Saturday afternoon was a windy and frigid day for baseball at Neuroscience Group Field. The conditions didn’t bother Wisconsin Timber Rattlers outfielder Josh Adamczewski. The Indiana native homered twice, drove in five runs, and had a part in both the tying and winning run scoring in the bottom of the ninth for Wisconsin’s 8-7 victory over the Peoria Chiefs.
The game time temperature was 39 with a strong breeze of 16-mph blowing from left to right. Adamczewski warmed up the crowd when he put the Timber Rattlers (8-4) up 1-0 with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the second.
An error on Peoria allowed Luis Peña to reach base with two outs in the third. Blake Aita, the Chiefs starting pitcher, walked Andrew Fischer and Marco Dinges to load the bases for Adamczewski. Aita walked Adamczewski on a 3-2 pitch to force in a run for a 2-0 lead.
The Chiefs (4-9) got their first two runners on against Wisconsin starting pitcher Bryce Meccage in the top of the fourth on a walk and a bloop single. Meccage retired the next two batters and got a grounder to short for what should have been the final out of the frame. However, first baseman Juan Baez dropped the throw to let the inning continue and the inning would go on without Meccage as Jesus Flores was called into the game from the Wisconsin bullpen.
Flores walked Ian Petrutz on four pitches to force in a run. Tai Peete was next and he sent a grounder to second. Flores had to cover the base when Baez ranged to far from the bag, but Flores also dropped a throw to first to allow the tying run to score.
Peña put the Rattlers back into the lead with a lead-off home run to right in the bottom of the fifth. That homer was the first of the season for the Milwaukee Brewers #2 prospect.
Peoria evened the score in the top of the sixth on a two-out, RBI single by Rainiel Rodriguez against reliever Wande Torres.
Josiah Ragsdale opened the Wisconsin half of the sixth inning with a single. He would steal second and move to third on a grounder to second by Luis Castillo. Baez drove in Ragsdale with a groundout for a 4-3 lead.
Adamczewski gave the Rattlers two insurance runs when he crushed a two-run home run to right-center with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Chiefs charged back in the top of the eighth inning. Torres had allowed one run in three innings of relief before going back out for the eighth. He hit the first batter and walked the next batter to end his day.
Chandler Welch was called in from the Wisconsin bullpen, and he hit Rodriguez on a 2-2 pitch to load the bases.
Jesús Báez was next for the Chiefs. Welch got him to hit a high popup that looked like an easy play on the infield. The wind took the ball and blew it into shallow right-center out of the reach of all the Wisconsin defenders for an RBI single.
Welch committed a balk to let in another run. Then, Back-to-back sacrifice flies from Jalin Flores and Josh Kross plated two more runs and the Chiefs suddenly had a 7-6 lead.
Wisconsin drew a pair of two-out walks in the bottom of the eighth but did not score. Welch went back out in the top of the ninth and retired the Chiefs in order to keep the deficit at a run.
The wind evened out its contributions to the game in the bottom of the ninth when Andrew Fischer’s high popup to shallow right dropped in for a lead-off double. Marco Dinges moved Fischer to third with the tying run on a deep fly to the outfield.
That brought Adamczewski back to the plate for Wisconsin. He smashed a single to the backhand of Cade McGee at second base to drive home Fischer. McGee got a piece of the ball with his glove to deflect it towards second base. He tracked down the ball and fired wildly to first base. That error allowed Adamczewski to take second with the winning run.
Daniel Dickinson dropped a bunt single to put runners on the corners for Ragsdale against Jack Findlay.
Ragsdale never had a chance to swing the bat as Findlay threw a wild pitch to allow Adamczewski to score.
Fischer went 3-for-3 with two walks, two doubles, and two runs scored. Peña extended his current hitting streak to eight games with his home run. On the pitching side of the ledger, Meccage and Torres each recorded five strikeouts.
Adamczewski has four home runs in the series. He hit a home run in both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Adamczewski was tied with South Bend’s Owen Ayers for the league lead in homers after the completion of the Wisconsin game on Saturday.
Sunday is the series finale with Yorman Galindez (0-0, 2.25) set as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Peoria has named Nate Dohm (0-0, 4.50) as their starter. Game time at Neuroscience Group Field is 1:10pm.
