Beloit scrapes past Wisconsin
GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers outhit the Beloit Snappers 13-6 on Wednesday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. But, the Snappers scored three runs on wild pitches and held on for a 5-3 win over the Rattlers.
Beloit (33-25) took the early lead on a bout of wildness by Rattlers starting pitcher Tyler Wagner. A single and a pair of walks loaded the bases for the Snappers. A wild pitch allowed the first run to score. Matt Olson grounded out to short to knock in the second run of the inning. Wagner walked another Beloit hitter in the inning, but got out of the frame without more damage.
Wagner would walk two more batters in the top of the second inning, but would not let another Snapper score in his four innings of work. Wagner wound up with seven strikeouts in the game.
Martin Viramontes took over for Wagner in the top of the fifth inning. He gave up a one out double to Bruce Maxwell and got the second out on a fly ball to right that was too shallow to let Maxwell move up to third. Viramontes threw a wild pitch to let Maxwell take third base with Matt Olson at the plate and fell behind the Snappers first baseman 3-0. It looked like Viramontes would get out of the inning after coming back to get the count to 3-2. Then, Viramontes threw a wild pitch on the full count offering to Olson. That let Maxwell score and Olson to take first base.
John Wooten was next and his single sent Olson around to third base. With the next batter at the plate, Viramontes would throw his third wild pitch of the inning and Olson scored to make it 4-0.
The Timber Rattlers (24-30) chipped away with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Tyrone Taylor doubled with two outs in the fifth. Adam Giacalone had an infield single to keep the inning alive. Victor Roache drove in Taylor with a single behind the third base bag to put Wisconsin on the scoreboard.
Orlando Arcia pulled the Rattlers to within two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. His two-out RBI single drove in Brent Dean and the Rattlers were down 4-2.
Viramontes settled in after his wildness in the fifth. The tall righty struck out eight in four innings and kept the Rattlers within two runs.
Beloit got an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Daniel Robertson blasted a two-out solo home run and the Snappers were up 5-2.
Wisconsin tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth. Taylor singled - his third hit of the evening - to start the inning. Roache lined a double off the wall in left-center with one out to drive in Taylor. Max Walla, who had four hits in his first four trips to the plate, stepped to the plate with two outs and Roache at second. Walla sent a hard grounder that appeared headed for right field and an RBI single. But, second baseman Christopher Bostick made a diving stop in short right, got to his feet, and threw out Walla at first for the final out of the game.
The three Wisconsin pitchers combined to strikeout 17 Beloit batters in the game. Four Snappers pitchers combined to 16 Rattlers hitters in the game.
The series continues on Thursday evening. Damien Magnifico (5-0, 3.89) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Raul Alcantara is set to start for the Snappers. Game time is 7:05pm.
The Timber Rattlers have their annual Salute to Cows promotion courtesy of Milk Source as part of Dairy Month. There will be plenty of bovine and dairy themed games and promotions around the ballpark. The first 1,000 fans to attend the game will receive a baseball from Milk Source.
Thursday is also an Arty's Old Fashioned Thirsty Thursday with soda, beer, and Arty's Old Fashioned drinks for $2 and as part of Miller Summer Kickoff, Miller products are available for $1.
If you can't make it out to the stadium, My NEW32's Sports Showdown will be broadcasting the game starting with the pregame show at 6:30pm. The radio broadcast is also available on AM1280, WNAM and timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The game will also be available to subscribers of MiLB.TV.
HOME RUN:
BEL:
Daniel Robertson (4th, 0 on in 9th inning off Jono Armold, 2 out)
WP: Austin House (1-4)
LP: Tyler Wagner (5-4)
SAVE: Ryan Dull (10)
TIME: 3:12
ATTN: 4,199