GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers went down fighting on Friday night against the Beloit Sky Carp at Neuroscience Group Field. The Rattlers trailed Beloit 10-3 heading into their final at bat. They managed to score four runs and get the tying run to the plate before the Sky Carp got the final out to hang on for a 10-7 victory over the Rattlers.
Both teams scored a run in the first inning. They tallied their runs in very different ways.
Chase Jaworsky started the Beloit rally with a one out single and a steal of second. Wisconsin starting pitcher Jayden Dubanewicz walked the next batter. Colby Shade followed and grounded into a force play at second for the second out. The Sky Carp, who entered Friday’s game with 202 stolen bases this season, pulled off a double steal with Shade taking second and Jaworsky stealing home without a play after the throw went through to second.
Braylon Payne crushed a lead-off homer in the bottom of the first to tie the game. Payne has seventeen homers this season with Wisconsin. He has hit three lead-off home runs out of those seventeen.
The Sky Carp (39-44 overall, 12-6 second half) went in front again with two runs in the second, but it could have been much worse for the Rattlers.
Dubanewicz loaded the bases with no outs on a walk to Carlos Sanchez, a single by Esmil Valencia, and a walk to Jacob Jenkins-Cowart. Wilfredo Lara blooped a single to right to score Sanchez for a 2-1 lead. The game took a turn to the unusual on the next ball in play.
Starlyn Caba hit a deep line drive off the wall in left-center. Valencia scored easily from third. Jenkins-Cowart got a late start at second and was heading for third with Lara right on his heels. Meanwhile, Payne played the carom perfectly off the wall and fired a strike to Juan Baez, the cutoff man. Both Jenkins-Cowart and Lara rounded third and tried to score. Baez’s throw to catcher Blayberg Diaz was in time to get Jenkins-Cowart. Diaz alertly got another tag on Lara for two outs at the plate.
Dubanewicz got a popup to end the inning with the Rattlers only down 3-1.
A lead-off walk to Sanchez in the top of the fourth led to trouble for Dubanewicz again. Valencia, the #23 prospect in the Miami Marlins system, hit a ball that stayed fair down the left field line for a two-run home run and a 5-1 lead.
Jesus Hernandez doubled in the sixth, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Valencia. Jenkins-Cowart got a measure of redemption with a two-out solo homer later in the inning for a 7-1 lead.
Wisconsin (47-33, 13-5) was able to string together a rally against Beloit starter Joey Volini in the sixth inning. Payne singled, Luis Peña doubled, and Marco Dinges walked to load the bases. Daniel Dickinson doubled off the wall in left to drive in two runs.
Hernandez struck again for Beloit. In the top of the seventh with two on and two out, Hernandez hit a three-run home run off Jose Nova for a 10-3 lead.
That home run would haunt the Rattlers.
The bottom of the ninth started with three straight singles by Dickinson, Tyler Rodriguez, and Juan Baez off Jaydenn Estanista, the third Beloit pitcher of the night. The hit by Baez drove in Dickinson and the Rattlers were down by six.
Estanista struck out the next two batters before things got interesting.
Payne smacked a single up the middle to score two runs to make the deficit four runs. The single was Payne’s third hit of the night.
Peña followed with a single to right and Payne raced around to third. An ill-advised throw from Jenkins-Cowart to third was wild to allow Payne to score and Peña to wind up on third. The pressure cranked up on Estanista when he walked Eric Bitonti on a 3-2 pitch to bring Dinges to the plate as the tying run.
Dinges jumped on the first pitch, a slider from Estanista, and hit it at 110-mph down the line in left. Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the Dinges was out in front and the ball hooked foul. The count went full to Dinges before he hit a sharp grounder to short to end the dream of the late comeback.
The season series between the teams is tied 3-3 with this series even 2-2. Wisconsin’s lead over the Sky Carp in the second half West Division standings is down to one game.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field. Josh Knoth (2-0, 3.14) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Liomar Martinez (2-4, 6.23) has been named the starter for the Sky Carp. Game time is 6:40pm.
Saturday is a tropical theme with Margaritaville Night. There is a Saturday night fireworks display after the game. Kids Run the Bases for children twelve and under happens after fireworks and is presented by Meijer. Stick around after all of this for a concert by Boat Drinks!
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 6:20pm. Bally Sports Live will have the game on their app, too.