Team effort from Timber Rattlers tops Kane County
TJ Mittelstaedt started the Rattlers half of the fourth inning with a walk. He stole second and took third on a Cody Hawn grounder to the right side of the infield. Rogers broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single to get Mittelstaedt home.
Miller kept the Cougars (61-67 overall, 33-26 second half) off the board until the top of the fifth. Geulin Beltre singled in a run with one out. Then, Beltre stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Miller stranded the go ahead run at third base by striking out the next two batters.
Wisconsin (63-66, 25-34) retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Neda reached on an error and Brandon Macias doubled to the corner in left that put runners on second and third. One out later, Keen singled to get Neda home against Kane County pitcher Leondy Perez.
Then, with Nick Shaw at the plate, Perez turned and threw to first base for an attempted pick off on Keen. However, first baseman Juan Graterol did not cleanly catch the ball. Macias broke for the plate as the ball trickled away from Graterol. Macias scored the run that put the Rattlers up 3-1.
In the sixth, Neda snapped an 0-for-15 streak since joining the Timber Rattlers on August 20 with a two-run single to scored Hawn and Rogers for a 5-1 lead.
Miller departed after scattering seven runs over seven innings. The Rattlers righty struck out six and picked up his sixth win of the season.
Casey Medlen pitched the final two innings in relief of Miller. He allowed a run on a two out single in the top of the ninth inning, but recorded the last out of the game with his third strikeout.
The final game of the three game series is Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Wisconsin has Brooks Hall (7-4, 3.43) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Kane County has announced Santiago Garrido (2-5, 6.20) is the scheduled starter for the Cougars. Game time is 7:05pm.
The final Friday home game of the season means that children 12 and under eat free on a North Shore Bank Family Night. After the game, enjoy a fireworks display! After the fireworks, Fazoli's invites children 14 and under to participate in Kids Run the Bases.
If you can't make it out to the game, you can tune in to the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Friday's game is also available on MiLB.TV.
WP: Matt Miller (6-7)
LP: Leondy Perez (7-11)
TIME: 2:46
ATTN: 4,460