(TIMBER RATTLERS) – DAVENPORT, IA – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers wasted some good scoring opportunities and a fine pitching performance by Manuel Rodriguez against the Quad Cities River Bandits on Friday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Wisconsin carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning only to see the River Bandits tie the game in the sixth and blow by them with five runs in the seventh inning on the way to a 6-2 final score.
The Rattlers (42-51 overall, 8-20 second half) grabbed the lead in the first inning as a pair of minor league rehabbers faced each other. Luinder Avila, the starting pitcher for the River Bandits, walked Steward Berroa, the designated hitter for Wisconsin to open the game. Jadher Areinamo followed with a single. Berroa and Areinamo pulled a double steal to get into scoring position. Then, Avila threw a wild pitch to allow Berroa to score for a 1-0 advantage.
That looked like it would be enough for Rodriguez. The right-hander gave up a lead-off double to Sam Kulasingam in the first inning and retired the next eleven batters he faced before Callan Moss doubled with two outs in the fourth. Rodriguez went 5-1/3 innings, walked none, allowed three hits, and struck out seven before turning the 1-0 lead over to the bullpen.
That lead could have been a little bigger had the Rattlers been able to cash in on a good opportunity in the top of the fifth inning against Quad Cities reliever Felix Arronde. Berroa walked with one out. Areinamo followed with another single for his 29th multi-hit game of the season. Then, Arronde walked Eduardo Garcia to load the bases. Blake Burke was next, and he hit a line drive up the middle. However, shortstop Daniel Vazquez was positioned perfectly and easily caught the rocket. Arronde got a final out on a flyout to center to keep his team within a run.
Quad Cities (55-38, 16-11) tied the game against reliever Stiven Cruz almost immediately after Rodriguez left the game in the sixth inning. Cruz walked Blake Mitchell and gave up a double to Vazquez. Moss knocked in Mitchell with the tying run on an RBI grounder.
The seventh inning was devastating to the Rattlers. Cruz walked Carter Frederick to start the inning. Trevor Werner hit a grounder to Garcia at short for what looked like a routine double play ball. Garcia missed the ball for an error and, suddenly, the Bandits had runners at the corners with no outs.
Erick Torres stepped in with one out and lined a pitch to center that landed out of the reach of Yhoswar Garcia. The ball rolled to the wall for a two-run triple and the River Bandits had their first lead of the game.
The Bandits tacked on three more runs in the inning on RBI singles by Kulasingam and Vazquez and an RBI double by Moss. Three of the runs in the inning were unearned.
The Rattlers scrapped for one more run in the ninth. Luiyin Alastre moved his hitting streak to seven games with a lead-off single, moved to second on a wild pitch, made third on a bloop single by Blayberg Diaz, and scored on another wild pitch.
The single by Diaz in the ninth was Wisconsin’s only hit with a runner in scoring position on Friday night. The Rattlers were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the game. Quad Cities went 4-for-15 in the game but were 4-for-7 with runners in scoring position in the decisive seventh inning.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Tanner Gillis (1-1, 2.30) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Drew Beam (4-7, 3.54) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 5:30pm.
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