Bandits Batter Thirteen Hits to Beat Wisconsin 9-2
GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Quad Cities Timber Rattlers broke open a tie game with three runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to pull away from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers for a 9-2 win on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Quad Cities Timber Rattlers broke open a tie game with three runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to pull away from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers for a 9-2 win on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
River Town, who had the two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning on Thursday night to give the River Bandits (52-66 overall, 20-32 second half) the lead, struck again with two outs in the first inning on Friday. Town hit a 2-2 pitch from Julio Teherán for a home run to right and a 1-0 lead.
Teherán, who was on an MLB rehabilitation assignment from the Milwaukee Brewers, got into trouble in the top of the second inning on a lead-off double, a hit batsman, and a single to load the bases. However, he escaped that inning with no damage before working a 1-2-3 third inning. Teherán allowed one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts over his three innings while tossing 44 pitches with 30 strikes.
Wisconsin (50-66, 24-28) tied the game in the bottom of the third. The first two Rattlers reached on a hit batsman and a walk on a pitch timer violation for ball four against Ben Kudrna, the Bandits starting pitcher. Kudrna got the next batter to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Then, Luis Lara singled to center to score the tying run.
Lara singles on line drive to center sending Miller home. #tratnation pic.twitter.com/lGmKZdpNoG
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 26, 2023
The River Bandits strung together four hits in the top of the fourth inning against reliever Karlos Morales. Eric Kennedy and Shervyen Newton had the last two hits of that sequence to knock in the go-ahead runs.
Tyler Woessner took over for Morales with runners on the corners and Herard Gonzalez added a third run in the inning with a safety squeeze bunt to put the Bandits up 5-1.
The Timber Rattlers also had four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning, but only managed one run. Brock Wilken started the inning with a double. Mike Boeve followed with a single to knock in Wilken and the Rattlers were within 5-2 against Kudrna. A lineout and a force out at second to get Boeve stopped the rally. Darrien Miller and Jheremy Vargas restarted the inning with singles to load the bases, but Kudrna escaped the frame with a strikeout.
RBI single by Boeve. 🔥 #tratnation pic.twitter.com/VAlsX7g7yI
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 26, 2023
A steady rain started to fall in the top of the fifth inning and the River Bandit added to their lead. Town singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Juan Carlos Negret singled to send Town home.
Woessner got the first out of the inning on a flyout but walked the next two batters to load the bases. A weak grounder back to the mound turned into the second out on a force play at the plate. However, Gonzalez singled to right to score two runs to give the Bandits a five-run lead.
Wisconsin tried to get something going in the bottom of the fifth, but Lara was thrown out trying to steal second after a lead-off single. Eric Brown Jr walked on the next pitch before being erased on an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play despite running on the pitch.
Quad Cities added an unearned run in the seventh inning on a double steal with the throw to second winding up in center field.
There was a thirty-minute rain delay after the bottom of the seventh inning and Quad Cities kept the pressure on in the top of the eighth once play resumed. There was a one out double against Michele Vassalotti, who retired the next batter. But a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases. A base-loaded walk to Kale Emshoff forced in the final run of the game.
Emshoff was on base five times on Friday night with two walks, two singles, and a hit batsman. He scored twice, drove in one run, and stole a base.
The River Bandits has thirteen hits in the game and were 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
Game five of the series is Saturday night. Bradley Blalock (0-0, 5.54) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Steven Zobac (1-2, 2.70) has been announced as the starter for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:40pm.
Saturday night is Unicorn Night and Family Night presented by Stacey Hennessey, Century 21 Affiliated and 101.1 WIXX, too. Stay after the game and enjoy the postgame fireworks display. Then, kids aged twelve and under may run the bases courtesy of Meijer.
If you can’t make it out to the ballpark, the radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starts with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 6:20pm. Fans can listen on the radio, on the First Pitch app, or at this link. The internet video feed is available on Bally Live.