(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fought back from several late deficits to defeat the Great Lakes Loons 10-9 in eleven innings Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Clutch performers for the Rattlers were Blayberg Diaz, who delivered big game-tying hits in the eighth and tenth innings and reliever Chandler Welch, who gutted out four tough innings to earn the win.
Jose Meza gave the Loons (33-23) a 2-0 lead with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the first inning.
Wisconsin (30-24) rallied in the second. Marco Dinges doubled on the first pitch of the inning. Josh Adamczewski followed with an RBI double to cut the Rattlers deficit in half. Great Lakes starter Zach Root struck out the next three Rattlers to strand Adamczewski in scoring position.
From there, the Loons would pull away by adding runs to their lead and the Rattlers would do just enough to stay within striking distance until the very last pitch.
Great Lakes scored in the fifth when Diaz made a throw to second on a stolen base attempt. The throw got away to allow the runner from third to score. The Loons added two more runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Jose Hernandez and Victor Rodrigues.
Adamczewski knocked in another run for the Rattlers with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth.
Meza struck again for Great Lakes in the top of the seventh with an RBI single.
In the bottom of the seventh, Daniel Dickinson was at second and Braylon Payne was at first with two outs. Luis Peña struck out but the ball got away from Rodrigues. The throw to first was high to allow Peña to reach. Dickinson never stopped running and he scored all the way from second on the play.
Welch entered in the top of the eighth and put up a zero to hold the score at 6-3 in favor of the Loons. That gave the Rattlers offense a jump.
Alex Makarewicz, the third Great Lakes pitcher of the night, walked the first three Wisconsin batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth.
Eric Bitonti drove in the first run of the inning when grounded into a force out at second against Davis Chastain, who entered the game for Makarewicz. Chastain got the second out when a popout to center wasn’t deep enough to score the run from third.
Luis Castillo and Diaz came through for Wisconsin with consecutive RBI singles with two out to even the score.
Welch had two on with two out in the top of the ninth inning, but Eduardo Guerrero drove in a go-ahead run on a single up the middle for a 6-5 lead before the final out could be recorded.
Wisconsin rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Andrew Fischer and Marco Dinges walked with one out. Adamczewski reached on an infield single with a wild throw to first allowing Fischer to score the tying run. On the play, pinch runner Juan Baez took third and Adamczewski got second base. The Loons walked Bitonti intentionally to load the bases and Chastain struck out the next two batters to send the game to the tenth with the score tied 7-7.
The Loons grabbed a 9-7 lead almost immediately in the tenth. Samuel Munoz had a lead-off single to knock in placed runner Anson Aroz. Eduardo Quintero singled with two on and one out to make it 9-7. Welch struck out the final two batters to turn it back over to the Rattlers offense.
Diaz had a lead-off RBI single to drive in the placed runner in the bottom of the tenth against Joseilyn Gonzalez. Payne nearly won the game with a deep fly to left that hit high off the wall in left. Diaz made third and Payne was at second after the double. Luiyin Alastre, batting for Peña after replacing him defensively for the top of the eighth, hit a grounder to second and Payne got trapped between second and third. He managed to stay in the rundown long enough for Alastre to wind up at second base. An intentional walk to Fischer reloaded the bases and Baez, hitting in Dinges’s spot in the order, tied the game 9-9 with a sacrifice fly.
Welch retired the Loons in order in the top of the eleventh. He pitched four innings, allowed three runs – two earned – and struck out six to set the stage for his sixth win of the season.
Bitonti was the placed at second base to start the inning. Dickinson drew a walk. Castillo looked like he had hit a double play ball, but the throw to first was low and Hernandez was unable to make the scoop. Gonzalez got the second out with a strikeout and was 2-2 on Payne with an eighth pitch of the at bat due. Gonzalez threw the next pitch high and to the backstop. Bitonti raced home for the walkoff winner.
Great Lakes pitchers struck out seventeen and walked fifteen in the game.
Fischer’s ten-game hitting streak came to an end. However, his hitting streak is now at 26 games after he walked four times and scored two runs in Tuesday’s marathon.
Adamczewski had three hits for his team-leading fifteenth multi-hit game of the season as a Rattler.
Tuesday night was the third walkoff win of the season for the Rattlers. It was also the second time they have scored a walkoff winner on a wild pitch.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, their elimination number in the first half West Division playoff race dropped to four with South Bend beating Peoria 6-2.
The Rattlers and Loons were rained out in Great Lakes on May 24 and will make up the game here on Wednesday with a pair of seven-inning games starting at 12:10pm. Game one features a pitching matchup of Josh Knoth (0-0, 3.12) for the Timber Rattlers versus Aidan Foeller (1-0, 3.21) for the Loons. The second game will start approximately 30-45 minutes after the final out of game one. A quirk for game two, since this is a game that was originally scheduled for Dow Diamond, is that the Loons will be the home team in the nightcap.
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