Eduardo Garcia and Blake Burke have been consistent offensive contributors to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers this season. In the tenth inning on Thursday night against the Lake County Captains at Neuroscience Group Field, the duo delivered the game-tying and game-winning hits for a 5-4 walkoff win over the Lake County Captains in front of the largest crowd of the season.
Alfonsin Rosario gave the Captains (53-46 overall, 18-15 second half) the lead with a solo home run in the first inning. The homer was the sixteenth of the season for Rosario.
Wisconsin (45-53, 11-22) broke through against Lake County starting pitcher Matt Wilkinson in the bottom of the fifth. The rally started with a lead-off single by Garcia and a walk to Burke. Kay-Lan Nicasia tied the game with a single to center.
Wilkinson walked Luis Castillo to load the bases. Then, Andrick Nava singled to right to score Burke with the go-ahead run and chase Wilkinson from the game.
Tayden hall capped the scoring with an RBI grounder against Alonzo Richardson to score Nicasia.
Manuel Rodriguez, the Wisconsin starting pitcher, turned a 3-1 lead over to the bullpen after the sixth inning. Rodriguez allowed one run on two hits, walked none, struck out four, and retired the final twelve Captains he faced in the game.
Lake County would tie the game in the top of the seventh against Jesús Broca. Back-to-back infield singles started the inning. Jose Devers hit a one-hopper near the third base bag. Luiyin Alastre went for the backhand pick as he looked for a potential 5-3 double play. However, he missed the ball and Devers wound up with an RBI double. Broca walked the next batter to load the bases with no outs.
Juan Benjamin tied the game moments later with a sacrifice fly. Broca escaped the inning with the game still tied.
The game remained tied into the top of the tenth inning. Patricio Aquino retired the first batter in the tenth on a grounder to the right side that allowed Benjamin, the placed runner at second, to take third base. Aquino hit the next batter before retiring Christian Knapczyk on a flyout to shallow left. Castillo made the catch and Benjamin held third base...until Castillo lost the ball taking it out of his glove. This error allowed Bejamin to score the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the tenth, pinch runner Juan Baez was at second to run for Nava. He was bunted to third. Izaak Martinez, the fourth Lake County pitcher of the night, walked Daniel Guilarte, the ninth hitter in the Wisconsin order on four pitches to put the winning run on base.
It looked like it wouldn’t matter because Martinez struck out Alastre and was quickly ahead of Garcia with two strikes.
Down to his team’s last strike, Garcia hit a little popup behind first and the ball found a hole in the Lake County defense. The ball landed on the infield dirt, but it was enough to score Baez with the tying run, send Guilarte to third with the winning run, and set the stage for Burke.
The Rattler first baseman was 0-for-7 with six walks in his first thirteen at bats of the series with the Captains. He worked the count to 3-2 and line the next ball to the gap in left-center to score Guilarte for a 5-4 victory.
Garcia went 3-for-5 on Thursday night. He is 8-for-14 in the series with Lake County.
Wisconsin’s seventh walkoff win of the season happened in front of the largest home crowd of the season with 5,927 fans in attendance.
Game four of the series is set for Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Tanner Gillis (1-1, 2.59) is scheduled as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Jackson Humphries (0-8, 4.14) is set to start for the Captains. Game time is 6:40pm.
