Peoria edges Rattlers in 4-3 win
Zeke DeVoss started the game with a triple. A sacrifice fly by Dustin Geiger put Peoria (56-68 overall, 21-34 second half) in front 1-0.
Geiger struck again with two outs in the third inning. He lined a solo homer to left. Geiger's sixteenth home run of the season made it 2-0.
The Rattlers (71-53, 27-28) pounced on a Peoria miscue to tie the game in the bottom of the third. Yadiel Rivera was at second with two outs and Ben McMahan struck out. But, the ball eluded catcher Chadd Krist to allow McMahan to reach, Rivera to take third base, and the inning to continue.
Nick Ramirez was down to a 1-2 count against Peoria starter Yao-Lin Wang. Ramirez pulled the next pitch just inside the first base bag and two runs scored as the ball rattled around in the right field corner. That tied the game 2-2.
Peoria took advantage of three straight one out walks by Wisconsin reliever Eric Semmelhack in the top of the seventh inning. A slow roller to short by Pin-Chieh Chen got the go ahead run home.
Wes Darvill provided an insurance run with a two-out RBI single in the eighth inning for a 4-2 advantage.
Wisconsin tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth. Max Walla drew a one out walk and Rivera singled to center. That forced the Chiefs to make a pitching change from Justin Berg to Larry Suarez.
After the change, Chadwin Stang grounded into a force play at second base and the Rattlers had runners at the corners with two outs. Brandon Macias was down to his last strike against Suarez when he got a seeing-eye single into right field to score Walla. Stang raced for third on the play and - when he drew a throw - Macias took second to get the winning run into scoring position.
But, Suarez denied the Rattlers a Sunday comeback by retiring McMahan on a popup to end the game.
Game three of the series is Monday night. Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum will make his third rehabilitation start for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has Joe Zeller (2-3, 3.05) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Game time is 7:05pm.
One fan in attendance at the game will win Marcum's game-worn jersey.
On Monday, the Dark KnightTM is taking time away from Gotham City to greet citizens at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Batman will be available to meet & greet fans and pose for photographs throughout the evening.
It is also a B104.7 Qdoba Q*Monday and fans may receive a free ticket to this game when they purchase a lunch entrée at the Qdoba by the Fox River Mall on Monday.
If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Monday's game is also available to subscribers of MiLB.TV.
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WP: Yao-Lin Wang (4-3)
LP: Eric Semmelhack (2-2)
SAVE: Larry Suarez (3)
TIME: 3:03
ATTN: 4,639