Rattlers fall to River Bandits at Miller Park

MILWAUKEE, WI - The Quad Cities River Bandits beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 8-3 on Friday night at Miller Park. Quad Cities broke a 2-2 tie with five runs in the sixth inning and went on to the victory.
The River Bandits (5-3) took advantage of a walk and a fielding miscue to score a run in the top of the fourth inning. Enmanuel Valdez drew a walk with one out against reliever Aaron Ashby. Jeremy Pena was next and he sent a liner to left that was dropped by LG Castillo to put two runners on base. Cesar Salazar smacked a single to left to score Valdez and the River Bandits had a 1-0 lead.

David Fry, who had three of Wisconsin's four hits in the game, brought the Rattlers (4-4) back to even in the bottom of the fourth with a lead-off home run to left. Fry's second home run of the season was a towering drive to left that stayed fair.

Quad Cities went back in front in the top of the fifth inning with another Wisconsin error. Ashby gave up an infield single with one out to Jonathan Lacroix. Marty Costes was next and he sent a popup in front of the Wisconsin dugout that Fry could not handle for an error. Costes made the most of his second chance by lining a triple to right-center to score Lacroix.

Wisconsin tied the score again with a single run in their half of the fifth inning. Brice Turang knocked in the tying run with a sacrifice fly

The Bandits took control of the game in the top of the sixth with five runs on five hits. Four of the five hits went for extra bases in the frame. Pena started the rally with a one-out triple. Salazar drove in Pena with a double. Scott Schreiber drove in Salazar with another double. Schreiber would come home on a wild pitch by Ashby. Ross Adolph knocked Ashby out of the game with a ground-rule double and the Bandits were up 6-2.

Trey Dawson capped the inning with an RBI single against reliever Robbie Hitt.

Quad Cities added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning. Pena singled, moved to second on a grounder, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch by Hitt.

Turang and Fry combined to get the Rattlers a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Turang drew a walk and Fry lined a double to the corner in left. Turang raced to the plate all the way from first to cut into the River Bandits lead. But, that was as close as the Rattlers would get.

This was the ninth time Wisconsin has played a game at Miller Park. They are now 4-5 all-time at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The series between the Timber Rattlers and River Bandits is moving to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Saturday and Sunday. Game two of the series is scheduled for a 5:05pm first pitch on Saturday evening. Reese Olson (0-0, 0.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The River Bandits have named Brett Conine (0-1, 7.20) as their starter.

After the game, children 12 and under may run the bases courtesy of Meijer as part of a North Shore Bank Family Day with WIXX.

If you can't make it out to the ballpark, there are several ways to catch the action. The broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 4:45pm. The game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.tv.