Wisconsin Outlasts Clinton 13-11

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers won the marathon against the Clinton LumberKings on Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. In a game that took nearly 3-3/4 hours to play, the Rattlers rallied past Clinton for a 13-11 victory. David Fry, who had two doubles in the game, provided another key hit for Wisconsin, but everyone contributed in the win.

JD Osborne put the LumberKings (26-25) up 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning with a three-run home run to left.

Wisconsin (24-27) staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead. There were two outs and none on when Antonio Piñero started the rally with a bloop single to right. Korry Howell drew a walk and a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Brice Turang singled to drive in both runs. Fry was hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count. Then, Jesús Lujano singled to score Turang and chase Clinton starting pitcher George Soriano from the game.

Milwaukee Brewers catcher Manny Piña greeted reliever CJ Carter with a single to right to score Fry. Chad McClanahan capped the inning with a single to score Lujano and Wisconsin was up 5-3.

But, Clinton conducted a two-out rally of their own in the top of the fifth to tie the game. Jerar Encarnacion cracked a two-run double off the wall in left-center to chase home two runs to make the score 5-5.

Wisconsin went back in front with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning on an error by the LumberKings.

Piña caught five innings and left after going 1-for-2 with an RBI, a hit batsman, and a strikeout. He will continue his rehabilitation assignment on Thursday as the Rattlers designated hitter. If all goes well Piña catch nine innings on Friday in the final game of his assignment with the Rattlers.

Clinton stormed back to go up 8-6 with three runs in the top of the sixth as they loaded the bases with no outs. Connor Scott sent a deep fly to center off the glove of Howell to score two runs. However, Scott passed the runner at first, who had gone back to first thinking the ball might be caught, and was ruled out. Christopher Torres drove in the final run of the inning with a single, but it wasn't enough for the LumberKings.

The Rattlers responded by loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth. Gabriel García lined a ball off the third base bag for an RBI single Je'Von Ward hit a high chopper off the plate for an infield single to get the tying run home and the score was 8-8.

Scott Sunitsch entered the game for Wisconsin out of the bullpen in the top of the seventh and tossed two scoreless innings to set the stage for the Wisconsin offense in the bottom of the eighth.

Ward started the inning with a single and Piñero followed with a bunt single. Howell moved the runners up a base with a sacrifice bunt and the LumberKings elected to walk Turang intentionally to bring Fry to the plate.

Fry foiled the strategy by lining a double off the wall in left on one-hop to score two runs and put the Rattlers up 10-8. The double was the second of the night and 22^nd of the season for Fry, who leads the Midwest League in doubles.

Brent Díaz, who entered the game defensively for Piña in the sixth inning, stepped up with two on and two out and laced a double to right to score two more runs. Díaz scored later in the inning on an error and the Rattlers were up 13-8.

Chad Whitmer took over for Sunitsch in the top of the ninth and retired the first two batters he faced. However, the next two batters reached on weakly hit grounders for infield singles. Sean Reynolds came to the plate as a pinch-hitter and cracked a three-run homer to left to cut Wisconsin's lead to 13-11.

Whitmer sent the Rattlers home happy by recording a strikeout for the final out of the game to give Wisconsin its second consecutive win over the LumberKings.

Ward and Lujano each had three hits to lead Wisconsin's 17-hit attack.
The final game of the series is Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Adam Hill (5-3, 3.63) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Clinton has named Jake Walters (0-0, 2.57) is set to start for the LumberKings. Game time is 6:35pm.

The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a pair of Toy Story-themed socks courtesy of Stacey Hennessey Century 21 Ace Realty as part of Fang's Toy Night. 

The long-awaited Grand Opening of Brews on Third, the new Craft Beer social gathering space at the end of the third base concourse is happening at 5:30pm on Thursday!   We planned it on Craft Brews and Brats Night presented by Fox River Brewing Company and 105.7 WAPL. Everyone can enjoy Cher-Make brats for just $2 each. Fans of legal drinking age can have a variety of craft brews for $2.

If you can't make it out to the game, you can follow the action on the radio or on the internet. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 6:15pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.