Daniel Guilarte had a career night for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Friday night at Four Winds Field. The shortstop delivered five RBI in clutch, late-game situations including a two-out, two-run double in the eleventh inning for an 8-6 lead over the South Bend Cubs. Unfortunately, the Cubs scored three runs in the bottom of the eleventh for a 9-8 victory that kept the Rattlers winless since the end of the All-Star Break.
South Bend (55-35 overall, 16-12 overall) scored in the bottom of the first. Kade Kepley singled and Josiah Hartshorn drew a walk from Wisconsin starting pitcher J.D. Thompson to start the inning. Thompson got Jose Escobar to hit a grounder near second for a potential double play ball, but an error on the play let Kepley score for a 1-0 lead.
A hit batsman with one out loaded the bases for the Cubs before Thompson struck out the next two batters.
Thompson would leave after 2-2/3 innings on his first start off the Wisconsin injured list. He allowed one unearned run on one hit with a walk and six strikeouts. Thompson set a new professional single-game high for strikeouts with his performance on Friday.
Wisconsin (48-41, 14-13) tied the game in the top of the fourth. Daniel Dickinson doubled and took third on a flyout to center. Tyler Rodriguez sent a grounder to first and Dickinson should have been out at the plate. However, catcher Justin Stransky failed to secure the ball and Dickinson scored the tying run.
Jayden Dubanewicz entered the game for the bottom of the fourth and struck out the first two batters he faced. Then, Michael Carico, who entered the game 2-for-31 on the season with the Cubs, lined a solo homer to right for a 2-1 lead.
The Timber Rattlers staged a two-out rally in the top of the fifth. Luiyin Alastre was at second with two outs. Luis Peña hit a grounder to third that should have been the final out of the inning. Michael Hallquist fielded the ball but double clutched and never threw the ball allowing Peña to reach base. Braylon Payne was hit by a pitch from Cubs starting pitcher Alfredo Romero to load the bases.
Reliever Adam Stone entered the game for South Bend and walked Dickinson on a 3-2 pitch to force in the tying run.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dubanewicz again retired the first two batters before facing Carico. This time he walked him. A single by Justin Stransky brought Kepley to the plate with runners at the corners. Dubanewicz got Kepley to pop up a 3-1 pitch near the first base dugout in foul territory only to have the ball drop between Tayden Hall and Yannic Walther. Kepley walked on the next pitch to load the bases.
Josiah Hartshorn was next and he hit a grounder up the middle for a single. Guilarte made a dive for the ball behind the second base bag and deflected it to Dickinson. The only play was to the plate to try to get Stransky. The throw home was in time, but a little off line. Walther was on the ground after catching the ball and Stransky leapt over him landing on the plate for the second run and a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Peña thought he had homered for the second night in a row. The ball hit off the yellow line in deep center and came back into the field of play for a lead-off double against Cole Reynolds, who walked Braylon Payne before striking out the next two batters. A walk to Tyler Rodriguez loaded the bases. Guilarte sent a weak grounder to the shortstop side of second on a 3-2 pitch. He beat the throw to first with Peña and Payne both scoring to tie the game 4-4.
Kepley and Hartshorn got the Cubs back into the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kepley reached on catcher’s interference and took second on a balk by Michael Fowler. Then, Hartshorn ripped a single to drive in Kepley for a 5-4 lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Timber Rattlers had runners at the corners with two outs when South Bend brought right-handed Kenten Egbert in from the bullpen to replace left-handed Cole Reynolds and face right-hand hitting Tyler Rodriguez. Wisconsin countered by sending left-handed Luis Castillo up as a pinch-hitter. The Cubs countered that move by intentionally walking Castillo to face Gularte.
The strategy backfired when Egbert walked Guilarte on four pitches to tie the game 5-5.
Jose Meneses, who relieved Fowler in the bottom of the eighth, pitched a scoreless ninth by working around an error and a one-out single to send the game to extra innings.
Both teams scored their placed runner in the tenth. Luiyin Alastre moved Luis Lameda to third with a grounder to the right side. Walther got Lameda home with a sacrifice fly to give the Rattlers their first lead of the game. In the bottom of the tenth, Kepley got Stransky to third with a grounder to the right side. Hartshorn tied the game with a single over the drawn-in infield. Meneses sent the game to the eleventh with a double play ball.
In the top of the eleventh, Peña started at second base and Payne drew a walk against Nate Williams, the Cubs fifth pitcher of the night. Dickinson bunted them up a base and Hall walked to load the bases. Williams got the second out on a popup to shallow center to set up Guilarte for a bases-loaded, two-out, pressure situation for his third straight at bat.
Guilarte fell behind on two quick strikes, fouled off a pitch, and took a ball before he punched a double down the first base line to score two runs for an 8-6 advantage.
Yerlin Rodriguez was called into the game as Wisconsin’s sixth pitcher for the bottom of the eleventh. He walked Angel Cepeda, gave up an RBI double to Kade Snell to score the placed runner and send Cepeda to third, and allowed a sacrifice fly to Logan Poteet to tie the game.
Rodriguez got the second out on a strikeout but hit Carico on a 3-2 pitch to keep the inning alive. Stransky fouled off two 2-2 pitches and took a call to run the count full. He lined a 3-2 pitch down the line in left to score Snell with the winning run that gave the Cubs their sixth straight win and sent the Rattlers to their seventh straight loss.
Game five of the series is Saturday evening. Josh Knoth (2-2, 5.35) is the scheduled as the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Kohl Franklin of the Iowa Cubs is set to start on a rehabilitation assignment for South Bend.
