Burlington buzzes Timber Rattlers 5-3
Yordy Cabrera kept the Rattlers (61-65 overall, 23-33) from scoring first. Rafael Neda was at the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the first inning. Neda scalded a shot back through the middle, but the Bees shortstop ranged behind second to make the stop and throw to first to get the final out of the inning.
Burlington (68-58, 23-33) scored three times in the bottom of the second inning. Royce Consigli singled with one out and runners on first and second to get the first run home. That hit was one of four on the night by Bees hitters.
Wade Kirkland was next and he sent a fly ball deep to left-center. Rattlers left fielder Chad Stang ran down the ball and made a nice catch. But, Stang appeared to think that was the third out as he continued to run with the ball instead of getting it back to the infield. The runner at second tagged and scored when Stang dropped the ball making the exchange to his throwing hand. Consigli also took second on the play. That allowed him to score when Tyreace House singled and and the Bees were up 3-0.
Wisconsin would get on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Nick Ramirez scored Nick Shaw with a sacrifice fly to get the Rattlers within 3-1.
The Bees would score two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and did so without the benefit of a hit. Rattlers starting pitcher Del Howell walked two straight batters with one out before being replaced by Stosh Wawrzasek. The Rattlers reliever loaded the bases by hitting the first batter he faced.
Jose Crisotomo plated the first run of the inning by grounding into a force play at second. Then, Crisotomo drew a throw as he stole second. Kirkland, the runner at third, broke for the plate and scored for a 5-1 lead.
The Rattlers offense was handcuffed until the ninth. They had two on and two out with Cody Hawn at the plate. Hawn doubled over the head of House in center to score both runners and bring Ramirez to the plate as the potential tying. Ramirez sent a fly ball deep to right, but the ballpark held it and Crisotomo made the catch on the warning track to end the game.
Wisconsin went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded ten runners total on the evening.
The Timber Rattlers wrap up their road trip on Tuesday night at Community Field with the final game of the series with the Bees. Wisconsin has Jimmy Nelson (6-8, 4.54) scheduled as their starting pitcher. Burlington will send Nate Long (7-6, 3.22) to the mound. Game time is 6:30pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm.
WP: Jonathan Joseph (4-5)
LP: Del Howell (2-8)
TIME: 2:59
ATTN: 991