(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) FORT WAYNE, IN – FORT WAYNE, IN – Weather affected another Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game on Tuesday night. However, this time they were able to get the game started and official before play was halted in the sixth inning at Parkview Field with the Rattlers leading the Fort Wayne TinCaps 8-2. That was the final score when the game was called just over thirty minutes after the game was halted.
Wisconsin (9-5) was rolling early in the game with three straight singles to start the top of the first. Braylon Payne and Luis Peña stared the inning with singles to put runners on the corners. Andrew Fischer was at the plate when Fort Wayne starting pitcher Maikel Miralles committed a balk to let Payne score. Fischer singled and Marco Dinges drew a walk to load the bases with no outs, but the Rattlers couldn’t add on in the first.
There were none on with two outs in the top of the second inning when David Garcia singled to extend the inning to Payne, who crushed a long home run to right-center for a 3-0 lead. The home run was Payne’s third of the season. He went 2-for-4 and scored three runs on Tuesday. Payne has scored eleven runs in ten games this season.
In the third, there were two outs and one on for the Rattlers when Eric Bitonti hit a line drive home run to right for a 5-0 lead. This was Bitonti’s second home run of the season.
Fort Wayne (6-10) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Travis Smith, the Wisconsin starter, walked Jack Costello, the number eight hitter in the TinCaps lineup to start the inning. Dylan Grego followed with a home run and the Wisconsin lead was down to 5-2.
The Rattlers got those two runs and one more back in their half of the fourth inning. The bases were loaded with two outs for Marco Dinges. The Wisconsin designated hitter grounded a single to center to score two. Bitonti ripped an RBI single to right later in the frame for an 8-2 lead.
Smith rebounded to keep the TinCaps off the board in the fourth and fifth. He pitched a perfect fourth inning but had to work hard in the fifth with a steadily increasing rain shower falling after a lead-off walk and a one-out double put two in scoring position for Fort Wayne. Smith struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Smith struck out six and walked two over his five innings to put himself in position for his second win of the season.
Jason Woodward took over for Smith in the bottom of the sixth. He got the first out but gave up a single and a walk. Woodward got the second out of the inning on a strikeout. At that point, the rain became too much for the game to continue, and the umpires called for the tarp. The game was not restarted after a 32-minute delay.
Peña and Bitonti both added a game to their current streaks. Peña is now on a ten-game hitting streak and an eleven-game on-base streak. Bitonti is on a twelve-game on-base streak. Both Peña and Bitonti have reached base in every game they have played this season.
Game two of the series is Wednesday night at Parkview Field. Ethan Dorchies (0-2, 9.58) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Isaiah Lowe (0-1, 4.50) has been named the starter for the TinCaps. Game time is 5:35pm CDT.
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