The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers did it again. For the second night in a row, the Rattlers rallied from a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Beloit Snappers at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. On Wednesday night, Wisconsin scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to register a 6-5 win over their in-state rivals.
LG Castillo put the Timber Rattlers (49-54) in front with a long, two-run home run to left in the bottom of the third inning. The homer was the seventh of the season for Castillo.
Beloit (48-56) took the lead in the top of the fourth on a three-run home run by Troy Johnston. The Snappers added to their lead in the fifth on a solo home run by Ricky Aracena.
The starting pitchers were both out of the game after five innings. Brandon Knarr had seven strikeouts as the Wisconsin starter. Dax Fulton, the #9 prospect in the Miami Marlins system, struck out five. Both pitchers allowed four hits and walked one.
Tevin Mitchell put the Snappers up 5-2 in the top of the seventh inning with a solo homer against reliever Kent Hasler.
The Rattlers stormed back to take the lead in the bottom of the seventh with a little help from the Beloit defense. Kekai Rios and Antonio Piñero singled to start the inning and a one-out walk to Sal Frelick loaded the bases against Justin Evans. Then, Felix Valerio smacked a single to left to score two runs. A poor throw to the plate was wild to allow Frelick to take third and Valerio to move to second.
Jackson Rose replaced Evans to face Joey Wiemer and gave up a sacrifice fly to right that was deep enough to score Frelick with the tying run and move Valerio to third base.
Zavier Warren was next he sent a deep fly to the warning track in front of the Beloit bullpen in left-center. Connor Scott raced back and had the ball in his glove, but he dropped the ball for an error and Valerio scored the go-ahead run.
Brady Schanuel took over for Hasler in the top of the eighth and pitched around a two-out double. Harold Chirino worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for his fifth save of the season.
Joe Gray Jr., who was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in the game, stole second in the bottom of the fourth. The steal was his twentieth of the season between the Carolina Mudcats and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Gray had hit his twentieth homer of the season last week and Wednesday’s stolen base let him join the 20/20 club.
Game three of the series is Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Joey Matulovich (1-1, 6.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. MD Johnson (3-3, 2.25) is set to start for the Snappers. Game time is 6:35pm.
