Rattlers rally, then hold off Kane County

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers trailed the Kane County Cougars 1-0 after the seventh inning stretch on Saturday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field.  The home team scored twice in the seventh and twice in the eighth thanks to some defensive miscues by the Cougars.  Then, Brian Garman held off Kane County in the ninth to secure a 4-3 win for Wisconsin.  Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Manny Parra pitched two perfect innings and struck out six on a rehabilitation assignment and picked up the win for the Rattlers.

The two starting pitchers found different ways to keep the game scoreless through five innings.  Wisconsin's Jimmy Nelson allowed the leadoff batter to reach in four of the first five innings he pitched.  Nelson worked around three walks, an error, and three hits over the first five, but got help on two caught stealing, a pair of double plays and four strikeouts.

Leondy Perez also allowed three hits in the first five frames, but did not walk a batter and struck out two.  He got help when Mike Walker was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a two out double by Tyler Roberts in the bottom of the second.

Kane County broke through first with a run in the top of the sixth.  Alex Llanos singled to lead off the inning.  A sacrifice bunt and a flyout to right sent Llanos to third.  Murray Watts came through with a two out single to left to score Llanos for a 1-0 Kane County lead.

Wisconsin got to Perez in the seventh inning with a pair of runs on one hit.  Cody Hawn started the inning with a line drive to short that was ruled a trap.  Perez issued his first walk of the game when he issued a four pitch free pass to Jason Rogers, the next batter of the inning.  Walker followed and dropped a sacrifice bunt up the third base line.  Perez fired wildly to first.  That allowed Hawn to score the tying run, Rogers to take third, and Walker to move to second.

Perez got the next two outs.  Then, the Cougars decided to walk TJ Mittelstaedt intentionally.  Franklin Romero was next and his grounder to third was booted to allow Rogers to score the go ahead run.

Wisconsin tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning off Kane County reliever Nick Wooley.  Reggie Keen singled, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a grounder to the right side, and scored on another wild pitch.  Rogers tripled on the next pitch.  Greg Hopkins sent Rogers home with a single for a 4-1 Wisconsin lead.

Parra pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth for the Rattlers.  He struck out four and retired all six batters he faced to put himself in line for the win.

Brian Garman, who recorded nine saves for the Helena Brewers in the Pioneer League in 2010, came on to close out the Cougars.  He gave up a triple to Brian Fletcher to start the innings.  Garman struck out the next two batters, but allowed an RBI double to Angel Franco and an RBI single to Ryan Jenkins.  Garman closed out Kane County by striking out the final batter of the game for the 4-3 Rattlers win.

The final game of the series between Wisconsin and Kane County is Sunday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Field.  Del Howell is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rattlers.  Keaton Hayenga is set to start for the Cougars.  Game time is 1:05pm

Sunday is the first Brewers Sunday of the 2011 season.  The Rattlers will wear uniforms based on the jerseys worn by the 1975 Milwaukee Brewers during the game.  The players will be available for fans in an autograph session after the game.

The first 1,000 fans in attendance on Sunday afternoon receive a poster of Timber Rattlers manager Matt Erickson courtesy of DiGiornio's Pizza.

If you can't make it to the game, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or www.timberrattlers.com.

                 R   H    E
KC 000 001 002 - 3   8    3
WI 000 000 22x - 4   7    1

Click here for a boxscore of Saturday's game

WP: Manny Parra (1-0)
LP: Leondy Perez (0-1)
SV: Brian Garman (1)

TIME: 2:21
ATTN: 2,577