SOUTH BEND, IN – It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The “it” would be a 9-8, eleven-inning win over the South Bend Cubs at Four Winds Field on Sunday night. Wisconsin had leads of 5-0, 6-5, and 9-6, appeared to have the game won several times before finally escaping Indiana with the hard-fought and crucial victory.
Jadher Areinamo stayed hot and got the Rattlers (28-17) off to a fast start. The Wisconsin infielder hit a one-out, solo homer in the first inning to extend his current hitting streak to eight games and give the Rattlers a 1-0 lead. Areinamo would play a huge role throughout the game.
Areinamo added to the Wisconsin lead when he delivered a two-run single in the top of the third. Luke Adams followed with a ball off the wall in left for an RBI double to give the Rattlers a 4-0 lead. At that point of the series, Wisconsin had scored fourteen runs and Areinamo had been a part of thirteen of them with nine RBI and four runs scored.
Matt Wood got into the act for the Rattlers as he doubled off the wall in right to knock in Adams for a 5-0 lead.
The Cubs (18-27) did something in the bottom of the third against Wisconsin starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle that no other team had done this month. They scored a run. Cornielle’s scoreless inning streak ended at 20-2/3 innings on a two-out, RBI single by Pedro Ramirez.
The run was the eighteenth two-out run scored by the Cubs in the last three games.
South Bend made it nineteen two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth. Cornielle gave up a lead-off double to Ramirez. He got the next two outs before Chase Costello was called in from the bullpen. Jonathan Long snuck a single up the middle to score Ramirez.
The Cubs tied the game in the seventh against Edwin Jimenez. Parker Chavers reached on a single with one out. Rafael Morel hit a long, two-run home run to left on a payoff pitch from Jimenez to pull the Cubs to within a run. Brett Bateman singled and moved to second on a fielder’s choice.
That set the stage for Jefferson Rojas to drop a two-out, bloop single to right score Bateman with the tying run.
Wisconsin’s offense went dormant against relievers Yovanny Cabrera and Aaron Perry. Cabrera, who came on to get the final out in the third, walked the first two batters of the fourth. Then, he retired the next three batters. Perry set down all twelve Rattlers he faced.
In the top of the ninth, Jheremy Vargas walked with one out against Mitchell Tyranski. Areinamo singled to left, his third hit of the game, with two outs to put runners on the corners. However, Tyranski got a popup to end the inning.
Jimenez pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth with Areinamo making a sparkling defensive play to rob Bateman of a hit to send the game to the tenth.
In the Wisconsin tenth, Wood singled to center to send pinch runner Gregory Barrios to third. Eduarqui Fernández got Barrios home with a sacrifice fly to center. Ramόn Rodríguez put runners at second and third with a double off the wall in left. However, the Rattlers could not add to their lead.
The Cubs started the tenth with Bateman at second base and he was moved to third on a grounder. Rojas was next. He hit a hard grounder third base line. Areinamo, who had just moved there from short to replace Adams after Barrios pinch ran in the top of the inning, made a diving stop, got to his feet and fired home to get Bateman. However, Rodríguez could not handle the throw and Bateman scored the tying run. Jimenez retired the next two batters to send the game to the eleventh.
The top of the eleventh started with Terence Doston at second and Carlo Reyes on the mound as South Bend’s sixth pitcher of the game. Vargas sent a grounder to shortstop and Doston took a chance by going to third. He beat the throw and Wisconsin had runners on the corners.
That brought O’Rae to the plate and the Cubs committed their first defensive lapse of the game,. O’Rae sent a chopper back to Reyes, who checked Doston at third, looked to second to with no play there, and threw to first. However, Reyes fired wildly to first and the ball rolled to the Cubs bullpen. Both runners scored with O’Rae ending up on third base. Areinamo provided a huge insurance run with a sacrifice fly to score O’Rae for a 9-6 lead.
Jimenez went back out for the eleventh inning and gave up a double to Ethan Hearn that only sent Long, who started the inning at second base, to third. Jordan Nwogu sent a deep drive to left that Vargas caught just shy of the track to score Long. Then, Jimenez walked Chavers and hit Morel to load the bases.
The game had one more turn. Jimenez had to leave the game with an injury after missing with ball one to Bateman. The Rattlers turned to Stiven Cruz to get the final two outs.
Bateman lined a pitch to right, but it was right at Doston who made the catch for the second out as Hearn scored to cut Wisconsin’s lead to one run.
Cruz fell behind Ramirez 2-0, but ended the game when Barrios fielded a grounder up the middle and stepped on second to get the force play on Morel.
Wisconsin needed the victory to stay ½ game behind the West Division-leading Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Kernels won 6-2 at Peoria on Sunday night. Both Wisconsin and Cedar Rapids have 21 games remaining in the first half.
Areinamo was 3-for-5 with four RBI to lead the Wisconsin offense. He is 13-for-31 during his eight-game hitting streak.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday before starting a twelve-game homestand on Tuesday with the first game of a series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps. Patricio Aquino (2-2, 4.99) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The TinCaps have announced Enmanuel Pinales (1-3, 2.60) as their starter. Game time is 6:40pm CDT
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