(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) DAVENPORT, IA – The Quad Cities River Bandits kept hanging around the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Wisconsin had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but could not shake the Bandits before falling 3-2 in the contest.
Josiah Ragsdale wasted no time in extending his on-base streak to 23 games and giving the Timber Rattlers (34-27) the lead. Ragsdale launched the third pitch of the game over the wall in right for a lead-off homer against Bandits starting pitcher Emmanuel Reyes.
Quad Cities (29-33) tied the game with a two-out run in the bottom of the second. Wisconsin starting pitcher Josh Knoth walked Ramon Ramirez to start the inning and struck out the next two hitters. Ramirez stole second with two outs and scored on a single by Tyriq Kemp to tie the score.
Wisconsin staged a two-out rally in the fifth to take the lead back. Daniel Dickinson doubled with two outs. Braylon Payne hit a slow grounder wide of first. Dickinson, who was running on the pitch, scored as Payne beat the throw to first for an infield, RBI single.
The River Bandits struck back in the bottom of the fifth. Knoth struck out the lead-off hitter for his seventh strikeout of the game. Kemp ended Knoth’s night with a double. The pitch was the 70th of the game for Knoth as he is still building himself back up from missing the 2025 season.
Chandler Welch entered the game from the bullpen for Wisconsin and allowed a double to Connor Rasmussen that drove in Kemp with the tying run.
In the sixth, the Bandits took their first lead of the series, and they used small ball with their big bats to do it. Ramon Ramirez doubled to start the inning. Luke Pelzer, the Midwest League’s leader in hitting, dropped a bunt up the third base line and beat it out for a single to put runners at the corners. Derlin Figueroa, who had fifteen homers coming into the game, dropped another bunt, a safety squeeze to score Ramirez with the go-ahead run. That was Figueroa’s first sacrifice bunt of the season.
That sacrifice bunt was the thirtieth of the season for the River Bandits. The other fifteen teams in the Midwest League have combined for 46 sacrifice bunts through Wednesday’s action.
The Timber Rattlers best chance to do damage came in the top of the eighth. Dickinson reached on an error by Kemp with one out. Payne followed with a single to put runners on the corners against Jordan Woods, the Bandits second pitcher of the night. Woods retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a hard grounder to first to end the threat.
Yimi Presinal pitched a perfect ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts to close out the Rattlers and earn his third save of the season.
Knoth struck out seven over 4-1/3 innings. He allowed two runs on three hits and one walk for a no decision.
Reyes earned the win by allowing two runs, scattering seven hits, and striking out five while walking one.
Payne went 3-for-4 with a stolen base for Wisconsin.
Game three of the series is also the final game of the first half and it is set for Modern Woodmen Park. Wisconsin has named Ethan Dorchies (1-4, 6.41) as their starting pitcher. David Shields (4-4, 3.91) is set to start for the Bandits. Game time is 6:30pm CDT.
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