DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers received a strong pitching performance from Adam Hill and a big night from the offense to defeat the Quad Cities River Bandits 9-4 Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Hill worked through the seventh inning and earned his fifth win of the season
DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers received a strong pitching performance from Adam Hill and a big night from the offense to defeat the Quad Cities River Bandits 9-4 Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Hill worked through the seventh inning and earned his fifth win of the season while the hitters rapped eleven hits to score nine runs.
The teams traded runs early in the game. Cesar Salazar drove in a run for the River Bandits with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning. Gabriel García tied the game with a two-out RBI double to left in the top of the second.
Wisconsin (22-25) took the lead in the top of the fifth and the Midwest League's hottest hitter had a hand in the go-ahead run.
The rally started on a double by Yeison Coca. David Fry was next and he doubled to right-center to send Coca home with the go-ahead run. Fry's 19th double of the season extended his current hitting streak to 16 games, the longest streak in the Midwest League this season.
The Rattlers loaded the bases on a walk and a hit batsman and Chad McClanahan drove Fry with a sacrifice fly. Later in the inning, Je'Von Ward padded Wisconsin's lead with a two-out, two-run triple to make it 5-1.
Wisconsin added three more runs in the sixth. Brice Turang started the inning with a single and Coca drew a walk. Antonio Piñero blooped a two-out single to right to score Turang. An errant throw to third in an attempt to get Coca was wild and Coca scored easily while Piñero cruised into second base. McClanahan capped the inning with an RBI single for an 8-1 lead.
Hill shut down the River Bandits after the first inning. He pitched seven innings for a new single-game high as a pro, allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out seven to put himself in position for his fifth win of the season.
Quad Cities (30-15) rallied for three runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning against reliever Robbie Hitt. Jeremy Pena, who had three hits in the game, drove in the first run of the inning with a single. Then, Salazar drilled a two-run double off the wall in right-center and Wisconsin's lead was down to four runs.
García made Wisconsin's lead a bit more comfortable in the top of the ninth by blasting a long home run to left field. It was his fourth home run of the season and the Rattlers were up 9-4.
Victor Castañeda entered the game for the bottom of the ninth inning for Wisconsin. He worked around an error to pitch a scoreless inning to close out the Timber Rattlers victory.
Game three of the series is Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park. Logan Gillaspie (1-0, 2.97) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities has named Luis Garcia (2-0, 3.38) as their starter. Game time is 1:15pm. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM and the TuneIn Radio app starting with the Papa John's Pizza Pregame Show at 12:55pm. MiLB.tv subscribers can watch the game over the internet.
