The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers defeated the South Bend Cubs 3-0 on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Four Rattlers pitchers combined on the three-hit shutout.
Wisconsin (35-36) took the lead in the first inning with a double steal. David Hamilton and Hayden Cantrelle started the first with singles. Korry Howell grounded into a force play at second and that put runners at the corners.
Howell took off for second on a pitch home to Thomas Dillard. The throw went through and Howell was safe as Hamilton timed his break to the plate perfectly and stole home without a play for a 1-0 lead. The stolen base was the 40th of the season for Hamilton.
Timber Rattlers catcher Kekai Rios wiped out a pair of would-be base stealers early in the game to help starting pitcher Reese Olson face the minimum through four innings.
South Bend (32-39) mounted a rally with a pair of two-out walks in the top of the fifth, but Olson got the final out of the inning. He finished his day with five scoreless innings, one hit allowed, three walks, and four strikeouts to put himself in line for his fifth win of the season.
Rios added to Wisconsin’s lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. The blast was his third of the season and gave Wisconsin a 2-0 lead. Rios also threw out Delvin Zinn, the minor league baseball leader in stolen bases, on an attempted steal in the top of the sixth inning. South Bend was 0-for-3 in stolen base attempts on Sunday.
Yeison Coca drove in the final run of the game with a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
That was more than enough for the Wisconsin bullpen.
Harold Chirino allowed one hit over two scoreless innings. Nash Walters pitched a scoreless eighth. Taylor Floyd closed out the game with a scoreless ninth for his seventh save of the season.
The victory, Wisconsin’s third in a row, gave the Timber Rattlers a series victory as they took four out of six games from the Cubs. It also gave them the win in the season series over the Cubs with seven wins out of twelve games.
The Rattlers have pulled to within one game of the .500 mark. They will try to get back to an even record for the first time since they were 18-18 on June 13 when they return to action Tuesday night with a home game against the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Neuroscience Group Field. Game time is 7:05pm.
