GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers were down 2-0 and being no-hit by the Peoria Chiefs with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning on Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Wisconsin scored twice in the eighth and once in the ninth to beat the Chiefs 3-2. Jose Duran had a pair of big RBI for the Rattlers.Josh Vitters broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning. The Peoria third baseman put the Chiefs (38-33 overall , 0-2 second half) in front 2-0 with a two-run homer. That home run was the fourteenth of the season for Vitters. It was also the last run
Peoria starting pitcher Chris Archer pitched five no-hit innings. He walked five, struck out four, and also worked around a pair of errors. But, he had over 85 pitches through five innings and left with the lead.
Wily Peralta, the starting pitcher for the Rattlers, struck out 10 over six innings, but was on the losing end of the score until Wisconsin rallied.
First, Juan Sanchez broke up the no-hit bid with a clean, one out single to center in the bottom of the seventh inning off Alberto Cabrera.
Then, the Rattlers (36-36, 2-0) tied the game with a two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth. Brock Kjeldgaard started the comeback with a one out single. Duran tripled to the gap in rightcenter to chase Kjeldgaard home with the first Wisconsin run of the game. That was all for Cabrera and Chris Huseby was brought on to face Steve Braun.
Braun singled sharply off Huseby and Duran raced home with the tying run.
Finally, the Rattlers (36-36, 2-0) won the game with a run in the bottom of the ninth. Corey Kemp, Brett Lawrie, and Chris Dennis singled to load the bases with no outs against Huseby. The right-handed reliever got a strikeout for the first out, but he could not get by Duran.
The Rattlers third baseman was facing a drawn-in infield and sent a hard grounder to the left of second baseman Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty dove, knocked down the ball, and scrambled to control it. Kemp just beat the throw home to score the winning run.
Brandon Ritchie, who entered the game as a reliever for the Rattlers with a runner at first and no outs, picked up the win by keeping the game tied and letting the Wisconsin offense do its thing in the ninth. Ritchie is now 5-0 on the season.
The Timber Rattlers and Chiefs continue their series on Saturday night. Wisconsin has Efrain Nieves (2-4, 5.88) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Peoria will counter with Chris Carpenter (4-3, 2.60). Game time is 6:35pm.
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