced. Ryan January extended the game with a double off the wall in left. Walters got pinch-hitter Sam McWilliams to ground out to third to end the game and pick up his second save of the season.

In the race for the Wild Card spot in the High-A Central League, the Lake County Captains have caught the Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Loons remain one game behind both the Captains and Kernels. Cedar Rapids entered the day with a one-game lead over Lake County and Great Lakes. The Captains beat Beloit 8-6 at home earlier in the day on Wednesday. The Kernels lost 2-1 at Peoria on Wednesday night. Cedar Rapids and Lake County are each 63-53. Great Lakes is 62-54. There are four games left in the season.

Game three of the series is scheduled for Friday night at Dow Diamond. Joey Matulovich is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Loons have named Jesus Vargas as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:05pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM 1280, WNAM and on internet audio with the pregame show at 5:45pm. The game is also available on MiLB.tv.