GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers first game at Neuroscience Group Field since July 14 didn’t go as planned despite a season-high crowd of 5,678 fans in attendance. The South Bend Cubs grabbed an early 10-1 lead and never let the home team, or the big crowd get back into the game on the way to a 14-9 victory over the Rattlers.
South Bend (38-59 overall, 11-20 second half) jumped to a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. Brett Bateman tripled to start the top of the first. Rafael Morel drove in Bateman with a single.
Wisconsin starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle got the next batter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. However, the third out was elusive.
Jefferson Rojas hit the first pitch of his at bat for a home run. Ethan Hearn singled to left and an error allowed him to take third base. Ed Howard singled to knock in Hearn. Brian Kalmer capped the inning with a two-run home run for a 5-0 lead.
Luke Adams got the Timber Rattlers (62-34, 20-10) on the scoreboard with a two-out, solo home run to left in the bottom of the first inning. The homer was the tenth of the season for Adams.
The Cubs added to their lead in the second. There were two on with two outs when Cornielle got Rojas to send a high popup to shallow right. However, the ball dropped in for a hit to score a run. Hearn followed with a three-run homer to right for a 9-1 lead.
South Bend added another run in the top of the third. Kalmer doubled, moved to third on a flyout, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Reivaj Garcia.
The Rattlers chipped away at their deficit with three runs in the bottom of the third. Eduarqui Fernández started the inning with a single. An error on a potential double play let Fernández take third base. Cooper Pratt drove in Fernández with a sacrifice fly. Adams started a two-out rally from there with a walk. Matt Wood double to right on a 3-2 pitch to score Adams all the way from first.
South Bend starting pitcher Nick Dean left the game after the double by Wood with an apparent injury. Eduardo Garcia welcomed reliever Nico Zeglin to the game with an RBI single to score Wood and the Rattlers were down 10-4.
The Cubs added two runs in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Jordan Nwogu and another sacrifice fly by Reivaj Garcia for a 12-4 lead.
Pratt, the #4 prospect of the Milwaukee Brewers who has making his Timber Rattlers debut on Tuesday night, gave the fans in attendance something to remember when he launched a home run to start the Wisconsin fifth inning for his first Midwest League hit.
Wisconsin pulled back to within six runs in the sixth inning when Jesús Chirinos doubled and Fernández singled him home.
The onslaught from the Cubs continued with single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Pedro Ramirez had a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Bateman capped the South Bend scoring with a two-out RBI single in the ninth. The Cubs scored fourteen runs on thirteen hits.
The Rattlers put three runs on the board in the bottom of the ninth inning. Felix Valerio had a two-out, two-run double. He scored later in the inning on a wild pitch to get the Rattlers to within five runs. That would be as close as they would get.
Adams was 1-for-2, walked three times, and scored three runs for the Rattlers. Garcia was 2-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to twelve games for Wisconsin.
Tuesday night was only the fourth time this season Wisconsin has allowed ten or more runs in a game. It was the first time since a 10-1 loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits at home on June 7. South Bend has been the opponent three times the Rattlers have allowed double digits in runs in a game. The Cubs scored eleven runs off Wisconsin pitching on April 13 and thirteen runs against the Rattlers on May 25 before scoring fourteen on Tuesday night.
Game two of the series is set for Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Patricio Aquino (3-3, 3.76) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. South Bend has named Drew Gray (0-4, 5.19) as their starter. Game time is 12:10pm CDT.
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