(WISCONSIN TiMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers dropped a 5-4 decision to the Quad Cities River Bandits on Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field in the final game of the series between the teams. Blake Burke had three hits, including a home run, and three RBI for Wisconsin.
Quad Cities (45-30 overall, 6-3 second half) took the lead in the first inning on a two-run home run by Callan Moss. Sam Kulasingam hit a solo homer, his first professional home run, in the top of the third for a 3-0 lead.
Burke brought the Rattlers (36-38, 2-7) with a long home run to center in the bottom of the third. Burke homered twice in the series and has five on the season.
The Bandits added to their lead in the fifth inning. Canyon Brown reached on an infield single and Kulasingam blooped a single to left. Daniel Vazquez was at the plate when Brown stole third with Kulasingam holding at first base. Wisconsin reliever Miles Langhorne threw a wild pitch that let Brown score and Kulasingam to take second. Langhorne was able to retire the next two batters but a single on an 0-2 pitch by Bryan Gonzalez drove in Kulasingam for a 5-2 lead.
There was bright sunshine with the wind howling out to left at the start of the game. Then, the wind shifted to blowing in from right field, and the clouds rolled in as the Timber Rattlers raced to come back on the Bandits and beat the impending storm.
The Ratters best chance came in the eighth inning against Tommy Molsky, the fourth Quad Cities pitcher of the game. Jadher Areinamo reached on catcher’s interference to start the inning. Marco Dinges drew a walk and that brought Burke to the plate as the tying run.
Burke lined a 2-2 pitch to the corner in right and the crowd cheered an apparent two-run double.
Those cheers turned to gasps as Dinges fell to the ground coming around third base. He lay face-down on the grass holding his left hamstring and was tagged out by the River Bandits for the first out of the inning. Dinges was helped off the field.
“It should be okay,” manager Victor Estevez told the Rattlers Postgame Podcast. “He’s going to need to rest for a little bit. Maybe by the end of the week we might know what’s going to be his real status.”
Once play resumed Eduardo Garcia blooped a double to right to score Burke and bring the Rattlers back to within a run. Plus, Garcia was at second with one out.
Molsky closed out the inning with a strikeout and a flyout.
Zachary Cawyer, who had a two-inning save on Thursday night, got the call for the bottom of the ninth on Sunday. Tayden Hall hit a long drive to right to start the ninth. Had it been hit earlier in the game, it might have been a home run, but this ball fell short as Carter Frederick made a leaping catch at the wall. Daniel Guilarte followed with a single up the middle to bring the winning run to the plate.
Cawyer retired Hedbert Pérez on a foul pop and struck out Areinamo to end the game.
Areinamo went 0-for-3 in the game to see his hitting streak end at sixteen games.
The River Bandits hold the edge in the season series at 7-5. There are still twelve games remaining between the teams this season with six at Modern Woodmen Park from July 22 through 27 and six more at Neuroscience Group Field from August 26 through 31.
The Timber Rattlers return to action on Tuesday with against the Beloit Sky Carp at ABC Supply Stadium in Beloit, Wisconsin. Wisconsin has announced Manuel Rodriguez (0-1, 1.67) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 6:35pm.
