Rattlers Drop Home Finale 7-2 to Beloit

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers dropped their final home game of the 2017 season as the Beloit Snappers grabbed an early lead and went on to win 7-2 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Friday night. The loss kept the Rattlers from recording their first home sweep of the season.

Beloit (63-72 overall, 31-35 second half) took the lead in the top of the third inning. Eric Mariñez started the inning with a double and took third on an error. Miguel Mercedes drove in Marinez with a single. Wisconsin starting pitcher Victor Diaz, who had retired the first six batters he faced in the game, got the first out of the inning with a strikeout, but gave up a single to Josh Vidales that put runners on the corners. Mike Martin followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead. Diaz issued a walk to load the bases nut got his sixth strikeout of the game for the second out. However, he would walk Jesus Lopez on a 3-2 pitch to force in Beloit's third run of the inning.

The Snappers added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning against reliever Nattino Diplan. The first two batters reached on singles and an error let Beloit load the bases with no outs. Kyle Nowlin singled to left to knock in the first run. Diplan induced Lopez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to get two outs, but a run scored on the play. Edwin Diaz followed with an RBI single to make it 6-0 Beloit.

Beloit made it 7-0 in the sixth inning with reliever Alec Kenilvort on the mound. A single, a walk, and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with no outs. Vidales drove in the run with a single, his third hit of the game.

Wisconsin (57-78, 31-36) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth against Beloit starter Xavier Altamirano. Mario Feliciano singled, Jett Bandy was hit by a pitch, and Dallas Carroll drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Zach Clark drove in Feliciano with a sacrifice fly to left.

Altamirano would get the final out of the sixth inning and turn the game over to the bullpen. He struck out seven in the game.

Bandy, who joined Wisconsin on Thursday for a rehabilitation assignment from the Brewers, was scheduled to catch seven innings for Wisconsin on Friday and he would leave the game after catching the top of the seventh. Bandy was 1-for-2 with a double on Friday night. He went 2-for-5 with two doubles, a walk, and a hit batsman in his two games with Wisconsin.

The Rattlers, who won the first two games of the series, loaded the bases with one out again in the bottom of the eighth inning as Mitch Ghelfi and Carroll singled and Clark drew a walk against Heath Bowers. Ryan Aguilar was at the plate when Bowers threw a wild pitch to allow Ghelfi to score. Then, Aguilar walked to reload the bases and that was all for Bowers. Sam Sheehan took over for Bowers and squelched the Wisconsin rally with a strikeout and a groundout to leave the bases loaded.

Beloit and Wisconsin split their 18-game season series as each team had nine wins.

Wisconsin ended their home schedule 26-43 in 69 games.
The Timber Rattlers hit the road for their final three games of the 2017 season. They will face the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park in the three-game series with game one on Saturday night. Carlos Herrera (2-2, 3.82) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The River Bandits have named Yohan Ramirez (4-5, 5.31) as their starter. Game time is 6:35pm.
The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast is also available on TuneIn Radio, IHeartRadio, and MiLB.tv..