(TIMBER RATTLERS) – GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Great Lakes Loons hit four homers out of their sixteen hits on Friday night to beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 16-5 at Neuroscience Group Field. The offensive onslaught spoiled the evening for a season-high crowd of 6,673 fans.
The Loons (61-49 overall, 27-18 second half) took the lead in the first inning. Kendall George bunted back to the mound on the first pitch of the game. However, starting pitcher Sam Garcia’s throw to first was wide of the bag and George reached base. Eduardo Quintero followed with a two-run home run.
Wisconsin (50-60, 16-29) rallied past the Loons with some early offense. Jesús Made started the bottom of the first with a single. Andrew Fischer singled with one out. Then, Luiyin Alastre doubled to left to score Made. In the second, Luis Peña stepped to the box with two on and two out after Great Lakes botched a potential inning-ending double play ball. Peña launched a long home run to left, his third homer since joining the Rattlers on August 5, to take a 4-2 lead.
The lead was short-lived. Garcia got the first out in the top of the third but lost George on a 3-2 pitch to issue a free pass to the league leader in stolen bases. George stole second with Quintero at the plate to get into scoring position before showing off his speed in another way.
George was running on a pitch that Quintero hit for a routine grounder to Peña at short. George was nearly to third base by the time Peña fielded the ball. Peña checked third as George slowed around third before throwing to first base for the out on Quintero. George turned on the jets again as the ball was in the air to first to head for the plate. He beat first baseman Tayden Hall’s throw to the plate by a lot to score the run.
The next three batters reached as Zyhir Hope walked, Logan Wagner double him home to tie the game, and Jake Gelof hit another two-run home run to give the Loons a 6-4 lead. That home run was Gelof’s fourth two-run home run in the last three days. He had hit two on Wednesday and one on Thursday.
Elijah Hainline added to the lead with a lead-off home run in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Wisconsin had a chance to come back from the 7-4 lead. Fischer doubled and Alastre singled to start the inning. Blayberg Diaz doubled with one out to score Fischer, but Alastre was thrown out at the plate for the second out. The Rattlers would not score again.
That would not be the case for Great Lakes. The Loons added a run in the sixth when Hainline scored from second on an error in center after a single by Carlos Rojas; four runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Hope and a three-run home run by Wagner; and a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Quintero.
In the ninth, Wisconsin turned to catcher Victor Torres and Great Lakes scored three runs on four hits to cap their evening at sixteen runs on sixteen hits.
There were a few offensive highlights for the Rattlers.
Made went 2-for-5 with a double to extend his current hitting streak to six games. He is 13-for-30 during the streak. Made also has five multi-hit games in nine games with Wisconsin.
Fischer, in his second game as a professional, also went 2-for-5 with a double. He is 5-for-9 in two games with the Rattlers.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Ryan Birchard (3-6, 4.21) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Adam Serwinowski is 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA since coming over to the Loons after a trade deadline deal between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers celebrate Jackson Chourio’s 20/20 season in 2024 with the stealing a base part of his bobblehead series as the giveaway on Saturday night. This bobblehead, available to the first 1,000 fans through the gates, is presented by Steinhafels. This is also the game for the Rattlers to become the Malmö Oat Milkers, the 121st team in Minor League Baseball, with special jerseys. Fans will be able to enter a drawing to win these jerseys. After the game, enjoy a fireworks show presented by Kimberly-Clark. Children twelve and under are allowed to run the bases courtesy of Meijer after the fireworks
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