The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers used a pair of two-out walks to spark a five-run rally in the bottom of the third inning and added five more runs in the fourth to cruise to a 10-4 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Jesus Chirinos drove in four runs and Ram?n Rodríguez added three RBI for the Rattlers.
Quad Cities (59-61 overall, 29-26 second half) went with a red-hot pitcher in Ryan Ramsey as their starting pitcher. Ramsey was 4-0 and had not allowed a run in 22 innings over his last four starts heading into Tuesday’s game. He started out by retiring the first eight batters he faced in the game. Then, he walked Eduarqui Fernandez and Jadher Areinamo to put two runners on base in the bottom of the third.
Eduardo Garcia gave Wisconsin (74-46, 32-22) the lead when he laced a double to center on a 1-2 pitch. Both Fernandez and Areinamo scored for the 2-0 lead. Wisconsin was just getting started.
Luis Lara singled on the next pitch to get Garcia home. Lara would steal second and score on a single by Chirinos. Rodríguez blooped a double to right to put runners on second and third. Hedbert Pérez singled to knock in Chirinos for a 5-0 lead and an end to Ramsey’s night.
Alexander Cornielle, the Wisconsin starting pitcher, gave up a double and a single to open the top of the fourth before getting the first two outs on strikeouts. He was up 1-2 on Dustin Dickerson, but a double by Dickerson knocked in a run for the Bandits. Cornielle walked the next batter to load the bases before he got the final out of the inning. He threw 34 pitches in the fourth and 76 for the game to end his evening.
Wisconsin got back to work in the top of the fourth against AJ Block. Areinamo reached on an error, Garcia was hit by a pitch, and Lara reached on a fielder’s choice when Garcia beat the flip to second on a potential force play to load the bases. Chirinos unloaded the bases with a double to right for an 8-1 lead. Rodríguez was next and he lined a home run to left, his ninth of the season, to put the Rattlers up 10-1.
Mark Manfredi relieved Cornielle to start the top of the fifth and he walked the first two batters on eight pitches. An error loaded the bases for the River Bandits. Trevor Werner had a sacrifice fly that was deep enough to score the runner from third and move the runner from second to third. Carson Roccaforte drove in the second run of the inning with a force play at second.
Manfredi would pitch a scoreless sixth with a pair of strikeouts. Enoli Paredes, who joined the Rattlers on for a second rehab stint at Neuroscience Group Field earlier in the day, pitched around a one-out double in the seventh and retired the first two batters in the eighth. Paredes issued a four-pitch walk with two outs in the eighth and that was the end of his night.
Aaron Rund, the fourth Wisconsin pitcher in the game, allowed an RBI double to Omar Hernandez to let the inherited runner score. Rund would get the final out of the eighth and close out the game with a scoreless ninth.
The River Bandits, who currently hold the West Division’s second half playoff spot, stayed one game in front of the Peoria Chiefs. Peoria lost at Beloit on Tuesday night.
The series continues Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Stiven Cruz (2-2, 3.81) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The River Bandits have announced Henry Williams (5-4, 3.95) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 12:10pm CDT.
