CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – A wild and weird top of the ninth inning was full of exhilaration and heartbreak for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers as they fought back from a 3-0 deficit to score three runs and tie the Cedar Rapids Kernels Wednesday night at Rise 2 Greatness Field. However, missed opportunities cost the Rattlers the lead and eventually the game as the Kernels scored a two-out run in the bottom of the tenth for a 4-3 win.
The game did not start out well for Wisconsin (75-52 overall, 33-28 second half). Starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle had a runner at first with two outs when he walked Rubel Cespedes on a 3-2 pitch. Rayne Doncon, in his first game off the Kernels Injured List, lined the first pitch of his at bat to left for a two-run double. Agustin Ruiz gave the Kernels (65-61, 28-34) a 3-0 lead with an RBI single.
That would be if for the Kernels against Cornielle. The right-hander retired the next sixteen batter he faced. Cornielle struck out seven in six innings.
Kernels starter John Klein would pitch seven scoreless innings, and he was rarely in trouble. In the fifth, he gave up singles to the first two batters he faced before a double play and a flyout kept the shutout intact. In the seventh, Wisconsin had two on with one out, but a strikeout and a force out ended the threat. Klein struck out six, hit two, and scattered six hits.
Juan Mendez, the Kernels first reliever, was in trouble in the eighth. He hit Luke Adams and gave up a two-out double to Luis Lara. The Rattlers could not cash in on that chance.
The was a little history made in the top of the eighth. Adams was hit by a pitch for the 39th time this season. He has set the new Midwest League record being hit by a pitch in a season. He had shared the record with Nick Sinay of Lansing, who had been hit 38 times in 2017.
Additionally, Lara’s double extended his current hitting streak to eight games, his longest hitting streak of the season.
However, the Rattlers were still looking for their first run.
The top of the ninth inning started with a strikeout by Xander Hamilton. Felix Valerio reached on an infield single and Eduarqui Fernandez walked. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Jheremy Vargas laced a single to center to score Valerio.
Adams stepped in and sent a grounder to Cespedes at second for what appeared to be a game-ending double play. Cespedes lost the ball while getting it out of his glove and the ball trickled into left field. Fernandez scored and Vargas wound up at third base.
Jadher Areinamo was next, and the league’s leading hitter sent a high fly to left field that dropped in for a single to score Vargas with the tying run and chase Hamilton from the game.
Lara greeted Jordan Carr with another single to left that looked sure to put the Rattlers ahead as Adams raced around third primed to score. Adams tripped and fell halfway between third and home and was tagged out as the throw home was on target for the second out.
The Rattlers still had runners at the corners and Lara took off while Carr still held the ball before throwing on a 1-2 pitch to Hedbert Pérez at the plate. Carr stepped off the mound and turned to face Lara. Areinamo broke for the plate, but Carr never threw the baseball. He was able to turn back to the plate and throw home to get Areinamo for the final out.
In the top of the tenth, Wisconsin had runners at first and second with one out. Jesus Chirinos hit a fly ball deep to right Gabriel Gonzalez made a diving catch for the second out and hold the runners at their bases. Carr got the final out to keep the game tied going to the bottom of the tenth.
Dikember Sánchez, Wisconsin’s fourth pitcher of the night who had worked a scoreless ninth inning, got the first two outs in the bottom of the tenth to hold the placed runner at second base. Sánchez was ahead of Gonzalez 1-2 when the defensive hero from the top of the inning sent a fly ball to left that carried just out of the reach of Pérez on the warning track for a game-winning, RBI double.
Game three of the series is Thursday night. Ryan Birchard (0-2, 9.82) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cedar Rapids will send Spencer Bengard (1-0, 1.42) to the mound. Game time is 6:35pm CDT.
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