GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lost 10-1 to the Quad Cities River Bandits on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. The River Bandits had eleven hits and took advantage of ten walks to hand the Rattlers their second straight loss.
Carter Jensen, who had four hits on Friday night, gave the River Bandits (25-30) the lead with a lead-off home run in the top of the third inning.
Quad Cities added to their lead in the fourth inning. Wisconsin starter Will Rudy gave up a single and a walk to the first two batters he faced. Spencer Nivens drove a three-run homer to right to end the night for Rudy. The homer was the first of the season by Nivens. It was also the twelfth homer the River Bandits have hit in ten games against the Timber Rattlers this season.
Jake Polancic took over for Rudy and loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Polancic got the first out of the inning with a strikeout but walked the next batter to force in another run for the Bandits. On top of that, Polancic left the game with an injury.
Stiven Cruz, the third Wisconsin pitcher of the inning, gave up a sacrifice fly to score the final run of the inning. Cruz retired all five batters his faced in the game.
Wisconsin (34-21) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Jesús Chirinos hit a two-out, solo homer run to right field off Quad Cities starter Frank Mozzicato. Chirinos has four homers this season.
That was it for the Wisconsin scoring on the night. Mozzicato gave up a double to Jheremy Vargas before getting the final out of the fifth inning to qualify for his third win of the season. Oscar Rayo tossed four scoreless innings of relief to close out the game for the Bandits.
Rattlers reliever Aaron Rund stretched himself out to a third inning of work after pitching a scoreless sixth and a scoreless seventh. In the eighth, Brett Squires knocked in a run with a one-out double before Rund closed out the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Quad Cities hitters weren’t done. In the ninth, they added three more runs against reliever Bayden Root, who got the first out of the inning, issued a walk and gave up a double. Consecutive RBI singles by Omar Hernandez and Jack Pineda made the score 9-1. One last walk reloaded the bases and Wisconsin called on catcher Victor Torres to get the final outs.
Torres, who just joined the team earlier this week, got the second out on a sacrifice fly by Squires to account for the final run of the game. He would get the final out on a foul pop.
There was good news for the Timber Rattlers on Friday night. The second-place Cedar Rapids Kernels lost 6-0 to the Great Lakes Loons at Dow Diamond in Midland, Michigan. That loss means the Timber Rattlers are still 2-1/2 games up on the Kernels in the first-half West Division raced with eleven games remaining as the Rattlers try to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Game five of the series with Quad Cities is Saturday night. Yujanyer Herrera (2-1, 4.43) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Henry Williams (2-1, 3.56) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:40pm.
ECW Legend Tommy Dreamer is bringing the EXTREME to the stadium for Wrestling Night. Former WWE Superstar Hornswoggle and the wrestlers from ACW will have matches at Brews on Third before the game with a 5:15pm start time. Dreamer and Hornswoggle will have pregame meet & greet and a postgame Q & A in the Fox Communities Credit Union Fox Club as part of a special ticket package at this link.
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