The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers waited until the last possible second to get their offense going against the Cedar Rapids Kernels, but it wasn’t enough for a much-needed victory. The Kernels held on for a 2-1 win on Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
Gilberto Celestino put the Kernels (69-53 overall, 30-22 second half) up 1-0 in the first inning with a one-out, solo home run to left.
Wander Javier made it 2-0 in favor of Cedar Rapids with a lead-off home run in the fourth inning.
Wisconsin (59-62, 28-24) could not solve Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Luis Rijo. The Kernels right-hander allowed a one-out single to Je’Von Ward in the bottom of the second. Then, he retired fourteen in a row before giving up a lead-off single to Pablo Abreu in the seventh inning. Rijo retired next three batters in the seventh to finish his night with no runs on two hits with no walks and nine strikeouts over seven innings.
Austin Schulfer took over for Rijo in the eighth inning and set down the side in order. In the ninth, Schulfer retired the first two batters of the inning. Then, the Rattlers made the game interesting.
Abreu doubled to left-center to keep the game alive. Thomas Dillard followed with an RBI single to center to score Abreu and move his on-base streak to 29 games. There was an error on the play that allowed Dillard to move into second with the tying run. Schulfer followed that by throwing a wild pitch and Dillard was standing on third with the tying run.
David Fry drew a walk to put the winning run on base and bring Ward to the plate.
Ward hit a chopper up the middle that deflected off the glove of Schulfer, but the ball went right to second baseman Yunior Severino, who threw to first just in time to get Ward for the final out of the game.
In the second half Western Division Playoff chase, both teams the Timber Rattlers are chasing lost on Thursday night, too. The division-leading Kane County Cougars lost 3-2 to the Peoria Chiefs at home. The wild-card leading Clinton LumberKings lost 4-1 to the Burlington Bees at home. Wisconsin trails Clinton for the Wild Card by three games and Kane County for the division lead by six games. There are eighteen games left in the regular season.
The final game of the three-game series is Friday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Ethan Small (0-0, 0.00) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Matt Canterino (0-0, 1.80) is set to start for the Kernels. First pitch is 7:05pm.
