The South Bend Cubs scored six runs in the first inning on Thursday night and cruised to a 13-4 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Four Winds Field. Felix Stevens extended his hitting streak to thirteen games with a homer, a double, and four RBI to lead the Cubs' 14-hit attack.
Wisconsin (17-16 second half, 43-54 overall) was robbed of a run in the top of the first inning. Matt Wood singled with one out and was still at first with two outs. Ernesto Martínez Jr sent a towering flyball to the gap in right-center only to be denied an RBI double by a diving catch by right fielder Jacob Wetzel.
South Bend (15-18, 45-53) jumped on Rattlers starting pitcher Alexander Cornielle right away. The first three batters of the Cubs' first inning reached on a double, a walk, and a single to load the bases. Moises Ballesteros followed with a two-run single. Stevens followed that with a three-run homer and South Bend was up 5-0 five batters into the bottom of the first.
Cornielle got the first out of the inning with a strikeout, but walked the next three batters and left the game with the bases loaded.
Karlos Morales got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts but threw a wild pitch between strikeouts to allow a runner to score and the Rattlers were down 6-0 as the Cubs sent twelve men to the plate in the first inning.
Cubs starting pitcher Brandon Birdsell allowed one more hit as he worked five scoreless innings and struck out five.
The Cubs added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run single by Ezequiel Pagan.
The game got out of hand in the seventh and eighth innings. The Cubs scored three times in the seventh against Nick Merkel on an RBI single by Ballesteros, an RBI double by Stevens, and a sacrifice fly by Yohendrick Pinango. In the eighth, Wisconsin asked Alex Hall to move from left field to the mound. He nearly got out of the inning without allowing a run, but Liam Spence hit a two-out, two-run double off the wall in left for a 13-0 lead.
The Timber Rattlers got on the scoreboard in the top of the ninth inning to avoid being shut out as Cubs reliever Jarod Wright walked the first three batters in the inning. Martínez Jr ripped a triple to the corner in right to score all three runners. Hall followed with a sacrifice fly to score Martínez.
Wisconsin pitchers combined to walk twelve hitters, a new season-high. The only Rattler hurler who didn’t walk a batter in the game was Hall.
Brock Wilken, the #1 pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2023 draft, made his Timber Rattlers debut as the starting third baseman and the number three hitter in the lineup. He was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the game.
The Cubs lead this series 2-1 and hold the season series edge over the Rattlers 5-4. South Bend also owns the series lead in run differential at a +20. To claim the season series from South Bend, the Rattlers will need to win the final three games of the series or win two of the three games in the series by a total of 21 runs to claim the tiebreaker from the Cubs.
Thursday’s game marked the halfway point of the second half of the season. There are 33 games down and 33 games remaining in the half. The loss on Thursday dropped Wisconsin a game behind the Peoria Chiefs, who won 6-2 over Quad Cities at home. The Chiefs own the tiebreaker over the Rattlers so that lead is two games for Peoria. The Cedar Rapids Kernels are already in the playoffs as the first-half champions and if they would win the second half of the season, too, the playoff spot in this half goes to the team that finishes second in the West Division.
Game four of the series is Friday night. Tyler Woessner (5-6, 3.69) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Cubs have named Michael Arias (0-2, 5.79) as their starter. Game time is 6:05 pm CDT.
