(TIMBER RATTLERS) MIDLAND, MI – Tensions snapped in the ninth inning of an emotional game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Great Lakes Loons with a bench-clearing incident Friday night at Dow Diamond. When play resumed, Miles Langhorne, the newest Rattler reliever, stayed cool and preserved a 6-4 victory for starting pitcher Anthony Flores, who worked six innings for the first time in his professional career.
There were two outs with none on base in the top of the first inning when Blake Burke worked a ten-pitch walk against Great Lakes starting pitcher Payton Martin. Marco Dinges was next and lined a double to right that put runners on second and third. Hedbert Pérez followed with a double to right-center to give Wisconsin (32-29) a 2-0 lead.
Martin walked Yhoswar Garcia on ten pitches and left the game with an injury. Christian Ruebeck took over and got the final out of the first inning.
Great Lakes (31-30) tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second. Jake Gelof doubled with one out, Joe Vetrano knocked in Gelof with a single. A wild pitch by Flores moved Vetrano to second. Carlos Rojas evened the score with a two with a two-out single to left.
The Timber Rattlers went back in front in the top of the fifth inning. The Rattlers had runners at the corners after singles by Tayden Hall and Juan Baez. Jadher Areinamo doubled to left to score Hall with an errant throw on an attempt to get Areinamo at second allowing Baez to score. Then, Blake Burke singled to drive in Areinamo for a 5-2 lead.
Flores ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. The speedy Kendall George beat out a routine grounder to short with one out. Flores walked the next two batters to load the bases. He escaped the jam by getting Kyle Nevin to tap back to the mound to start a 1-2-3, inning-ending double play.
The left-hander would toss a perfect sixth inning to end his night. He scattered seven hits, walked two, and struck out five.
The Loons turned up the pressure on Bayden Root, the first Wisconsin reliever, as the first three hitters in the seventh reached on two singles and a walk. Root stopped the Loons rally with back-to-back strikeouts of Zyhir Hope and Mike Sirota and a soft lineup to first by Nevin.
In the bottom of the eighth, Logan Wagner doubled and stole third. Gelof walked but was out trying to steal second with Wagner staying at third base. Then, Root hit Vetrano to put runners on the corners. Jordan Thompson drove in Wagner with a sacrifice fly to get the Loons to within two runs. Root ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Timber Rattlers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Daniel Guilarte doubled, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch by Reynaldo Yean. The Rattlers carried that 6-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth with Yerlin Rodriguez taking over on the mound for the save opportunity.
Rodriguez was called for a pitch timer violation with Kendall George coming to the plate to start the inning. That got Rodriguez going and he missed the next two pitches for a 3-0 count. George, the #12 prospect in the Dodgers system, was stepping out of the box as Rodriguez was making the next offering and the ball was way inside on the left-handed hitter. George and Rodriguez were yelling at each other with George being restrained as the benches and bullpens cleared.
The situation appeared to calm down but there was another situation with a screaming match in in right field that led to benches clearing again. The umpires would give ejection to George and Rodriguez. Play would resume about ten minutes later when Langhorne was ready to go as the emergency closer.
Langhorne fell behind Hope, the Dodgers #3 prospect, 3-0 but fought back to a full count. Then, Hope lined a double to left-center. Pinch-runner Wilman Diaz raced for the plate with a good relay throw from Guilarte beating him home. However, Dinges couldn’t handle the throw and Diaz scored to cut Wisconsin’s lead back to two runs with the tying run at the plate.
The first out of the inning came when Langhorne struck out Mike Sirota. Then, Nevin walked on four pitches to bring the winning run to the plate.
It wouldn’t matter on this night. Langhorne got the final two outs with two huge strikeouts of Wagner and Gelof to earn his first Midwest League save.
Great Lakes stranded eleven runners and went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Friday night. Wisconsin pitchers have held Great Lakes to 8-for-46 with runners in scoring position in the first four games of the series.
Wisconsin leads the series 3-1. The Rattlers are three game over .500 for the first time this season.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Dow Diamond. Sam Garcia (1-0, 3.38) is set to be the starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Loons have named Sean Linan (0-1, 2.79) as their starter. Game time is 6:05pm CDT.
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