Rattlers Top Peoria 3-1

PEORIA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers won at Dozer Park for the first time in almost a year when the defeated the Peoria Chiefs 3-1 on Thursday Night and Wisconsin starting pitcher Nelson Hernández became the first Midwest League to reach double digits in wins this season.
Peoria (58-43 overall, 19-12 second half) took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Elehuris Montero walked and stole second to start the inning. A grounder to the right side moved him to third with one out. Zach Kirtley drove in Montero with an single to left.

Wisconsin (46-55, 15-17) tied the game in the sixth. Darren Seferina tripled to start the inning. Zach Clark drove in Seferina with a sacrifice fly to even the score.

Those were the only runs allowed by the starting pitchers. Hernández went six innings, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out three. Peoria starter Paul Balestrieri also went six innings and allowed one run on five hits, but he walked one and struck out eight.

The Timber Rattlers took the lead against Peoria starter CJ Saylor in the seventh inning. Gilbert Lara hit a lead-off double, but he was still at second base with two outs. Rob Henry stepped to the plate and delivered a triple off the wall in right to send Lara home with the go-ahead run.

KJ Harrison gave the Timber Rattlers an insurance run by blasting a two-out, solo home run in the top of the eighth. The homer was the tenth of the season for Harrison and it tied him for the team lead in that category.

Robbie Hitt relieved Hernández to start the seventh inning and pitched three scoreless innings for his fifth save of the season.
Hernández picked up the win and became the first pitcher in the Midwest League to reach ten wins on the season. He is also the first Timber Rattlers pitcher to reach ten wins in a season since Tyler Wagner during the 2013 season.

The victory was the first for the Timber Rattlers at Dozer Park since July 30, 2017. Wisconsin had lost twelve straight games in this stadium with nine losses to the Chiefs and three losses to the Kane County Cougars from a series that was moved from Wisconsin to Peoria back in April of this season.
The final game of the series is Friday night at Dozer Park. 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. Subscribers to MiLB.tv can watch the game over the internet.