(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers participated in a back-and-forth slugfest Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field as both teams returned from the four-day All-Star break. The River Bandits came out on top with a 13-10 victory in game one of the weekend, four-game series.
Quad Cities (42-42 overall, 12-9 second half) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a two-out, RBI single by Luke Pelzer.
Wisconsin (48-35, 14-7) responded with two runs in the bottom of the first. Luis Peña started the frame with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Braylon Payne tied the game with an RBI single. Then, Payne stole second, went to third on an errant pickoff throw, and scored the go-ahead run on an RBI grounder by Marco Dinges.
Yannic Walther added to the Wisconsin lead with an RBI double off the wall in left in the second inning.
Wande Torres, the Wisconsin starting pitcher, struck out the first two Bandits he faced in the third before issuing a walk to Pelzer. Jose Cerice made Torres pay by following with a game-tying, two-run home run to the Quad Cities bullpen.
The Rattlers loaded the bases on three straight walks – two by Blake Wolters and one by Aiden Jimenez – to start the bottom of the third. But they did not score as Jimenez got a 3-2-3 double play and a flyout to center.
The Bandits chased Torres in top of the fourth after a single and a walk. José Meneses got the first out on a failed sacrifice bunt, but he struggled after that. A hit batsman loaded the bases. Three straight walks to Blake Mitchell, Ramon Ramirez, and Pelzer forced in three runs. Meneses hit Cerice to force in one more run before he got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. A four-pitch walk to Erick Torres forced in one more run and ended the night for Meneses.
Tanner Perry entered the game for the Rattlers and got a strikeout to end the inning with the Rattlers trailing 8-3.
The Rattlers were not trailing for long.
In the bottom of the fourth, Peña drove in a run with a double. Payne followed with a two-run home run, his eighteenth home run of the season, and the Rattlers were within two runs.
In the bottom of the fifth, Luis Castillo and Peña and RBI singles to tie the game.
Perry pitched a scoreless fifth and a scoreless sixth only to see the River Bandits go back in front in the top of the seventh against Daniel Corniel and the Rattler defense.
Corniel walked a batter with one out and got a popup in shallow left for what looked to be the second out until it was misplayed for a single. The Rattlers got the second out of the inning on a play at the plate. However, Corniel walked Mitchell to load the bases. Corniel got ahead of Ramirez with two quick strikes before missing with four straight to walk in another run. Pelzer followed with a soft fly to left-center. Payne tried to make a sliding catch, but the ball got by him for a three-run double for a 12-8 lead.
Mitchell added one more run for the River Bandits with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Wisconsin tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth. Tayden Hall doubled and Castillo singled to knock him home. Rodriguez blooped a single to right to send Castillo to third and the Rattlers had the tying run on deck. The comeback fell short as Walther grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to score Castillo but that left the Rattlers trailing by three with two outs and none on base.
The rally restarted for a moment as Peña was hit by a pitch to reach base for the fifth time in the game. Then, the final out was recorded to close out the game for the River Bandits.
Peña went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, a hit batsman, two runs, and two RBI for the Rattlers. It was not enough to offset nine walks and three hit batsmen by Timber Rattlers pitching.
There are two seven-inning games scheduled for Saturday with a single admission price. The gates to the stadium will open at 3:30pm with game one starting at 4:10pm. There will be approximately thirty to forty minutes between the end of game one and the start of game two. The River Bandits will be the home team in game two of the doubleheader on Friday since it is the makeup game from a rainout at Modern Woodmen Park on June 21.
Wisconsin has named Jayden Dubanewicz (2-2, 4.61) and Peyton Niksch (1-0, 1.42) as their starting pitchers for game one and game two. The River Bandits will have David Shields (7-4, 4.11) and Emmanuel Reyes (6-3, 3.89) as their starters.
Help the Rattlers celebrate the release of Cars from twenty years ago with co-branded Disney merchandise in the Snake Pit Team Store and surprises around the ballpark on Saturday. The Saturday night fireworks display after the second game of the twinbill is presented by Kimberly-Clark. Meijer presents Kids Run the Bases for children twelve and under after fireworks.
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