BELOIT, WI – Eduarqui Fernández was the pacesetter for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wednesday night at ABC Supply Stadium. Fernández stole five of Wisconsin’s ten bases and scored three runs as he walked four times in the Rattlers 7-3 win over the Beloit Sky Carp. Wisconsin had four hits but took advantage of ten walks by Beloit pitchers and a strong start from Yujanyer Herrera, who moved his record to 6-1 on the season with the win on Wednesday.
The Sky Carp (44-45 overall, 14-12 second half) took the lead in the first inning. Mark Coley reached on an infield single, stole second and went to third on an infield grounder. Brock Vradenburg drove in Coley with a single for the 1-0 advantage.
Wisconsin (59-32, 17-8) evened the score in the top of the third inning thanks to four walks by Beloit starting pitcher Noble Meyer. Fernández and Jheremy Vargas walked to start the inning. Luke Adams drew a walk with two outs to load the bases. Then, Matt Wood walked to drive in Fernández with the tying run.
Adams started a rally for the Rattlers in the fifth inning against Caleb Wurster. The Sky Carp reliever retired the first two batters he faced before hitting Adams with a pitch. Wurster threw wildly to first to allow Adams to take third. Wood drew another walk to put runners on the corners, and Eduardo Garcia cashed in the chance with a two-out single to score Adams for the 2-1 lead.
The Rattlers added four runs in the top of the sixth inning for some breathing room. Tayden Hall started the inning with a triple. Fernández walked for the third time in the game and was running on a pitch to Vargas, who grounded out to short. Instead of turning two, the Sky Carp had to get the out at first and Hall scored for a 3-1 lead.
Luis Lara was next, and he sent a grounder behind second base. Carlos Santiago tried to get Fernández at third but threw wildly. Fernández scored and Lara took second on the play for a 4-1 lead and that was all for Wurster.
Alex Williams entered the game and got the first out on a grounder that got Lara to third base before hitting Adams to extend the inning. Adams stole second to get into scoring position and Wood smacked a 3-0 pitch from Williams for a two-run single and a 6-1 lead.
Herrera allowed one run on three hits over five innings with Mark Manfredi entering the game in the sixth. Manfredi retired the first five batters he faced. Then, Torin Montgomery hit a solo homer with two outs in the seventh. Brett Roberts singled and took second on an error with Carlos Santiago collecting an RBI with a double to chase Manfredi from the game.
Aaron Rund took over and got the final out after a walk to the first batter he faced to send the game to the eighth.
Fernández started the eighth with his fourth walk of the game, stole second, and stole third. Lara drove in Fernández with a sacrifice fly for the insurance run.
Rund worked around the first Sky Carp of the eighth reaching on an error with a double play, Wisconsin’s third twin killing of the night, and a groundout.
Yerlin Rodriguez struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to close out the contest and even the series at one win for each team through the first two games.
Five stolen bases by Fernández were the most by a Rattler since David Hamilton had six in a game against the Peoria Chiefs on June 2, 2021. Vargas had three steals and Adams had two to account for the ten stolen bases for Wisconsin.
The previous known high for stolen bases in a game by the Timber Rattlers is from a game at West Michigan on May 30, 2001 when Wisconsin had nine steals.
Game three of the series is at Thursday night. K.C. Hunt (3-1, 2.45) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Beloit will go with Thomas White (1-2, 3.00) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:35pm at ABC Supply Stadium.
Comments