On Friday night, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got a taste of what they have been giving the Fort Wayne TinCaps in the first three games of the series at Neuroscience Group Field. Wisconsin had rallied past the TinCaps late in the games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to run their winning streak to four games. The TinCaps tied the game with two runs in the ninth inning and scored the only run of the tenth for a 4-3 win in extra innings to tighten up Wisconsin’s lead in the West Division playoff raced.
The Timber Rattlers (31-18) scored first. Dylan O’Rae was hit by a pitch to start the first inning. He moved to second on an error, stole third, and scored on a single by Matt Wood.
O’Rae also scored in the third inning. He started the inning with a single. Gregory Barrios followed with a hit-and-run single to send O’Rae to third. Jadher Areinamo got O’Rae home with a sacrifice fly to right for a 2-0 lead.
Logan Henderson, the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers, was excellent in his home debut. The Brewers pitching prospect allowed three hits, walked none, and struck out seven over four innings on just 52 pitches as he continues to work his way back from an oblique injury sustained during spring training.
Wisconsin manager Victor Estevez announced after the game in his comments for the team’s Postgame Podcast that Henderson is Biloxi-bound after two starts with the Timber Rattlers. He allowed one run over 6-2/3 innings with ten strikeouts in his two starts.
The TinCaps (22-27) got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning. Jay Beshears doubled with one out against reliever Tyler Wehrle. Anthony Vilar singled to left with two outs to score Beshears.
Wisconsin scored in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jheremy Vargas drove in Terence Doston with a two-out double for a 3-1 lead.
Jake Polancic pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the Rattlers and turned the lead over to Chase Costello.
Costello pitched a scoreless eighth and went back out for the ninth but got in trouble right away. He walked the lead-off batter and Nerwilian Cedeño followed with a double to left to put the tying runs in scoring position. Lucas Dunn drove in the first run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center.
Griffin Doersching, the product of Greendale, Wisconsin, tied the game moments later with a double to left.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ram?n Rodríguez doubled with one out, but he was left stranded there when the inning ended to send the teams to their second extra-inning game of the series.
The TinCaps moved Kai Murphy, their placed runner to start the top of the tenth, to third on a grounder to the right side. Beshears sent a fly ball to medium center. Eduarqui Fernández set up behind the ball to make the catch. Murphy tagged and raced for the plate to score as the throw from Fernández was a little too high and up the first base line.
In the bottom of the tenth, Fernández started the inning at second base with Manuel Castro taking over as Fort Wayne’s fifth pitcher of the night. Pinch-hitter Luke Adams struck out with one away but a passed ball on strike three by Vilar allowed Adams to reach and Fernández to take third base with O’Rae coming to the plate.
An odd play stopped the Rattlers rally in its tracks. Castro threw an 0-2 pitch to O’Rae off the inside corner and the ball glanced off the glove of Vilar to the backstop. Fernández, hesitated for a moment before breaking for the plate and that cost him. The ball caromed back to Vilar, who was able to toss to Castro covering the plate to tag Fernández for the second out. The game ended when O’Rae grounded out to short.
The Rattlers lead in the West Division shrank to ½-game over the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Kernels rallied for a 7-4 win over the Lake County Captains in Cedar Rapids on Friday night. There are seventeen games remaining in the first half.
Game five of the series is the first Saturday night home game of the season for the Timber Rattlers. Yujanyer Herrera (1-1, 5.65) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Fort Wayne has named Dylan Lesko (1-2, 6.52) as their starter. Game time is 6:40pm.
