SOUTH BEND, IN – Tate Kuehner was given an early lead on Wednesday morning at Four Winds Field, and he wasn’t going to let it go. The Wisconsin left-hander set new professional, single-game highs for strikeouts and innings pitched in Wisconsin’s 4-2 victory over the South Bend Cubs.
Wisconsin (27-14) took advantage of two South Bend errors to score twice in the first inning. Jadher Areinamo was at second and Gregory Barrios at first with two outs and Matt Wood at the plate. Areinamo stole third and scored when the throw sailed into left field. Barrios, who took second on the play, would score moments later when shortstop Jefferson Rojas booted Wood’s grounder to short.
Areinamo was in the mix again in the second inning as the Rattlers doubled their lead. Eduarqui Fernández started the inning with a triple and Dylan O’Rae walked with one out. Then, Areinamo lined 1-1 pitch to center. Brett Bateman made a diving attempt for a catch, but the ball glanced off his glove to the warning track. Both runners scored on Areinamo’s double.Kuehner took that 4-0 lead and ran with it. He struck out six South Bend batters in a row as he struck out the side in order in both the third and fourth inning. He gave up a lead-off single to Jonathan Long in the fifth inning, but a double play erased Long. Kuehner recorded his eighth strikeout to conclude his five scoreless innings and turned a 4-0 lead over to the bullpen.
The only two hits Kuehner allowed were singles to Long. The only walk he issued was to the first batter he faced in the game, and he was also erased on a double play.
South Bend (15-26) could not take advantage of two walks by reliever Yerlin Rodriguez in the sixth inning. However, two more walks by Rodriguez to start the seventh inning were followed by a bloop hit from Long to load the bases. Wisconsin got the first out of the inning when Dylan O’Rae made a diving stop of a grounder off the bat of Ethan Hearn for a put out at first base with a run scoring on the play.
Chase Costello was called in from the Wisconsin bullpen and got the second out on a strikeout before issuing a walk to reload the bases. Costello escaped the jam on a routine grounder to O’Rae.
In the eighth, Costello got the first two outs before Jefferson Rojas singled to extend the inning. Felix Stevens worked the count full and ripped a double to left to score Rojas.
Craig Yoho was the next man up for the Rattlers and he would walk Long, who was 3-for-3 on the afternoon. Yoho walked Long on four pitches to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but he bounced back to strike out Hearn to end the inning with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the ninth, there was no drama as Yoho retired the Cubs in order to collect his seventh save of the season.
Wisconsin stranded twelve runners and was 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The defense was flawless with their 27th errorless game of the season, including two key double plays.
The Rattlers are 14-4 in day games this season after their win on Wednesday.
Game three of the series at Four Winds Field is Thursday night. Will Rudy (1-3, 6.43) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Nick Dean, who will be making his Midwest League debut, has been announced as the starting pitcher for the Cubs. Game time is 6:05pm CDT.
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