The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers used an eight-run top of the third inning and overcame a sloppy bottom of the third inning to defeat the Quad Cities River Bandits 11-4 at Modern Woodmen Park Wednesday night. Terence Doston reached base four times in four plate appearances and either set the table or cleared the table for the Rattlers suddenly potent offense.
Wisconsin (3-1 second half, 29-39 overall) appeared to take control of the game with an eight-run third inning in which they sent thirteen men to the plate with seven straight batters reaching base with two outs to take an 8-0 lead. The rally started with Doston and Eric Brown Jr drawing consecutive one-out walks. Robert Moore singled to knock in Doston and send Brown to third. Matt Wood followed with a sacrifice fly to score Brown for a 2-0 lead.
Then, the fun started.
Joe Gray Jr singled. Darrien Miller singled to score Moore. Ben Metzinger singled to knock in Gray. Ernesto Martinez Jr singled to get Miller home and the Rattlers were up 5-0. Eduarqui Fernández was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Doston drew another walk to force in a run and that was the end of the line for River Bandits starting pitcher Luinder Avila.
Brown capped the scoring with an RBI, infield single against reliever Luis Barroso. A second run scored on an error on the play for the 8-0 lead.
The River Bandits (0-4, 32-38) didn’t let the Rattlers cruise home as they scored four unearned runs with help from three Wisconsin errors in the bottom of the third.
Rattlers starting pitcher Cameron Wagoner walked the lead-off batter. A routine fly ball to right was dropped by Fernández to put two runners on base. Javier Vaz singled to right on a 3-2 pitch with the runners moving to score a run and put runners on the corners. Herard Gonzalez knocked in the second run of the inning with an infield grounder. Then, Brown misplayed a grounder off the bat of Gavin Cross to allow Vaz to score. Cross stole second and took third on a throwing error.
Cayden Wallace sent a routine grounder to Moore at second, but Martinez ranged far off the first base bag to try to field the ball, too. No one was covering to take the throw, and Moore had to hold the ball as Wallace got an infield single to score Cross and end Wagoner’s night. All four of the runs scored in the inning were unearned.
Nick Merkel got the final out of the inning on one pitch when Carter Jensen flew out to left. Merkel would pitch 3-1/3 innings of scoreless relief and allowed just one hit to hold the line.
The Rattlers tacked on some insurance runs in the top of the eighth. Martinez reached on catcher’s interference and Je’Von Ward singled. Doston singled to left to score Martinez. Ward and Doston pulled a double steal. Brown and Moore had back-to-back sacrifice flies to score Ward and Doston for the 11-4 lead.
Sam Gardner, who took over for Merkel to start the bottom of the seventh, pitched three scoreless innings to pick up his first save in affiliate ball. Gardner had been signed out of the independent Frontier League by the Milwaukee Brewers and assigned to Wisconsin earlier this month.
Doston was 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored, two RBI, and three stolen bases to pace the offense
Wisconsin has won three straight games and has scored a total of 31 runs on 33 hits in those three games. This win marks the fifth time Wisconsin has won three straight games this season.
The Rattlers will get a crack at their first four-game winning streak of the season with game two of the series Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Stiven Cruz (2-5, 7.24) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Mason Barnett (2-3, 4.06) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 6:30pm CDT.
