(TIMBER RATTLERS) DAVENPORT, IA – A tense, pitchers’ duel at Modern Woodmen Park between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Quad Cities River Bandits turned into a nerve-wracking, highwire act in the late stages, before the offensive explosion in the eleventh inning for both teams. The Rattlers broke the 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the eleventh only to see the Bandits score four in the bottom of the eleventh for a 5-4, walkoff victory.
Wisconsin (3-5) scored first. Eduardo Garcia singled with one out in the fourth. Tayden Hall drove a double to the wall in right with two outs and Garcia scored all the way from first for a 1-0 lead. That was the only run Wisconsin managed against River Bandit starting pitcher Hunter Patteson over his six innings.
Rattlers starting pitcher Chandler Welch was perfect through four innings. However, the Bandits (6-2) got to him in the fifth. Bryan Gonzalez started the inning with a fly ball to center. Kay-Lan Nicasia raced back to the wall to make a play, but he misjudged the wind as the breeze held up the ball and pushed it back to the infield. Nicasia tried to correct his course, but the ball dropped just in front of him in the grass, and Gonzalez had a lead-off double for the first base runner.
Trevor Werner was next, and he bunted for a single to move Gonzalez to third base. Welch threw a wild pitch to the backstop with Gonzalez trying to score. Fortunately, a good bounce got the ball to catcher Matt Wood in a hurry, and Wood tossed a strike to Welch covering the plate for the out on Gonzalez.
However, Austin Charles doubled to put runners at second and third for the Bandits. Callan Moss drove in Werner from third with a grounder to second to tie the game.
Welch struck out seven over his six innings, allowed three hits, and walked none. He would leave with the score still tied.
Both teams had chances to take the lead in regulation.
Garcia doubled with one out in the sixth inning against Quad Cities starter Hunter Patteson, who struck out the next two batters. In the eighth, Jadher Areinamo singled and Wood walked with one out against Caden Monke. A wild pitch on a strikeout by reliever Zachary Cawyer moved both runners into scoring position before he ended the inning with a flyout to right.
The Bandits had a two-out double against Dikember Sanchez in the seventh and stranded that runner.
Reliever Patricio Aquino would have made Houdini proud with his escape acts in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings.
Quad Cities loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, before Aquino got out of the jam with a strikeout and a force play at third. In the ninth, Gonzalez tripled to start the inning. Aquino got a strikeout. Then, Gonzalez tried to score on a grounder to short off the bat of Austin Charles with the infield in on the grass. He was cut down for the second out. Charles broke for second with Callan Moss at the plate, but Moss was called out for interference when he swung and missed the ball, but mad contact with Wood. That call led to the ejection of Quad Cities manager Jesus Azuaje.
The Rattlers did nothing in the top of the tenth with Quad Cities electing to walk Areinamo intentionally with a runner at second and two outs.
Aquino saved his best for last as he worked a scoreless tenth to keep the game tied 1-1. Moss, the placed runner at second to start the inning, tried to go to third on a grounder to short and was the first out of the inning. Back-to-back singles by Omar Hernandez and Erick Torres loaded the bases again. And – again – Aquino slipped out of the trap with a slow chopper back to the mound that turned into a force play at the plate for the second out and a strikeout to end the frame and send the game to the eleventh.
The Rattlers broke through in the eleventh to take the lead. Garcia beat out an infield single to the left side of the infield for his third hit of the game. Wood, the runner placed at second to start the eleventh, had to hold on the play. Hall stepped to the plate with one out and cracked a double to right-center to score Wood and get Garcia to third base. Daniel Guilarte drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Then, Luis Castillo ripped a double to right to score two runs for a 4-1 lead.
Wisconsin had runners at second and third with one out after that double by Castillo but could not add to the lead and it would cost them.
Aaron Rund took over for Aquino for the bottom of the eleventh. Gonzalez singled to left to send the place runner to third. Trevor Werner followed with a single to right on a 3-2 pitch to drive in a run for the Bandits. Rund got the first out on a popup, but Moss tripled to the corner in right to knock in the tying runs.
The second out came when Rund struck out Carter Frederick looking at strike three in a three-pitch at bat. Then, Hernandez, who broke an 0-for-12 slump with singles in the eighth and tenth, hit a sinking line drive to right that dropped in to score the winning run to cap Quad Cities four-run rally.
The River Bandits take a 3-2 lead in the series with the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Modern Woodmen Park. The pitching matchup is a rematch of game one of the series last Tuesday with Tyson Hardin (1-0, 0.00) as Wisconsin’s scheduled starter and Logan Martin (0-1, 4.15) set to go for the Bandits. Game time is 1:00pm CDT.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are back at Neuroscience Group Field on Tuesday, April 15 to begin a six-game series with the Lansing Lugnuts.
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