GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers made the South Bend Cubs sweat a lot late in the game on a cool Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field in front of their largest home crowd of the year. The playoff-bound Cubs, the team with the best record in the Midwest League, were able to hold on for a tense 7-6 win that all but ended the already slim playoff hopes of the Rattlers.
The Cubs (72-49 overall, 33-26 second half) were up 3-0 three batters into the game. The first two hitters reached on a walk and a single against Wisconsin starting pitcher Andrew Healy. Then, Angel Cepeda hit a homer over the wall in center. It was Cepeda’s third homer of the series and his ninth with South Bend.
Wisconsin (64-56, 30-28) struck back in the bottom of the fourth. Luis Castillo hit a lead-off home run to center, his seventeenth of the season. The homer also gave Castillo eighty RBI on the season.
Healy departed the game with a runner on first and one out in the top of the sixth. Chandler Welch took over on the mound and got an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, one of four twin killings turned by Wisconsin on Saturday night. Healy’s final line was 5-1/3 innings pitched, three runs, five hits, three walks, and two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the sixth, Castillo cut South Bend’s lead to one when hit another lead-off homer. This one was a line drive to right for his eighteenth homer of the season to match his single-season high as a pro.
Castillo also hit eighteen home runs with the Carolina Mudcats in 2024.
However, South Bend got both of those runs back with a two-out rally in the top of the seventh. Welch struck out the first two Cubs in the seventh. He hit Matt Halbach and gave up an RBI double to Justin Stransky. A walk to Josiah Hartshorn extended the inning before Jose Escobar singled to knock in Stransky for a 5-2 lead over Wisconsin.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Rattlers loaded the bases with no outs. They got one run on a one-out walk to Eric Bitonti but left three stranded when the inning ended.
The Cubs scored two more runs in the top of the eighth. Reginald Preciado doubled to drive in the first run. Halbach followed with an RBI single for a 7-3 lead. The Cubs had two on with one out when Welch got another inning-ending double play.
Noah Edders, the Cubs second pitcher of the game who entered with two outs in the third, went back out for the bottom of the eighth. Yannic Walther singled and Juan Baez doubled to open the inning. Jackson Kilpatrick relieved Edders after a popup recorded the first out. Kilpatrick proceeded to make things very interesting by walking Blayberg Diaz to load the bases, hitting Sawyer Strosnider to force in Walther, throwing a wild pitch to let Baez race home, and walking Daniel Dickinson to reload the bases.
Adam Stone was called in from the Cubs bullpen, and he walked Bitonti to force in Diaz and the Rattlers were within a run.
Unfortunately for the faithful in the stands, Stone found his composure and retired the next two batters to leave the bases loaded. He would go on to retire the Rattlers in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn his second save of the season.
The Timber Rattlers left eleven runners on base and went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. There were six popouts and four strikeouts out of the fourteen outs made by the Rattlers with runners in scoring position.
In the West Division playoff race, the Quad Cities River Bandits defeated the Beloit Sky Carp 7-2 on Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park to drop the Timber Rattlers 6-1/2 games behind the River Bandits with seven games left in the season. The River Bandits and Sky Carp close out their series tomorrow. If the Bandits win, or the Rattlers lose tomorrow, Wisconsin will be officially eliminated from the playoff race.
The home finale for the 2026 season is Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Game time for the Rattlers and Cubs is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.
The first 1,000 fans aged 14 and under will receive a Sal Frelick Youth Jersey presented by Network Health. Fans of all ages can participate in Pregame Catch On the Field presented by TruGreen from noon-12:30. Players and coaches will wear their Brewers Sunday jerseys for the final time this season during this game. Bid in the online auction to win the jersey of your favorite player at this link right now. The Brewers Sunday jersey auction ends on Sunday, September 6. After the game, bring your baseball memorabilia to the picnic pavilion down the first base side of the concourse for Postgame Player Autographs presented by Fox Cities Cards.
If you can’t make it to the ballpark, Newstalk 93.9 WOSH and internet audio has the radio broadcast starting with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 12:50pm. Bally Sports Live will have the game on their app, too.