Rattlers Drop 6-2 Decision in Davenport

DAVENPORT, IA – The Quad Cities River Bandits are red hot and they continued their run with a 6-2 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. The Timber Rattlers had base runners most of the night, but could not come up with the big hit in this game.

Click here for Saturday's Boxscore

The River Bandits (27-13) took the lead on a fortunate bounce in the bottom of the first inning. Michael Massey hit a flyball to the base of the wall in right-center. Instead of bouncing back to centerfielder Garrett Mitchell, the ball caromed along the warning track towards the right field corner. Massey had nearly reached third base and the ball was retrieved. Massey beat the relay throw to the plate for the inside-the-park home run and a 1-0 lead.

The Timber Rattlers (18-23) rallied to tie the game in the top of the second. LG Castillo singled with one out. He was running with two outs on a pitch to Kekai Rios and Rios cracked a double to right-center. Castillo scored without a play.

In the bottom of the second, Jake Means tripled with one out, but Wisconsin starter Zach Mort retired the next batter and had Jimmy Govern down 1-2 in the count with Means still at third base. However, Govern got a hold of the next pitch and hit a two-run homer to the berm in left-center to put Quad Cities back in front.

Eric Cole added to the lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the third.

Thomas Dillard drove in a run for the Timber Rattlers with a two-out single in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Quad Cities lead down to three runs. Wisconsin loaded the bases with another single, but a strikeout by starting pitcher Anthony Veneziano – his eighth of the game – ended the Wisconsin threat.

Will Klein entered the game in the top of the sixth inning from the Quad Cities bullpen and he worked around a pair of walks and a triple with six strikeouts in two innings to keep the Rattlers in check.

The River Bandits added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a ground ball up the middle that deflected off reliever Taylor Floyd with one out and runners on the corners. Had the ball gone past the mound cleanly it would have been an inning-ending double play with the way the Wisconsin infield was positioned. Instead, the play went for an RBI single by Cole, his third RBI of the game.

Wisconsin did not threaten to score in either the eighth or the ninth against Yohanse Morel, the third River Bandits pitcher of the night.

Dillard led the Wisconsin offense with three hits, a walk, and an RBI. The Timber Rattlers had eight hits and drew six walks in the game, but stranded eleven runners as they lost their fifth straight game.

Quad Cities, the team with the best record in the High-A Central League, won their seventh straight game with Saturday’s victory.

The final game of the six-game series is Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park. Victor Castañeda (1-1, 4.78) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. AJ Block (0-1, 6.75) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 1:00pm. Catch all of the action on AM 1280 WNAM starting with the pregame show at 12:40pm. The game will be available on internet audio and through MiLB.tv, too.