The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers needed something Saturday afternoon to salvage the final game of a six-game series with the Lansing Lugnuts.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fell just short in their comeback against the Lansing Lugnuts for the conclusion of Friday night’s suspended game. The Rattlers had a run in and the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the seventh on Saturday afternoon, but the red hot Lugnuts escaped for a 4-3 victory.
The action on Friday night started when Wisconsin (4-10) scored twice in the bottom of the second inning. Jheremy Vargas doubled, tagged on a fly to the corner in left to take third base, and scored on a wild pitch. Tayden Hall kept the inning going with a two-out walk and a steal of second. Then, Blake Burke ripped a single to right to score Hall for the 2-0 lead.
The rain started to come down harder in the top of the fourth inning with Rattlers starting pitcher Chandler Welch on the mound. He walked Nate Nankil on four straight pitches to open the inning for Lansing (9-5). Then, Darlyn Montero hit a two-run homer to the Rattlers bullpen to tie the game.
Jonny Butler followed with a high fly down the line in left that Vargas had trouble picking up in the conditions. The ball dropped just fair, and Butler made it all the way to third. He would score the go-ahead run on Casey Yamauchi’s sacrifice fly.
The Timber Rattlers went down in order in the bottom of the fourth. Wisconsin’s grounds crew did a lot of work between innings to try to keep the field playable and Welch went back out in the top of the fifth inning and got the first out. Then, the umpires called for the tarp to halt play until Saturday afternoon.
Bishop Letson came on in relief for Wisconsin to restart the game and got the final two outs in the fifth and worked a scoreless sixth. Lansing reliever Blaze Pontes also worked two scoreless innings to keep the score at 3-2 heading to the seventh inning.
Letson got the first out of top of the seventh. Then, Sahid Valenzuela singled to center and advanced to second on a bobble by Eduardo Garcia. Letson got the second out and worked the count to 2-2 against Tommy White. Then, White singled to score the insurance run for Lansing.
Mark Adamiak entered the game for the Lugnuts to pitch the bottom of the seventh and promptly walked Vargas and David Garcia. Matt Wood was called on to pinch-hit for the Rattlers and he drove a single to left to score Vargas. Adamiak bounced back to strikeout Hall for the first out. Then, Burke grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers needed something Saturday afternoon to salvage the final game of a six-game series with the Lansing Lugnuts. That something was 5-2/3 innings of shutout pitching from Tyson Hardin that propelled the Rattlers to a 2-0 victory. Hardin struck out seven to earn his second win of the season and to help the Rattlers end a five-game losing streak.
Hardin did need a little help from his defense to shutout the Lugnuts. Lansing (9-6) nearly took the lead in the top of the third. Tommy White doubled with two outs. Then, TJ Schofield-Sam singled to left. White tried to score, but Jheremy Vargas’s throw to the plate was in time to keep the game scoreless.
Blake Burke started the rally for the Rattlers in the bottom of the fourth with a double. Jadher Areinamo extended his hitting streak to ten games with a single to put runners on the corners. Eduardo Garcia drove in Burke with a sacrifice fly for the 1-0 lead.
Wisconsin (5-10) added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Hedbert Pérez doubled and advanced to third on a wild pickoff throw to second. Yhoswar Garcia delivered the run with a double to center for the 2-0 advantage.
Hardin was in control after the single by Schofield-Sam in the third inning. He retired eight batters in a row – five of them via the strikeout – until he walked Schofield-Sam with two out in the top of the sixth. Hardin set new professional single-game highs for innings pitched and strikeouts. The only walk he allowed was on his last hitter of the game after his only full count of the game.
Zach Peek was called in to close out the game for the Rattlers and he got the final four outs for his first save as a Rattler.
The Rattlers are 3-0 in Hardin’s three starts this season. He has not allowed a run while striking out sixteen over 14-2/3 innings.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Sunday and Monday. They return to action on Tuesday with the first game of a six-game series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Game time is 6:35pm.
