The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers found themselves down 8-0 to the red-hot Great Lakes Loons on Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Rattlers battled back to within a run twice, but ultimately fell 9-8 to Great Lakes. Noah Miller led Great Lakes with two homers and three RBI in support of five scoreless innings from Jared Karros, who had to watch as his bullpen almost gave the game to Wisconsin.
The Loons (16-7) started fast. Wisconsin starter Patricio Aquino walked lead-off hitter Alex Freeland to begin the game. Miller followed with a two-run home run to right on a 1-2 pitch and Great Lakes was up two batters into the game on Miller’s second homer of the series.
Aquino hit Jake Vogel with one out in the top of the second and Freeland made him pay for it by lining an RBI double to right-center to give the Loons a 3-0. Chris Newell made it 4-0 in favor of the visitors in the top of the third with a lead-off home run to center. An error on a pickoff throw to third with two outs in the fourth allowed Vogel to score from third.
Great Lakes had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fifth against reliever Tyler Wehrle. He got Nelson Quiroz to send a weak grounder up the first base line. Wehrle tried to get the out at the plate and threw wildly. Two runs scored and the Rattlers were down 7-0.
Karros, the Great Lakes starting pitcher, didn’t let a Wisconsin batter past second base in his five shutout innings. The right-hander allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out two in his five scoreless innings.
Miller hit a lead-off homer in the top of the sixth inning and Wisconsin was staring at an 8-0 hole. Miller is 6-for-10 with three homers and six RBI in the first two games of the series at Wisconsin.
The Timber Rattlers (15-8) began climbing out of that hole with two runs on one hit in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Madison Jeffrey.
Gregory Barrios was hit by a pitch, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch. Luke Adams got Barrios across the plate with a single but was erased on a double play. The Rattlers restarted the rally with two more walks and two more wild pitches. The second wild pitch allowed Jadher Areinamo to score the second run.
In the bottom of the seventh, Vargas was at first with two outs. The next seven Rattlers reached base against reliever Jerming Rosario as they cut the deficit to a single run. Barrios singled and Adams was hit by a pitch. Matt Wood lined a single to left to score two runs. Areinamo followed with an RBI single. Ram?n Rodríguez worked the count full and sent a high popup on the infield. The wind blew the ball out of the reach of the fielders as it landed on the mound for an RBI single to chase Rosario.
Terence Doston greeted reliever Kelvin Bautista with a single to center to get the Rattlers to within 8-7. Vargas, in his second plate appearance of the inning walked to load the bases before Bautista got the final out.
Great Lakes took advantage of a lead-off walk in the top of the eighth inning. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. Dylan Campbell blooped a singled to left to score the insurance run for a 9-7 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Areinamo had a lead-off single, his third hit of the game, to bring the tying run to the plate against Lucas Wepf. However, Wepf got a 6-4-3 double play to put the Loons one out away from their eighth straight win.
Doston delayed the celebration with a home run to right to bring the Rattlers back to within a run. Vargas was hit by a pitch to keep the game alive with the winning run at the plate before Wepf ended the game with a force out at second.
Doston was 2-for-5 with two RBI on Wednesday to move his current hitting streak to five games (9-for-20). Barrios in on a six-game hitting streak (9-for-23) and Areinamo is on a four game hitting streak (7-for-17).
Great Lakes has hit five homers in the series to give them 22 so far this season.
Game three of the series is Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Will Rudy (0-1, 5.93) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Paul Heubeck (1-1, 2.51) is slated to start for Great Lakes. Game time is 6:40pm.
