(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) PEORIA, IL – Braylon Payne gave the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers a 5-4 lead with a two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning at Dozer Park against the Peoria Chiefs on Tuesday night. A trio of Wisconsin pitcher protected that one-run advantage all the way to the finish line for a victory.
Wisconsin (42-29 overall, 8-1 second half) grabbed the lead in the top of the second on a hard grounder to short off the bat of Tyler Rodriguez, in his Timber Rattlers debut. Tayden Hall scored from third on the infield single for the 1-0 lead.
Hall put the Rattlers up 3-0 in the third inning with a two-run home run to right field. The left-hander has six homers this season with half of them against the Chiefs.
Peoria (36-39, 4-5) stormed back to take the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. José Suárez and Jack Gurevitch had back-to-back RBI singles. Josh Kross followed with a two-run single for the 4-3 lead. The Wisconsin starting pitcher set down the next three batters to keep the deficit at a run.
The Rattlers didn’t trail for long.
Rodriguez singled to start the fourth. Payne put the Rattlers up 5-4 when he cleared the hitting background in center for a two-run home run with one out. Payne extended his current hitting streak to twelve games with his sixteenth home run of the season.
Knoth bounced back after that rough stretch in the third inning as he allowed one hit in his final two frames to set himself up for his second win of the season.
Jason Woodward was next up for Wisconsin. He got into a two-out jam with a walk and a single to put runners on the corner before escaping on a grounder to second. A perfect seventh was followed by a major jam in the eighth.
Kross singled to start the inning. Jalin Flores singled with one out to put runners on the corners to end the night for Woodward.
Quinton Low was called in from the Rattlers bullpen, and he upped the degree of difficulty by walking the first batter he faced. However, he got out of the situation with the lead still intact as Ian Petrutz grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
In the top of the ninth, Wisconsin loaded the bases with no outs but could not add to their advantage.
Low gave up a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth before closing out the game in style by striking out both Suárez and Gurevitch to end the game and collect his first save of the season.
Hall had three hits for the Rattlers. Eric Bitonti was on base four times with two walks and two hits as he moved his hitting streak to a season-high nine games.
Game two of the series at Dozer Park is Wednesday night. Ethan Dorchies (2-5, 5.84) is the announced starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Yhoiker Fajardo (1-4, 3.38) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 6:35pm.
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