The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored four times in the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Those four runs were enough for the Rattlers to defeat the Quad Cities River Bandits in the series finale.
The starting pitchers battled through 5-1/2 innings. Quad Cities starter Christian Cosby held the Rattlers to one hit, a Chad McClanahan double in the fifth, over five scoreless innings. Wisconsin starter Freisis Adames held the River Bandits off the scoreboard on one hit, an infield single by Jimmy Govern in the top of the fifth, through the top of the sixth.
Wisconsin (28-31) broke through against River Bandits reliever Dante Biasi in the bottom of the sixth and it didn’t take long.
Joe Gray Jr. drew a lead-off walk. Thomas Dillard hit the next pitch to left for a two-run home run and a 2-0 lead. The home run was the tenth of the year for Dillard and pushed his RBI total to 50 this season.
The Rattlers added two runs in the sixth inning. Je’Von Ward reached on a double and scored after an error on a grounder to short. McClanahan made it 4-0 with an RBI single.
Adames went back out for the seventh and walked the lead-off batter before giving up a single to Jake Means. That was all for Adames and the Harold Chirino entered the game from the Wisconsin bullpen.
Eric Cole was the first batter Chirino faced and a line drive back to the mound dropped in and out of Chirino’s glove. The Rattler pitcher then dropped the ball as he tried to pick it up and his throw to first was late and that loaded the bases. Jimmy Govern followed with a two-run single and the River Bandits were in business.
Both of the runs were charged to Adames, whose final line was six innings, two hits, two runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. Adames was in line for his third win of the season if the bullpen could hold the lead.
A sacrifice bunt moved both runners on base into scoring position and a short infield single up the line at third re-loaded the bases. Chirino got the second out on soft RBI grounder to third off the bat of Logan Porter. Hayden Cantrelle kept the Rattlers in front with a stop in short right field on a hard grounder off the bat of Tucker Bradley and the throw to first was in time for the third out.
Chirino worked around a one-out double in the eighth inning and turned the 4-3 lead over to Taylor Floyd in the ninth.
Floyd slammed the door on the River Bandits with a 1-2-3 inning for his sixth save of the season.
The win gave the Rattlers a split in the six-game series with the team with the best record in the High-A Central League. Quad Cities (38-20) missed on a chance to go twenty games over .500 for the first time this season with their loss at the hands of Wisconsin on Sunday.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They are back in action on Tuesday in Peoria, Illinois with game one of a six-game series at Dozer Park against the Peoria Chiefs. Game time on Tuesday is 6:35pm.
