Bees get all they need in the fourth inning
Burlington (74-62 overall, 29-36 second half) busted the scoreless game wide open in the fourth inning by scoring six runs on four hits. The frame started with Royce Consigli reaching on an error. A walk to Josh Whitaker followed to put two runners on base for Burlington.
AJ Kirby-Jones cracked the first pitch of his at bat off the top of the wall in left-center for a two-run double for a 2-0 lead. That was the first hit of the game for the Bees off Rattlers starting pitcher Del Howell.
Douglas Landaeta followed with a single that put runners on the corners. Wade Kirkland was next and he cracked an RBI single. John Nester continued the scoring in the inning with another two-run double to put the Bees up 5-0.
Later in the inning, Nester scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyreace House to cap the scoring and give the Bees a 6-0 lead.
Burlington starting pitcher Jonathan Joseph ran into a jam in the sixth inning as the Rattlers (66-70, 28-38) loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but a strikeout got him out of the frame.
Joseph would not escape the seventh inning. Brandon Macias doubled and would score on a single by Reggie Keen. Then, Keen made a little history.
The Rattlers centerfielder stole second to record his fortieth steal of the season. Keen is just the fifth Timber Rattlers player in franchise history to steal 40 or more bases in a single season.
The next two batters reached in the frame to load the bases against Joseph again. Max Peterson came out of the bullpen and gave up a sacrifice fly to Nick Shaw that sent Keen home. Peterson would retire the next two batters to keep the score 6-2.
Jason Rogers greeted reliever Sean Murphy with a home run to left-center to lead off the eighth inning. The sixth homer of the year for Rogers cut the lead to 6-3. But, that was as close as the Rattlers would get on the evening.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Rattlers. The current losing streak started when Wisconsin had a four game winning streak snapped on August 29.
The third and final game of the series at Community Field is Friday night at 6:35pm. Pitcher Jimmy Nelson (8-8, 4.30) is scheduled to make his final start of the season for the Timber Rattlers. Blake Hassebrock (7-8, 2.67) is set to start for the Bees. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm.
HOME RUN:
WIS:
Jason Rogers (6th, 0 on in 8th inning, off Sean Murphy, 0 out)
WP: Jonathan Joseph (6-4)
LP: Del Howell (3-9)
SAVE: Pedro Vidal (5)
TIME: 2:20
ATTN: 691