(TIMBERRATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers didn’t lead Tuesday’s game against the Peoria Chiefs until Blake Burke’s ninth-inning single sent Daniel Guilarte across the plate for a 5-4 victory at Neuroscience Group Field. Burke had three hits for the Rattlers as the team rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits to win game one of the six-game series.
Peoria (18-27) scored three runs on five hits in the top of the first against José Quintana. The Chiefs started the game with a single by Jon Jon Gazdar. He stole second and scored on a single by Josh Baez. Then, Baez stole second and scored on a single by Travis Honeyman. Ian Petrutz made it four singles in a row to put runners on the corners with no outs. A bloop single by Brayden Jobert drove in the final run of the inning for 3-0 lead.
Quintana, who was making a rehab start for the Milwaukee Brewers, found himself after that single by Jobert. He retired the next nine batters he faced and did not allow another run as he completed four innings on 72 pitches. He walked one and struck out three.
Wisconsin (21-25) chipped away at the early deficit with single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings to tie the game.
Hedbert Pérez drove in Marco Dinges Wisconsin’s first run with an RBI grounder in the second. Dinges hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to get Wisconsin’s second run.
In the fifth, Pérez walked, moved to second on a grounder, and took third on a single by Blayberg Diaz. Daniel Guilarte hit a foul pop near the stands behind first base. Peoria second baseman Tre Richardson made a great running catch and held on as he ran into the padding and netting by the stands. Pérez took a chance and tagged from third to try to score. Richardson’s throw home was offline and late to allow Pérez to score the tying run.
Peoria went back in front with a two-out rally in the top of the sixth. Jobert drew a walk with two away against Anthony Flores. Miguel Villarroel reached on an infield single. Graysen Tarlow followed with a single to send Jobert across the plate for a 4-3 lead.
It looked bleak for the Rattlers as Angel Gonzalez pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth and retired the first two Timber Rattlers in the bottom of the seventh. Then, Eduardo Garcia jumped all over a 2-2 pitch from Gonzalez to hit a long home run to left that tied the game 4-4. The home run was Garcia’s sixth of the season, and his second in two at bats against Gonzalez in 2025.
In the bottom of the ninth, Guilarte drew a lead-off walk against Tanner Jacobson. Jadher Areinamo followed with a single to get Guilarte into scoring position. Jacobson retired Garcia to bring Burke to the plate.
Burke ripped a 1-1 pitch inside the first base line to score Guilarte for the game-winner.
Garcia extended his hitting streak to ten games by going 2-for-5. Pérez is on a nine-game hitting streak after he singled in the eighth inning.
Game two of the series is Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Brandon Woodruff has been named the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers as he continues his MLB rehab from the Milwaukee Brewers. The Chiefs have named Hancel Rincon (1-0, 3.58) as their starting pitcher. Game time is 12:10pm CDT.
Timber Rattlers’ Perez gers Player of Week honors: isconsin Timber Rattlers outfielder Hedbert Pérez was rewarded after a terrific series in South Bend last week with the Midwest League Player of the Week award. Minor League Baseball recognized Pérez with the honor yesterday.
Pérez went 10-for-22 (.455) with a double and two homers for an OPS of 1.251 in the series. He also stole two bases in the series to help the Rattlers win four of the six games of the series against the South Bend Cubs at Four Winds Field. Pérez is currently on an eight-game hitting streak.
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