Bees Early Lead Too Much for Rattlers

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Burlington Bees jumped out to a 5-0 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Monday afternoon. The Rattlers rallied, but fell short and dropped a 6-3 decision as the Bees completed their first ever four-game sweep of the Rattlers at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

The Bees (40-48 overall, 9-10 second half) struck first with some help from the Rattlers defense in the top of the first inning. Wisconsin starting pitcher Nattino retired the first two batters of the inning. He would get the next batter to send a popup to second, but Trever Morrison dropped the ball for an error. Jordan Zimmerman followed with a double to left to put Bees at second and third. Diplan got Brennan Morgan to send a chopper to third, but Weston Wilson fired high to first to allow Morgan to reach and two runs to score for a 2-0 lead.

Sam McDowell was next and Carlos Belonis tried to make a diving catch on a sinking line drive. He did not and the ball rolled to the fence. McDowell raced around to third with a triple as Morgan scored all the way from first and the Bees were up 3-0.

Zimmerman, Morgan, and McDowell, and combined to set up Burlington's fourth run of the game. Zimmerman singled to start the inning. Morgan followed with a hit-and-run single to right to send Zimmerman to third. McDowell hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Zimmerman.

The Bees made it 5-0 in the fourth. Jack Kruger had runners at first and third with one out and he send a chopper towards short. Wilson cut over to make the pick and the throw to second, but Kruger just beat the throw to first for what could have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, he was safe and the run from third scored.

Erik Manoah Jr. kept the Timber Rattlers off the scoreboard for five innings. He allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out five to earn his fourth win of the season.

The Timber Rattlers (33-54, 7-12) got to Burlington reliever Adrian Almeida in the seventh inning. Tucker Neuhaus started the inning with a walk and Mario Feliciano singled to put two runners on base. Joantgel Segovia lined a double to left-center to extend his current hitting streak to eleven games and to score Neuhaus with Wisconsin's first run. Morrison followed with a double to score both Feliciano and Segovia and the Rattlers were down 5-3 with a runner at second and no outs in the seventh. 

Almeida struck out the next two batters, but gave up an infield single to Demi Orimoloye to put the tying run on base and bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Carlos Belonis.

Belonis hit a slow grounder to short but the throw to first just got him for the final out. Belonis slammed his helmet on the ground in frustration after the call and was ejected from the game by base umpire James Folske.

The Timber Rattlers have scored three runs in the seventh inning in each of their last three games.

Burlington tacked on an insurance run in the eighth against reliever Cameron Roegner. A leadoff walk was still at first with two outs when Moreno doubled to left to score the run to make it 6-3.

Wisconsin got two runners on in the bottom of the ninth against Burlington closer Blake Smith to bring the tying run to the plate, but could not get the hit they needed to push any runs across the plate.

The Timber Rattlers are now 2-11 against the Bees this season. Burlington has won nine straight in the series. The teams meet for the final time this season when they play a three-game series at Community Field in Burlington, Iowa from July 26 through July 28.
The Rattlers will be off on Tuesday. They will return to action on Wednesday with game one of a six-game road trip. The Rattlers will face the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond in Midland, Michigan. Game time on Wednesday is 6:05pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 5:45pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio, IHeartRadio, and MiLB.tv.