The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers could not hold a 7-0 lead against the South Bend Cubs on Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. The Rattlers were up 7-4 with two outs and none on in the top of the ninth inning only to see South Bend rally for six runs to stun the home team.
Wisconsin (64-55 overall, 30-27 second half) jumped to an early lead with three runs in their half of the first inning after José Meneses pitched around a pair of walks for a scoreless top of the first as an opener.
Sawyer Strosnider started the inning with a single. Daniel Dickinson followed with an RBI triple. Eric Bitonti drove in Dickinson with a double. A one-out single by Luiyin Alastre scored Bitonti for a 3-0 advantage.
A pair of Milwaukee Brewers pitchers made their second appearance of the series on the mound for the Timber Rattlers on rehab assignments.
JoJo Romero needed only fifteen pitches to strike out the side in the top of the second. Abner Uribe worked a scoreless top of the third with two strikeouts on just thirteen pitches.
The Timber Rattlers offense extended their lead with four runs in the bottom of the third. They had the bases loaded with one out. Juan Baez grounded into a force play at second. The throw to first to complete the double play was low and could not be dug out to allow a run to score. Yannic Walther was next, and he hit a sinking line drive to left that dropped in and got by a diving Kade Snell for a two-run double. Luis Lameda capped the scoring with an RBI single for a 7-0 lead.
The Cubs (71-49, 32-26) staged a two-out rally in the fourth and were gifted a run. Jayden Dubanewicz, Wisconsin’s fourth pitcher of the game, walked Snell with two outs. Dubanewicz got Logan Poteet to hit a pop-up on a 3-2 pitch that should have been the third out. However, Alastre, who was playing shortstop, lost the ball in the twilight and the ball dropped in shallow center. Snell was running on the pitch and scored from first without a play at the plate on the single by Poteet.
South Bend got closer in the fifth after a three-run home run by Josiah Hartshorn, the #1 prospect in the Chicago Cubs minor league system.
Dubanewicz shut down the Cubs for the rest of his night as he worked through the eighth inning and struck out eight to set a new single-game high as a professional.
José Nova was called in for the top of the ninth. He retired the first two batters, including one via the strikeout to record the team’s sixteenth K of the night.
The next eight South Bend batters reached base.
Back-to-back singles by Brennan Hudson and Geuri Lubo, the eighth and ninth hitters in the order singled to bring Hartshorn to the plate. A wild pitch moved the runners into scoring position and ran the count to 3-0. The Rattlers decided to walk Hartshorn intentionally to load the bases.
Nova walked the next two batters to force in runs to drop Wisconsin’s lead to one run to bring Snell back to the plate. He singled in two runs to give the Cubs their first of the night. The throw to third try to get an out there was wild to let Snell take second base.
Poteet made it 10-7 with a two-run single to right. A walk to Alexey Lumpuy, who made the first out of the inning, ended the night for Nova. Yerlin Rodriguez came in to get the final out of the ninth.
The Timber Rattlers went down in order in the bottom of the ninth against Cole Reynolds, who picked up the win with 3-1/3 scoreless innings, no walks, and five strikeouts.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Andrew Healy (0-1, 6.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Pierce Coppola (0-3, 3.21) is set to start for the Cubs. Game time is 6:40pm.
