Rattlers go long to beat Quad Cities

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers went long a couple of different ways to beat the Quad Cities River Bandits 5-4 Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Tyler Roberts hit two homers and Yadiel Rivera hit one to provide three long balls for Wisconsin. Andy Moye worked five scoreless innings out of the bullpen to give Wisconsin some long relief and the Rattlers moved their record to nine games over .500.

However, the game did not start out well for the Rattlers. Matt Williams put Quad Cities (18-17) up 1-0 on the second pitch of the game from Rattlers starting pitcher Jacob Barnes. The River Bandits leadoff hitter cracked a home run to the Quad Cities bullpen in leftcenter for the lead.

Wisconsin (22-13) used a pair of homers in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead. Rivera launched a two-run homer over the Quad Cities bullpen with two outs. Roberts crushed the next pitch over the batter's eye in center field and the Rattlers were up 3-1.

The Bandits used the another long ball of their own to go back in front in the top of the fourth. Anthony Garcia drew a walk. Then, Juan Castillo cracked a long home run to left for a 4-3 advantage. Quad Cities leads the Midwest League in home runs with 34 this season.

The Rattlers took advantage of consecutive walks to start the bottom of the sixth. Jason Rogers, Wisconsin's RBI leader lined a single to left to score Chadwin Stang from second to tie the game.

Quad Cities starting pitcher Dail Villanueva retired the first two batters of the bottom of the seventh inning. Then Roberts got a hold of a 1-1 pitch and golfed it over the wall in left to put Wisconsin in front 5-4. This was the second two homer game for Roberts as a Timber Rattler. He also hit two solo shots at Kane County on May 29, 2011.

That one run lead was more than enough for Moye. The right-hander was making his first relief appearance of the season and he made it a good one. Moye, who made the start in game one of Monday's doubleheader against Cedar Rapids, came on in relief of Barnes for the top of the fifth and struck out seven over five innings and allowed two base runners - one on a hit batsman in the sixth and the other on a one out double in the seventh. Moye used 55 pitches - 42 strikes - to work his five innings against the River Bandits. He retired the final eight batters he faced to pick up his third win of the season.

The Timber Rattlers begin a quick four-day road trip to face the Kane County Cougars on Saturday night. Matt Miller (2-3, 4.03) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Scott Alexander (2-2, 1.75) is set to take the hill for the Cougars. 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.

HOME RUNS:
QC:
Matt Williams (2nd, 0 on in 1st inning off Jacob Barnes, 0 out)
Juan Castillo (5th, 1 on in 4th inning off Jacob Barnes, 0 out)

WI:
Yadiel Rivera (2nd, 1 on in 2nd inning off Dail Villanueva, 2 out)
Tyler Roberts (1st, 0 on in 2nd inning off Dail Villanueva, 2 out)
Tyler Roberts (2nd, 0 on in 7th inning off Dail Villanueva, 2 out)

WP: Andy Moye (3-0)
LP: Dail Villanueva (3-2)

TIME: 2:10
ATTN: 3,566