Rattlers rally, fall to Bandits

GRAND CHUTE - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning on home runs by TJ Mittelstaedt and Tyler Roberts to tie the Quad Cities River Bandits 3-3. But, Quad Cities scored five times in the top of the tenth to defeat Wisconsin 8-3 Sunday afternoon at Fox Cities Stadium.

Jonathan Rodriguez put the River Bandits (42-30 overall, 2-1 second half) in front with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth inning. Rodriguez has hit three homers and driven in nine runs against the Rattlers this season.

Quad Cities added a run in the top of the fifth. They had runners at the corners and no outs. Ronny Gil grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that let the runner from third score for a 3-0 lead.

Wisconsin (39-34, 1-2) got on the board against Quad Cities starting pitcher Trevor Rosenthal in the bottom of the fifth. Chad Stang and Roberts singled to start the frame. A sacrifice bunt by Franklin Romero moved the runners up a base. Nick Shaw sent Stang home with a grounder to short.

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Hector Corpas came out of the bullpen and became the fourth Quad Cities pitcher of the game. Mittlestaedt cracked an opposite field homer to left on the first pitch that Corpas threw and got the Rattlers to within 3-2. The home run was the seventh of the season for Mittelstaedt.

One out later, Roberts cracked his fourth home run of the season and the Rattlers had tied the game 3-3.

But, the River Bandits recovered quickly. Rattlers closer Greg Holle tossed a scoreless ninth, but gave up a double to Gil to start the tenth. Holle got the first out, but a wild pitch sent Gil to third and the Rattlers decided to walk Rodriguez to set up a potential inning ending double play.

Chris Edmondson spoiled the strategy by lining a 2-2 pitch from Holle down the right field line. Both Gil and Rodriguez scored to put the Bandits up 4-2.

Brian Garman relieved Holle and gave up an RBI single to Geoff Klein. Later in the frame, Klein would get caught in a rundown, but he would score when the ball popped free from Garman’s glove as he applied the tag. The final run of the inning scored on a wild pitch for the 8-3 advantage.

Corpas walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the tenth, but retired the next three games to close out the game.

Wisconsin welcomes the Peoria Chiefs to town on Monday night. Matt Miller (2-3, 4.50) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Matt Loosen (0-0, 0.00) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time at Time Warner Cable field is 7:05pm.