Cedar Rapids Sends Wisconsin to a 6-4 Loss
August 18, 2023 - Midwest League (MWL)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers News Release
GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fought to the end against the Cedar Rapids Kernels Friday night at Rise 2 Greatness Field as they brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning for the second game in a row. However, the best team in the Midwest League prevailed with a 6-4 win over the Rattlers.
Cedar Rapids (29-17 second half, 69-43 overall) loaded the bases in the first inning against Wisconsin starting pitcher Tyler Woessner. Emmanuel Rodriguez walked, and Ben Ross singled with one out. Woessner struck out Kala'i Rosario, the Midwest League leader in RBI, for the second out, but walked Andrew Cossetti to load the bases. Misael Urbina followed with a double to the corner in left to score two runs.
Wisconsin (48-62, 22-24) rallied for a run in the top of the second inning. Matt Wood drew a walk with one out. Darrien Miller singled with two outs to send Wood to third base. Je'Von Ward delivered the two-out single to score Wood. The Rattlers would load the bases on a two-out single by Robert Moore but could not push across another run in the inning.
The Kernels pushed their lead to four runs with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. All three runs in this inning crossed the plate after two outs, too. Keoni Cavaco singled with two outs and two on to score the first run and put runners on the corners. Woessner uncorked a wild pitch to let in the second run of the frame. Noah Miller capped the scoring with an RBI double.
The Timber Rattlers rallied in the top of the fifth inning. Jesse Winker singled with one out. Brock Wilken followed with an RBI triple to left-center. Mike Boeve was next, and he singled to right to score Wilken. That pulled the Rattlers to within 5-3 and knocked Kernels starter Cory Lewis out of the game. Hendry Mendez followed with an infield single against reliever John Stankiewicz, but the Rattlers did no more damage in the inning as the Kernels hurler retired the next two batters.
Stankiewicz kept the Rattlers offense from doing any damage after the fifth inning as he set down the side in order in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Wisconsin reliever Sam Gardner also kept the Kernels off the scoreboard. Gardner pitched 3-1/3 scoreless, hitless innings with three walks and six strikeouts.
Jeferson Morales appeared to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth inning. Wisconsin reliever Shane Smith walked Urbina to start the frame. He struck out the next batter. Then, Morales crushed a home run out of the stadium for an apparent two-run home run. The Wisconsin dugout saw that Morales didn't touch home plate and appealed. Plate umpire Conor McKenna saw the same thing and ruled Morales out for an RBI triple to make the score 6-3.
The Rattlers almost made it matter. Miller walked to start the top of the ninth against Jarret Whorff and a wild pitch moved him to second. Jesse Winker lined a two-out single to right to score Miller and bring the tying run to the plate. Wilken got into an 0-1 pitch from Whorff, but just missed it and the ball landed in Urbina's glove just short of the warning track for the final out.
Boeve extended his current hitting streak to six games. He is 9-for-24 with six RBI in during the streak.
Winker was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI on Friday night. He is 4-for-10 with two walks and two RBI in three games during his MLB rehabilitation assignment with the Rattlers during this series with the Kernels.
In the second half West Division playoff race, the top three teams fighting for the right to face Cedar Rapids in the first round of the playoffs all lost. The Peoria Chiefs, the current front runners, lost 5-4 at Lake County as the Captains scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Beloit Sky Carp tied the Quad Cities River Bandits 4-4 with two runs in the top of the eighth inning only to see the Bandits score twice in the bottom of the eight. Beloit got a run in the top of the ninth but left the tying and go-ahead runs on base as the last two batters struck out in a 6-5 loss.
Peoria has a 3-1/2 game lead on the Rattlers and Beloit after the games on Friday night. Wisconsin and the Sky Carp have twenty games left in the season. The Chiefs, who have a doubleheader at Lake County on Saturday, had twenty-one games left in the season.
Game five of the series is Saturday night at Rise 2 Greatness Field. Bradley Blalock (0-0, 5.63) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Cedar Rapids has named CJ Culpepper (2-0, 3.08) as their starter. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm. The radio broadcast on AM1280, WNAM starts with the Community Blood Center Pregame Show at 6:15pm. Fans can listen on the radio, on the First Pitch app, or at this link.
R H E
WIS 010 020 001 - 4 9 0
CR 200 300 01x - 6 6 0
Click here for the boxscore
WP: John Stankiewicz (7-1)
LP: Tyler Woessner (5-7)
SV: Jarret Whorff (1)
TIME: 2:21
ATTN: 4,055
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