SOUTH BEND, IN – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers let an early lead slip away and a late rally wasn’t enough as they lost 7-5 to the South Bend Cubs Tuesday night at Four Winds Field. Nelson Velasquez hit a two-run homer to give the Cubs the lead in the fifth inning and Wisconsin had a sloppy defensive inning in the sixth to let South Bend score the insurance runs they would need to pull off the win.
David Hamilton started the game by drawing a walk and stealing second. He was at third base with two outs when Thomas Dillard drove a single to right. Hamilton scored easily for the 1-0 lead.
Hamilton’s stolen base was his league-leading 21st of the season and he has now scored at least one run in ten straight games.
South Bend (15-15) tied the game in the bottom of the second. Matt Burch drove a double to the wall in right with two outs to score Yonathan Perlaza from first base to make the score 1-1.
Hamilton put Wisconsin (15-16) back in front with a two-run home run to right-center in the top of the third inning. The home run bumped Hamilton’s hitting streak to twelve straight games and Wisconsin’s lead to 3-1.
Edmond Americaan tripled to start the bottom of the third inning. Tyler Durna drove in Americaan with a one-out single to cut Wisconsin’s lead to one run.
South Bend took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Americaan reached to start the inning with his third hit of the game. Wisconsin starter Zach Mort retired the next two batters, but gave up a two-run homer to Nelson Velazquez before he could get the third out of the inning.
The Cubs took advantage of two errors, a wild pitch, and a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth inning to score three runs to take a 7-3 lead. Jake Washer started the inning against reliever Brady Schanuel with a double and took third on a passed ball. Jake Slaughter’s fly ball to center was deep enough to score Washer from third and the ball was dropped as well to allow Slaughter to take second base on the play. Bradley Beesley followed with an RBI single. Then, Beesley stole second. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on an errant throw for the four-run lead.
Wisconsin had played four straight errorless games heading into Tuesday’s game.
Korry Howell singled to start the top of the eighth inning, took second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on grounder. Dillard drove in Howell with a grounder and the Rattlers were within three runs.
In the ninth, Kekai Rios doubled, took third, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chad McClanahan. Howell was hit by a pitch with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate, but the Cubs held ended the game with a strikeout.
Game two of the series is Wednesday night at Four Winds Field. Freisis Adames (2-1, 7.11) is scheduled as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Chris Kachmar (0-2, 5.16) is scheduled to start for the Cubs. Game time is 6:05pm CDT.
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