(WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS) GRAND CHUTE, WI – Tuesday night at Neuroscience Group Field was an early battle between the top two teams in the second half West Division standings. Round one of the six-game set went to the visitors as the Beloit Sky Carp defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 7-2.
Beloit (38-42 overall, 11-4 second half) took the lead in the top of the second inning on a two-out, two-run home run by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart.
The Rattlers (45-32, 11-4) were held off the scoreboard by Sky Carp starting pitcher Nate Payne for five innings and in the sixth by reliever Cannon Pickell.
The Sky Carp added to their lead in the top of the seventh. Wilfredo Lara hit a lead-off home run off Quinton Low for a 3-0 lead. Low would walk Starlyn Caba with one out. Caba would steal second and third. He was still at third with two outs when Low uncorked a wild pitch on ball four to Dillon Head to allow Caba to score.
Head would get a free trip to second when reliever Michael Fowler had an errant pickoff throw to first. An error by Luis Peña on a grounder to short that should have ended the inning allowed the Sky Carp to have runners at first and third. Fowler threw a wild pitch to let Head score before he could record the final out of the inning.
Wisconsin staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh against Chase Renner, the third Beloit pitcher of the game. Tyler Rodriguez walked, Daniel Guilarte had a ground rule double, and a wild pitch by Renner let Rodriguez score. Another walk to Yannic Walther got the inning around to Peña, who singled sharply to left to score Guilarte. Renner had to face Marco Dinges, the potential tying run, and retired him on a grounder to second.
The Rattlers also got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the eighth after consecutive two-out walks by Luis De La Cruz. He also escaped the frame by getting Rodriguez to ground into a force play at second.
Beloit put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth with two more runs off Garrett Hodges. Head had an RBI double with two-outs for his fourth hit of the game. Abrahan Ramirez followed with a single to score Head. The Rattlers got a lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth, but that was it for them.
Sky Carp pitchers walked eight Rattlers in the game but held Wisconsin to 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on the evening. They also struck out twelve Rattlers in the game.
Wisconsin and Beloit are tied at the top of the West Division second half standings. Both are 11-4. They will play each other seventeen more times in the second half of the season.
Game two of the series is Wednesday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field. Daniel Corniel (0-1, 1.93) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Aiden May (3-1, 3.40) is set to start for the Sky Carp. Game time is 12:10pm.
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