Wisconsin’s Rally Falls Short in South Bend
SOUTH BEND, IN – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers trailed 4-0 after six innings on Thursday night at Four Winds Field in their game against the South Bend Cubs. The Rattlers rallied with within a run but left the tying run on second in the top of the ninth and missed
SOUTH BEND, IN – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers trailed 4-0 after six innings on Thursday night at Four Winds Field in their game against the South Bend Cubs. The Rattlers rallied with within a run but left the tying run on second in the top of the ninth and missed a few other opportunities in the contest.
Click here for the scoring plays
South Bend (16-26) scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning. Pedro Ramirez tripled to start the inning. Jefferson Rojas knocked in Ramirez with a single. Later in the frame, Reivaj Garcia drove in Rojas with a single.
The Timber Rattlers (27-15) had one hit off Dean, who was making his South Bend debut, in five innings. Dean walked none and struck out five while facing the minimum thanks to a caught stealing in the second inning
There was a key sequence of events in the sixth inning. Wisconsin had runners at second and third with one out against reliever Angel Gonzalez after two walks and a passed ball. However, the Rattlers could not score to cut into the Cubs lead as Gonzalez got a strikeout and a flyout to end the threat.
In the bottom of the sixth, South Bend had runners at second and third with no outs against reliever Brian Fitzpatrick after a single and an error on Luke Adams. Jonathan Long drove in both runners with a one-out single and the Cubs went up 4-0.
Wisconsin had Tyler Santana, the third Cubs pitcher, on the ropes in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with no outs on a single by Jadher Areinamo, a walk to Adams, and a single by Matt Wood. Tayden Hall was next, and he sent a fly ball to center that was deep enough to score Areinamo. However, Adams tried to tag on the play, too and he was thrown out at third on a strong throw from Brett Bateman. Wisconsin didn’t score again in the seventh.
In the eighth, Terence Doston walked on four pitches against Santana. Jheremy Vargas, who had walked in the sixth, swung at the first pitch from Santana and grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
The Rattlers didn’t stop trying to comeback in the eighth. Gregory Barrios and Dylan O’Rae both singled to keep the inning alive. Then, Areinamo lined a double to the wall in left to score both runners to pull Wisconsin to within a run.
In the ninth, Wood had a lead-off single against Carlo Reyes. A weak grounder up the first base line moved Wood into scoring position with the tying run. However, Reyes got the final two batters of the game on a flyout and a strikeout to secure the Cubs second win of the three games played in the series.
The Timber Rattlers left five runners on base and were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Thursday night.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels beat the Peoria Chiefs 8-5 on Thursday. The Kernels win moved them to within a half-game of the first place Timber Rattlers in the first half West Division playoff race. There are 24 games remaining in the first half.
Game four of the series is Friday night at Four Winds Field. Logan Henderson has been named as the Wisconsin starting pitcher and is making his Midwest League debut. The Cubs have announced Drew Gray (0-1, 3.38) as their starter. Game time is 6:05pm CDT. The radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 5:45pm. The game is also available on the internet and the Bally Live App.