(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) FORT WAYNE, IN – Three was a magic number for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in their emotional 9-7 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps Thursday night at Parkview Field. Braylon Payne, Marco Dinges, and Andrew Fischer hit three straight homers in a five-run seventh inning that gave the Rattlers a 7-2 lead. In the ninth, Michael Fowler entered the game to face a bases-loaded, no-out jam and struck out the next three batters for the save in Wisconsin’s third straight win.
Josh Adamczewski put the Timber Rattlers (11-5) in front in the top of the first with a two-out, RBI single to drive in Braylon Payne from second base.
Andrew Fischer added to the lead for Wisconsin when he cracked a solo home run to right in the top of the third.
The TinCaps (6-12) rallied against Rattler starting pitcher Wande Torres after there were two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Alex McCoy moved his hitting streak to fifteen games on a double. Kavares Tears was next and he sent a sinking line drive to center. Payne tried a diving catch, but the ball eluded him. McCoy scored and Tears wound up at second with a double.
Torres got himself out of the jam to maintain the lead moments later. A weak grounder off the bat of Rosman Verdugo glanced off the glove of Torres for a single. Tears tried to score from second on the play. Torres tracked down the ball and threw a strike to the plate to get Tears for the final out.
Fort Wayne did get the tying run in the bottom of the fifth. Torres had two outs and a runner at first when he committed a balk to move that runner into scoring position. Oswaldo Linares followed that with an RBI double to right-center to even the score 2-2.
There were two outs and none on base for the Rattlers in the top of the sixth when Juan Baez singled up the middle to keep the inning alive. David Garcia was next, and he lined a double to the corner in right to drive home Baez with the go-ahead run. Then, the Rattlers had their power surge.
Payne crushed a two-run home run to right, and that chased Kleiber Olmedo from the game. Dinges greeted reliever Luis German with a towering home run to center. Fischer capped the string of three straight homers by hitting one down the line in right for his second of the night and a sudden 7-2 lead.
Payne has four homers on the season. Dinges and Fischer both have three home runs this season.
The Rattlers added a run in the top of the seventh when Garcia singled with two outs to chase Daniel Dickinson home for an 8-2 lead.
Torres had left the game after five innings and was in line for the win after that offensive outburst in the sixth. Torres scattered six hits, walked none, and struck out five in his five innings of work.
The TinCaps would storm back in the seventh. Bjorn Johnson, the Rattler reliever who took over for Torres in the sixth and pitched a scoreless frame, had one out in the seventh. Jonathan Vastine hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that was fielded by first baseman Eric Bitonti. Johnson raced over to take the throw and appeared to beat Vastine to the base. The call was safe and Oswaldo Linares took advantage of the situation with a home run to left to cut Wisconsin’s lead to four runs.
Cunningham’s grounder to Fischer at third was misplayed for an error and Johnson walked the next batter. Carlos Rodriguez cut Wisconsin’s lead to one with a home run to center.
Jack Seppings replaced Johnson to get the final two outs of the seventh and pitch a scoreless eighth to maintain the one-run cushion.
There were two outs with none on for the Rattlers in the top of the ninth inning when Baez singled, Garcia walked, and a wild pitch moved them both into scoring position. The TinCaps elected to walk Payne and pitch to Dinges with the bases loaded. The plan backfired when Dinges drew a walk to force in a run for a 9-7 lead.
Jesus Flores went out for the bottom of the ninth and walked the first three batters of the inning to load the bases. Flores was checked by the training staff before the third walk and was removed from the game after another check by the training staff when he went 1-1 to Rodriguez.
Michael Fowler was called into the game from the bullpen to try to escape the jam against the 3-4-5 hitters in the TinCaps order as the crowd of 4,825 roared in anticipation of a memorable finish. The crowd got that memorable finish, just not the one they wanted.
Fowler struck out Rodriguez on 3-2 pitch for the first out, caught McCoy looking at 2-2 breaking ball for the second out, and struck out Tears swinging at a 3-2 fastball to close out the game and earn his second save of the season.
Thursday night marked the first time the Rattlers have hit four homers in a game since May 10, 2022 at Quad Cities. Wisconsin has also hit 21 home runs in April. That ties them with the 2017 team for the most April home runs by Wisconsin.
Game four of the series is Friday night at Parkview Field. Bryce Meccage (0-0, 2.61) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Fort Wayne has named Kash Mayfield (1-0, 0.00) as their starter. Game time is 6:05pm CDT.
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