Rattlers Drop 5-2 Decision to Peoria

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Peoria Chiefs beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5-2 on Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Mike Antico broke a 2-2 tie with a solo home run in the top of the seventh and the Chiefs added on to their lead. The Rattlers are 5-9 in fourteen games with the Chiefs this season.

Click here for the boxscore of this game

Peoria (21-29) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the second inning against starting pitcher Max Lazar. Tommy Jew knocked in the runner from third with a sacrifice fly.

Wisconsin (30-20) took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Tristan Peters singled to start the frame. Arbert Cipion hit the first pitch of his at bat into the Peoria bullpen for his first Timber Rattlers home run and the Rattlers were up 2-1. Wisconsin would get two more hits in the inning, but a close play on a force out at second got the final out of the frame for the Chiefs. The Timber Rattlers offense would be held to three hits after the second inning.

Peoria tied the game in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Francisco Hernandez. The inning started with a walk and a single against Wisconsin reliever Miguel Guerrero. Then, Hernandez drove in the tying run with his single. Guerrero was able get the next batter to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to slow the momentum of the Chiefs. A walk put runners at the corners before Guerrero got the final out.

Antico put the Chiefs back in front in the top of the seventh inning. He hit a deep drive towards the Timber Rattlers bullpen. The ball hit the very top of the wall and bounced into the Wisconsin bullpen for a solo home run and a 3-2 Peoria lead.

The Chiefs added an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Noah Mendlinger. They would tack on one more run in the ninth on a two-out, RBI double from Todd Lott.

The Timber Rattlers dropped to two games behind the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the first half Wester Division playoff race with their loss. Cedar Rapids won 8-5 at Lansing on Saturday night to move their record to 32-18. They are now two games up Wisconsin with sixteen games remaining in the first half.

The series finale between the Rattlers and Chiefs is Sunday afternoon. Justin Jarvis (3-2, 4.93) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Zane Mills (0-2, 7.45) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 1:10pm.

Sunday is the final game of Udder Tuggers Weekend. Players and coaches will wear the 2022 Wisconsin Udder Tuggers jerseys for the final time on Sunday. The jerseys are in a pair of online auctions at this link with two different end times on Sunday night (6:30pm and 7:00pm CDT). Proceeds from the auction go to Timber Rattlers Give Back, the official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of the team.

Udder Tuggers weekend wraps up with a cow-patterned travel mug giveaway for the first 1,000 fans courtesy of BOLDT.

Brewers Sunday with 107.5, The Fan features an appearance by former Milwaukee Brewer Jeff Cirillo, who will be available to meet fans and sign autographs from 11:30am to 12:30pm. Get your autograph with Jeff Cirillo early and play catch on the field before the game from noon to 12:30 courtesy of Chick-fil-A. If you stay after the game, Timber Rattlers players are available for autographs courtesy of Tundraland.

If you can’t make it out to Neuroscience Group Field for the game, there are several ways to follow the Timber Rattlers action. The radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM and internet audio is set to start with the pregame show at 12:50pm. The game will be televised on CW-14 starting at 1:00pm. The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.tv.