Early in the second half of the Midwest League season, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had seen their opponents steal some of the late-inning magic that propelled Wisconsin to a first half pennant. The playoff-bound Rattlers had seen enough of that as they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past the South Bend Cubs to a 3-2 victory at Neuroscience Group Field on Thursday night.
Wisconsin (44-28 overall, 2-3, second half) scored first with a run in the second inning. Eduardo García singled and Tayden Hall doubled with one out. Ram?n Rodríguez drove in García with a ground out for the 1-0 lead.
The Timber Rattlers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. South Bend starter Nick Dean escaped the jam without allowing a run with two strikeouts and an out at the plate as Felix Valerio tried to score on a ball that got away from catcher Ethan Hearn.
Reivaj Garcia tripled to start the top of the fifth and Wisconsin starting pitcher K.C. Hunt almost pulled a similar escape act. Hunt struck out the next two batters. Then, Brett Bateman doubled off the wall in left to score Garcia with the tying run.
The Cubs (31-41, 4-2) took the lead with a two-out rally in the top of the sixth against Chase Costello. The Wisconsin reliever retired the first two batters he faced in the inning but walked Jordan Nwogu on a 3-2 pitch. Nwogu stole second and would score when Ed Howard doubled to right on a 1-2- pitch from Costello.
Rodríguez started the Wisconsin rally in the seventh with a one-out double. Eduarqui Fernández chopped a single through the right side of the infield and Rodríguez scored to tie the game. The throw home was offline and Fernández was able to advance to second base. Luis Lara moved Fernández to third with an infield single. Gregory Barrios drove in Fernández with a sacrifice fly to center for the 3-2 lead.
Aaron Rund pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth for Wisconsin.
Yerlin Rodriguez was called upon to get the final three outs, but he made it interesting for the 4,809 in attendance. Howard started the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Rodriguez struck out the next batter to bring Rafael Morel to the plate. Morel, who had an RBI single to cap South Bend’s three-run ninth inning in their 5-4 win on Wednesday, hit a routine flyball to Lara in center for the final out.
Rodriguez earned his sixth save of the season as the Rattlers won their first one-run game of the second half. Wisconsin had been 0-3 in one-run games to start the second half.
Jadher Areinamo extended his hitting streak to eleven games with a single in the third inning on Thursday.
The game was played in front of Wisconsin’s biggest home crowd of the season.
The series – and Udder Tuggers Weekend – continues Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Will Rudy (1-5, 5.68) is set to start for Wisconsin. Drew Gray (0-2, 4.15) is set to start for the Cubs. Game time is 6:40pm.
